With the introduction of the world’s first stamp, the British one penny known as ”Penny Black”, huge changes was made to the postal service in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The stamp did not only introduce the prepayment system in the postal area but also a much more simple system for payment.
The “Penny Black” was issued on the 6th of May 1840 and other countries was soon to follow the British and introduce stamps to pay for postal service i.e. Denmark in 1851 with the 4 rigsbankskilling. As in the UK the introduction of stamps in these countries was also followed by changes in the payment system for postal services.
The introduction of stamps not only influenced the postal system in the singles countries but was also a challenge to the way postal service was carried out between the countries. In order to meet these challenges the Universal Postal Union (UPU) was established in 1874 first having 22 member countries. One of the main objectives of UPU was to reduce the large number of rates for mail between countries and establish a single rate for all. In 1878 the UPU member countries that agreed the rates should be as follows:
· Letters (0-15 g): 25 centimes equal to 20 øre;
· Lettercards 10 centimes equal to 10 øre;
· Printed matters (per 50g) 5 centimes equal to 5 øre;
Besides agreeing on the rates the member countries also agreed on that the colours to be used on stamps for international mail should be blue for letters, reed for lettercards and green printed matters (se attached UPU documents).
Colour samples from UPU 1879
As bicoloured stamps at that time were used in Denmark there was a need for introduction of new stamps fulfilling the UPU agreement and work to design the new stamp was stated. In December 1881 the Danish Ministry of Internal Affairs, being responsible for the Danish postal service, informs the Director General of the Danish Postal Office that the engrave of the plates could be stared shortly if they could accept the proposal attached to the letter.
As it can bee seen is the proposal very close the final look of the arms type and detailed drawings were made by the painter Nilaus Fristrup that produces the drawing shown below.
