Instead, bidding closed at $8,307,0oo—not pocket change by any means, but considerably short of its previous winning bid, $9.5 million, to say nothing of the $10-$15 million the stamp was ...

Before the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive stamp, only the very rich could afford to use the post. Until 1840, letters were charged by the number of sheets written upon and the distanced ...