World's oldest postcard
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The Penny Penates is a
postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
that was posted on 14 July 1840 to
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
in London. It was addressed to the writer and practical joker
Theodore Hook Theodore Edward Hook (22 September 1788 – 24 August 1841) was an English man of letters and composer and briefly a civil servant in Mauritius. He is best known for his practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in 1809. The wo ...
, who was probably also its sender and artist. The hand-painted design on the postcard shows an image of post office clerks sitting around a giant ink well. The postcard was discovered in 2001 by a stamp dealer while he was examining a stamp collection, and verified by the British Philatelic Association's expert committee as genuine and the world's oldest known postcard. It is also the only known surviving example of a
Penny Black The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. ...
stamp, the world's first adhesive postage stamp, used on a postcard. It was sold at auction in 2002 for £31,750 (US$44,300), the most ever paid for a postcard.


Design

The Penny Penates is a postcard made of paper. The front features a hand-drawn colour illustration showing a gathering of
caricatured A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...
postal clerks with huge pens seated around an enlarged inkwell marked "Official." To the left and right of the inkwell appear the words "Penny" and "Penates", respectively. In
Ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...
, the
Penates In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates () or Penates ( ) were among the ''dii familiares'', or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates. ...
were the guardians of a storeroom or household. On the back is inscribed "Theodore Hook Esq, Fulham"; a Penny Black stamp is affixed to the top right as postage. A circular postmark underneath the Fulham address is dated 14 July 1840.


History

The Penny Penates postcard was mailed to
Theodore Hook Theodore Edward Hook (22 September 1788 – 24 August 1841) was an English man of letters and composer and briefly a civil servant in Mauritius. He is best known for his practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in 1809. The wo ...
—probably by himself—from London to
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
, England, on 14 July 1840. Hook presumably intended the card as a
humorous Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in t ...
practical joke A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...
poking fun at the postal workers who would have processed it. In 2001 an expert discovered the postcard in a stamp collection and, putting together the sequence of historical events, realised that it had likely been made and mailed by Hook. It sold at auction for £31,750 (US$44,300) in March 2002, which postal historian Edward Proud said was the most ever paid for a postcard. The winning bid was made by telephone by postcard collector Eugene Gomberg from
Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
, Latvia.


Significance

The postcard has been verified by the British Philatelic Association's expert committee as being genuine and the world's oldest. Up to that time it was believed the concept of the postcard had been invented in the United States, Germany, or Austria. Twentieth-century postcard collectors thought the first postcards were made some twenty years later, in the 1860s. The Penny Penates is also the only known postcard with a
Penny Black The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May. ...
stamp—the world's oldest self-adhesive postage stamp, normally used just for letters. First issued 1 May 1840, the Penny Black stamp was changed to a red-brown version a year later because the red ink used for cancelling the black stamp could be easily washed off and the stamp reused without additional payment. British postal protocol for postcards designated through tradition that no part of a message could be put on the address side of it. The address side could contain only the sender's name, address, and return request if it couldn't be delivered. The address side with the postage stamp of a postcard was considered the front side. A committee of the British Post Office in 1896 recommended that this custom be discontinued. A rule in 1899 was put in place that there no longer would be instructions determining the tradition be followed.


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* * * * * {{cite book, last= Philatelie , title= Philatelie - Das Sammlermagazin des Bundes Deutscher Philatelisten, Edition 308 , date=2003, publisher= Bundes Deutscher Philatelisten , language=de British inventions British humour British culture Postal stationery Philatelic terminology