How Much is a Postage Stamp?

Throughout history, stamps have been serving a very important role in postal services.

These small adhesive papers act as evidence that the services have already been paid for by the customers.

After purchase, they must be attached to envelopes to signify that the deliveries are paid.

For some individuals, collecting stamps can be a very good hobby. Let’s find out other interesting details about them including the prices for postage stamps.

The Prices for Postage Stamps

How much is a postage stamp? As of May 11, 2009, the price for a stamp is set at 44 cents, with each extra ounce to be charged an additional 17 cents.

Time after time, it seems that stamp prices continuously move in an upward trend. For instance, the price for a single stamp was only 10 cents sometime in September 1975.

However, rates went up to 25 cents by the year 1988. By the time 2008 arrived, the price was already somewhere around 42 cents before its current price today at 44 cents.

Additional Information and Other Interesting Details

The first use of stamps was recorded in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in May 1840.

The very first stamp was called Penny Black, which was soon followed by the Two Penny Blue. Both of them featured an image of Queen Victoria in her youth. In March 1843, Switzerland followed and issued its very own set of stamps.

In August of that same year, Brazil started its own set of stamps. In the U.S., the first stamps were released only in 1847. During that time, the 5-cent stamp featured Benjamin Franklin, while the 10-cent stamp showed George Washington.

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Stamps are available in various shapes and sizes. These include pentagonal, triangular, and circular shapes, in addition to the usual rectangular figures.

In places like Tonga and Sierra Leone, they use stamps resembling the shapes of fruits. Other interesting materials used in these items include plastic, wood, and foil.

Aside from the different materials, various printing methods are also used to design them such as web offset printing, photogravure, and line engraving. In some places, they prefer to use intaglio as well as lithography.

Today there are many types of stamps available including express mail, definitive, and commemorative versions. Likewise, there are also self-adhesive, personalized, and non-denominated postage versions.

In recent times, some of them have become more popular than other versions. These include the so-called Uganda Cowries from Uganda, the Treskilling Yellow from Sweden, and the Scinde Dawk from Pakistan.

At the same time, collectors highly value stamps like the Hawaiian Missionaries from Hawaii, Gronchi Rosa from Italy, and the Basel Dove from Switzerland.