The first postage stamp ever made was the Penny Black, issued in the United Kingdom in 1840, which featured the monarch, Queen Victoria.

Before postage stamps became common, it was typical for the recipient to pay the postage rather than the sender.

The first postage stamps in the American Postal Service were issued in 1847 and featured George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

Postage stamp collecting is called philately, which comes from the French word philo, meaning “loving,” and the Greek word ateleia, meaning “exemption from payment.”

Stamps have been made from many different materials, including paper, cloth, wood, plastic, and foil.

Canada once issued a scratch-and-sniff postage stamp that smelled like maple syrup.

China holds the record for the largest postage stamp ever made, measuring 8 inches long.

One of the key things stamp collectors look out for is finding “First Day of Issue” stamps, which were printed on the very first day of a stamp’s release.

The British Guiana 1c Magenta is considered the rarest stamp in existence and sold for around $9 million.

The first woman ever featured on a U.S. postage stamp was actually a foreign queen — Queen Isabella of Spain, in 1893.

The U.S. Postal Service typically only allows deceased individuals to be featured on postage stamps, with rare exemptions.