The 'first' mail sent using a stamp to be auctioned
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Sotheby's is gearing up to auction a historic piece of mail in New York next month, featuring the first known use of the Penny Black stamp. Dated May 2, 1840, the envelope was sent from London to William Blenkinsop Jr., a 35-year-old manager of Victorian iron works in Bedlington. The stamp and accompanying Mulready letter sheet are expected to fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, potentially making it one of the most valuable pieces of postal history ever auctioned.