Fifty years of Uniform Penny Postage and the introduction of the Penny Black were celebrated with major events, including grand Exhibitions and Conversaziones organised by the City Corporation of London at Guildhall and the Post Office event at South Kensington Museum as well as an exhibition organised by the London Philatelic Society (now the “Royal”). Although plans for a commemorative stamp were initiated, they were later abandoned. They were important in GB philately for the introduction of the first commemorative postal stationery and the first decorative special event handstamps.
The display included the De La Archive of the design and development of the Jubilee envelope. It was imitated in the same way as the original Mulready envelope fifty years earlier by Elliot and caricatured by Harry Furniss. The display brought together the full history of these events with illustrations of the philatelic material and ephemera produced during the celebrations.