Philatelists describe prepaid postage tokens dating as far back as 1653. These included printed paper letter wrappers, special "postal paper" endorsed with ink stamps, and even black feathers embedded in wax seals, but none of these early tokens were adhesive paper stamps.

The first known adhesive paper stamps were printed in Greece in 1831, but they were probably not used for prepaid postage. These 40-lepta denominated stamps may have been charity receipts for a fund supporting Greek refugees from Crete, although some collectors believe they were postage due labels.

The earliest documented, prepaid adhesive postage stamps were England's "Penny Black" stamps, designed by Rowland Hill and brought into service in 1840. Millions were printed and used, and many are in collections today. Within three years, similar adhesive stamps were used in Brazil, and soon they were in use worldwide.