The Penny Penates is a postcard that was posted on 14 July 1840 to Fulham in London. It was addressed to the writer and practical joker Theodore Hook, who was probably also its sender and artist. The hand-painted design on the postcard shows an image of post office clerks sitting around a giant ink well.
The postcard has been verified by the British Philatelic Association's expert committee as being genuine and the world's oldest.
It sold at auction for £31,750 (US$44,300) in March 2002, which postal historian Edward Proud said was the most ever paid for a postcard
