January 13 — the first Russian postage stamp entered circulation.
The predecessors of Russian stamps are considered to be the city-post envelopes of St. Petersburg, which entered circulation in 1845. They were called "stamped envelopes," bore a round postmark indicating that the postal fee had been paid, and were the first signs of prepaid postage in Russia. The St. Petersburg envelopes were also used in Moscow, Warsaw, and Kazan.
In 1848, envelopes for out-of-town mail appeared.
In December 1857, the Postal Department of the Russian Empire issued a circular titled "On the Introduction of Postage Stamps for General Use." The first Russian postage stamp entered circulation around the New Year, by January 13, 1858.
It was small—only 2 x 2.7 centimeters—unremarkable, brown in color with a blue oval center, and without perforations. Inside the blue oval was the coat of arms of the Russian Empire in white. The small inscriptions encircling the oval stated that the postage stamp had a value of 10 kopeks per lot (a lot is an old Russian unit of weight equal to approximately 12.8 grams). The same inscription, only in larger letters, was placed along the lower edge of the stamp.
Several stamps had to be affixed to a letter. Therefore, just 10 days later, 20- and 30-kopeck stamps entered circulation. In 1858, 1,390,632 stamps were sold by the St. Petersburg Post Office, and 1,241,149 by the Moscow Post Office.