Queen Isabella II
May 14, 1847 (Friday)
A set of four stamps,
although never officially issued, form the basis of the first stamp essays
issued in the Medio Real
(½-Real de Plata Fuerte) Green Dos Res
(2-Reales de Plata Fuerte) Yellow Cuatro Res
(4-Reales de Plata Fuerte) Blue Un Peso (1-Peso) Rose Struck by the advantages of the new system of
pre-paying letters adopted in Great Britain in 1840, the Postmaster-General
of the Philippine Islands submitted to the Government of Spain a proposal,
dated May 14th, 1847, for the adoption of this system in the Philippines and
for the issue at the same time of four stamps for the pre-payment of the
Island letters. The proposal did not
prove satisfactory to the Spanish Officials, predominantly because this
system of pre-payment had not been adopted in the The Archives of the
General Post Office Department at Plan of stamps or little engravings
for the pre-payment of correspondence in the interior of the These stamps having been adopted, they would be made use
of for the pre-payment of correspondence, by affixing to the cover of the
letter or sheet one or more of them, to correspond with amount required by
the postal tariff, exhibited at the offices at which they would be sold,
which would be the same as those appointed for the sale of stamped paper. Signed - Manuel de Urioste The first mention of
these stamps was in 1865 in an article by M N Rondot in Magasin Pittoresque
(page 263), where he states to have knowledge of a project to issue stamps
for mail to be used in Luzon's island in 1847, although not having been
approved. He confirms that four values
were prepared and the stamps were round and inscribed “CORREOS”. It is unlikely that
the stamps were ever used for postage, despite the article “Les Timbres de
1847 des Iles Philippines” by M B Moens in Le Timbre-Poste (Number 115, Page
55) in 1872, which states that “on the 14th of May 1847, the
Postmaster-General of the Philippines, Don Antonio Gutierrez y Pavia,
proposed to the Home Government to issue four postage stamps for the
pre-payment of the Island letters. The Postmaster, who no doubt did not
expect to be met by a refusal, had already put the stamps in circulation, and
they were used for some little time for the inter-insular correspondence of
Luzon and An article “Les
Premiers Timbres des Iles These essays are
detailed here for interest only. It is believed that only one printed pane
containing all four essays was prepared. No printed stamps are known and it is
believed that they were never issued in line with the Spanish Government’s
negative response. |
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