SPANISH WESTINDIES 1864-1871

Return To Catalogue - Cuba 1855-1863 (Spanish Westindies) - Cuba - Porto Rico

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Currency: 8 Reales Plata = 2 Escudos = 1 Peso
1866: 100 Centavos = 1 Escudo
1871: 100 Centavos = 1 Peseta

Cuba 1855-1863 (Spanish Westindies)

1864 Queen Isabella facing the left, inscription 'CORREOS'

No indication of the year

  1/4 Rl black on yellow
  1/2 Rl green
  1 Rs blue
  2 Rs Plata F. red

Overprinted '66'

  1/4 Rl black on yellow

With inscription '1866' and value in 'CENTIMOS (Cmos), imperforate

  5 c lilac
  10 c blue
  20 c green
  40 c red

With inscription '1867' (perforated)

  5 c lilac
  10 c bleu
  20 c green
  40 c red

The perforated stamps have perforation 14.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Cancels:

(Ellipse with lines and stars, reduced size)

Forgeries:

The above stamps are forgeries no. 1 described in Album Weeds: a very easy way to detect these is the cancels, that can only be found on these stamps; an ellipse with lines inside (two different types of cancels) or a dot pattern. The pearls of the left and right ornaments at both sides of the zig-zag lines are touching the inner and outer frameline for many of them. In the originals the pearls never touch the frame. Furthermore, the dot before and after the word 'CORREOS' are placed too close to the letter 'C' and the letter 'S' (this is true especially for the letter 'C'). The crown that the queen is wearing is rather unsharp compared to the originals. The 2 Rs has the line directly below '2 Rs. PLATA F.' broken (in the originals it is not). For the other values, this line is almost absent.

Rather primitive forgeries with a bored looking Queen. I've also seen the 10 c blue value of this forgery set.

Other forgeries, made by the forger Segui. In my view, the second 'R' of 'CORREOS' is too large. Next to it a similar forgery of Spanish Westindies.

Very primitive forgeries of the 1 Rl and 2 Rl stamps with the face of the Queen different and the whole design very blotchy.

Other primitive forgery.

Forged 1/4 Rl stamp with forged '66' overprint.

1868 Queen Isabella II

Inscription 'ULTRAMAR 1868'

  5 c lilac
  10 c blue
  20 c green
  40 c red

Inscription 'ULTRAMAR 1869'

  5 c red
  10 c brown
  20 c orange
  40 c lilac

All these stamps exist with overprint 'HABILITADO POR LA NACION'

(Reduced size)

These stamps have perforation 14.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Be careful, forgeries exist of the overprint, examples:

I think the above forgery is mentioned in 'Album Weeds': the second line reads 'PO LA' instead of 'POR LA' and the letters of 'NACION' are very widely spaced.

(Forged overprints of Fournier and forged Fournier cancel taken from a Fournier Album of Philatelic Forgeries)

Primitive forgery of the 10 c 1868 stamp:

This is the forgery mentioned in Album Weeds, the nose is very sharp, there is no dot behind '1868' and the inner line of the central circle is too thick compared to a genuine stamp. I've seen both the 1868 and 1869 set of these forgeries. These forgeries might have been made by Spiro.

Other imperforate forgeries, made by Segui

Postal forgeries exist of the values 20 c and 40 c of the 1868 issue and the 20 c value of the 1869 issue:

Postal forgeries of the 20 c 1868 and 20 c 1869 issue; the 'C' in the upper left corner is different. Also, the nose in the 20 c 1868 forgery is flattened.

1870 Woman's head inscription "CORREOS 1870"

  5 c blue
  10 c green
  20 c brown
  40 c red

These stamps have perforation 14.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Special cancels:

Forgeries:

Forgeries, possibly made by Segui

I have no information about the distinghuishing characteristics of the above forgeries.

Badly printed forgery. The word "CORREOS" is almost invisible. The second stamps has a "VF" cancel (see VF Cancelled forgeries).

Spiro forgeries, note the typical 'Spiro' cancels.

1871 Sitting woman, as Spain 1873 design, but inscription 'ULTRAMAR 1871', perforated

  12 c violet
  25 c blue
  50 c green
  1 p brown

These stamps have perforation 14.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Postal forgeries exist of these stamps.

Postal forgery of the 50 c value; the '0' of '50' is too small and slanting backwards. The vertical lines in the shield are not long enough when compared to a genuine stamp.

(Imperforate stamp, forgery?)

Philatelic forgeries, judging from their cancels most of them are Spiro products.

More of these stamps with inscription 'ULTRAMAR' were issued in Cuba.

Fiscal Stamps of Cuba

1856 Inscription 'DRO JUDICIAL' similar design as arms stamps of Spain

In this design exist the values: 1/2 r (black, green, orange or blue), 1 r (blue, black or violet), 2 r (violet, green, orange or red), 5 r (violet, orange, red or black), 10 r (black, red, green, orange or violet), 100 r (blue, red, violet or green).

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