Spanish Stamp Control Numbers

One of the areas most confusing to stamp collectors new to classic Spain and its colonies is the presence of letters and numbers on the backs of most stamps issued between 1901 and the early 1930s. This back printing usually takes the form of a printed letter, followed by several numbers, on the back of those stamps. Over the last few years, I’ve answered quite a few questions about these “control numbers” and their significance. As a result, I’ve written this overview to provide details around their use in Spain and its colonies.

The first question after “what are they” is usually “why” – as in, “why were they printed”? In short, Spanish postal authorities back printed control numbers to – you guessed it – control and audit the production of stamps and combat fraudulent issues. Postal forgeries were an issue with Spanish stamps, right from the beginning, and control numbers were intended to provide auditing as to the production of stamps and make them more difficult to forge. They would have added some challenge to forgers for those issues, but certainly not insurmountable.

Precursor

The 1875 Alfonso XII issue (Edifil 162-171 / Scott 212-21) saw the first use of “control numbers” on Spanish stamps, in what is a precursor of their later implementation. For all ten values in that issue, the numbers 1 to 100 were sequentially back printed on each printing sheet, Interestingly, the number in blue was reverse printed, which can make it a little hard to read, and is framed within a patterned background, also blue.

Some collectors try to assemble a complete set of numbers – that is, a sheet - for a particular stamp in the 1875 issue, an interesting philatelic endeavour and one that would be very affordable for the blue 10c. de peseta value, the “workhouse” of the series. To that end, I’ve had buyers ask for the number on the back of an 1875 stamp we have listed online.

This trial back printing was not continued for the 1876 issue and subsequent series – presumably it was not felt to be effective given the additional printing effort involved. It would be 26 years before Spain’s postal service decided to use back printed numbers again on their stamps.

Spain 1875 Alfonso XII – 4 pesetas MNG(*) (Edifil 170 / Scott 220), number “45”

Spain 1875 Alfonso XII – 10 pesetas MH* (Edifil 171 / Scott 221), number “25”

Period of Use

Control numbers as we usually refer to them were first used in 1901 on the King Alfonso XIII issue of Spain (Edifil 241-55 / Scott 272-86). They continued in use for Spain proper until the end of 1931 with the Montserrat issue in December (Edifil 636-54 / Scott 501-13, C68-72). In between these dates, the majority of stamps issued in Spain and its colonial possessions had control numbers printed on the back.

Spain 1922 Alfonso XIII – 10 centimos MNH** (Edifil 314 / Scott 335)

All stamps in a printing sheet have the same control number & format. Format is discussed extensively in the next section.

Spain 1922 Alfonso XIII – block used with Barcelona cancels (Edifil 315B / Scott 336a (type II))

Spanish Morocco 1923 50 centimos block MNH** (Edifil 88 / Scott 90)

Use of control numbers on some colonial issues continued until 1935, with the Vistas y paisajes issues of Spanish Morocco (Edifil 133-47, 152/59 / Sc 144-63), which was also overprinted for Cape Juby (Edifil 67-84 / Scott 54-69, E3).

The back printing of control numbers was almost universal for definitive issues during this period, but not for commemorative issues. For example, the 1926 Pro Cruz Roja common design, 1930 Goya and 1930 Columbus issues of Spain do not have control numbers, whereas the 1929 Seville-Barcelona Exposition common design issue does.

Spanish Tangier 1929 50 centimos (Edifil Tánger Ed 44 / Scott L8)

Sometimes the lowest one or two values in a series would not be printed with control numbers, while all the other values in the series would. An example of this is the 1920 UPU Congress issue (Edifil 297-309 / Scott 318-30), where the 1c and 2c values do not have control numbers, while all the other values in the series do. Similarly, the 1c value of 1909 Alfonso XIII definitive series (Edifil 267 / Sc 297) was printed both with and without control numbers, while all the other values in the series always have control numbers.

Spain 1901 Alfonso XIII – 40 centimos (Edifil 250 / Scott 281) – early control number with no letter, shifted to left side

Spain 1905 Alfonso XIII – 40 centimos (Edifil 251 / Scott 282) – same series, but later issue, control number with letter prefix

Spain 1923 Alfonso XIII 15 centimos MNH** (Edifil 315 / Scott 336) – use of the “B” letter prefix

As mentioned, Spanish colony stamps were issued with control numbers concurrent to Spain. Seven African colonies issued stamps with control numbers – Cape Juby (1916-35), Fernando Po (1901-29), Spanish Guinea (1903-33), La Aguera (1920-23), Rio de Oro (1905-1921), Spanish Morocco/Tangier (1903-35) and Spanish Sahara (1924-35).

Excluding the final issue back printed for Cape Juby/Spanish Morocco, Spanish colony control number back prints were consistent with those of Spain in colour and format.

Spanish Morocco/Tangier 1930 Alfonso XIII 15 centimos overprinted MNH** (Edifil Tánger Ed 65 / Scott 123)

Spanish Sahara 1932 10 pesetas horizontal overprint variety MNH** (Edifil 47B / Scott 35)

Spanish Guinea 1918 5 c. on 40 centimos overprinted block MNH** (Edifil 124 / Scott 154), same control number on all, also showing nice offset on gum

Control Number Format

Spanish control numbers come in a variety of related formats. Usually they start with an upper-case letter – most commonly “A”, but “B”, “C”, “D”, etc. can be found as well. That is followed by six numbers, typically in two groups of three. The letter & numbers are often separated by either a period or a comma. With the earliest issues, such as those of 1901 – the letter is omitted and the six numbers alone are present.

Spanish Sahara 1924 complete series MNH** (Edifil 1-12 / Scott 1-12), each stamp with a different control number, but all starting with “A000”

The control number is typically vertical, printed from top to bottom. It can be found horizontal on a few stamps with a horizontal orientation – such as the 1905 Don Quixote issue.

Spain 1905 Don Quixote 1 peseta MH* (Edifil 264 / Scott 294) – horizontal with some alignment issues

Almost all Spanish stamps with control numbers were printed in Spain by the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (FNMT), which almost invariably used a similar font and blue for the control numbers. They were printed on the stamp before gum was applied, so appear well on used as well as mint stamps. Typically they were well-struck and very visible, but I have run across some stamps where the back printing was applied so lightly it is almost impossible to see the control numbers.

A few stamps were back printed with orange or (later) green control numbers. Of note is the 1917 15c Alfonso XIII issue (Edifil 271 / Scott 310), mostly printed with orange control numbers (it was also printed with blue numbers).

1917 15 centimos yellow ochre Alfonso XIII (Edifil 271 / Scott 310), initial letter is “U”

As noted earlier, the last use of back printed control numbers was for Cape Juby/Spanish Morocco stamps issued in 1933-35. These stamps were printed in London by Waterlow & Sons and have green control numbers in a different font with a letter followed by a space and five numbers. In contrast to those printed by the FNMT, these control numbers were printed on the gum, not before it was applied. The control number can be found both vertical (ascending or descending) and horizontal, depending on the stamp orientation.

Cape Juby 1934 1 centimo MNH** (Edifil 67 / Scott 68) – vertical ascending control number

Spanish Morocco 1934 5 centimos MNH** (Edifil 135 / Scott 146) – horizontal control number

Specimen (Muestra) Control Numbers

Spain used a special control number for their specimen stamps – known in Spanish as “muestra”.

If a stamp has a control number of “000,000”, “A.000.000”, “A000,000” (or minor variants of these) that indicates that this stamp was produced as a specimen, and not to be used postally. Specimen stamps are almost always more valuable than the equivalent non-specimen stamps – and that premium in value can range from moderate to significant.

In later years, specimen stamps were indicated with an overprinted “muestra” on the front (usually in upper-case). A few stamp issues can be found with both the specimen control number back printed and a muestra overprint on the front, such as the 1929 Sevilla-Barcelona Exposition series. Once the use of control numbers was discontinued, muestra was exclusively used to indicate specimen stamps.

Spain 1901 Alfonso XIII 40 centimos MH* (Edifil 250 / Scott 281) “000,000” format with variety, showing early use with numbers only, no letter prefix – also ascending, rather than descending

La Aguera 1922 – 1 centimo with no dots above "U" of "AGUERA" variety (Edifil 1a / Scott 1a), “A000,000” format

Spanish Morocco 1923 express (Edifil 90N / Scott E3) – “A.000.000” format, control number on slight angle

Cape Juby 1935 overprinted – (Edifil 71M / Scott 56) – “muestra” overprint, no control number on back

Special Specimen Printing

Rarely, a stamp series was only issued in “specimen” format. Most prominently, in 1929 stamps of Spanish Morocco were issued with control number “A000,000” in a special printing. This series (Edifil Tánger 48-62, not assigned Scott numbers but footnoted) was intended for the Universal Postal Union (UPU) congress in London and was not circulated. Some of the values in this set are quite valuable.

Spanish Morocco/Tangier Alfonso XIII 5 centimos overprinted (Edifil Tánger 51 UPU congress), “A000,000” format

Control Number Varieties

As in every other area of stamp collecting, there are control number varieties to collect. Control numbers can often be found shifted to a greater or lesser extent vertically or horizontally; these do not typically have a premium in value. Misalignment of numbers and a slight diagonal of the printing are also often found. Other varieties that can be found on some issues, far less common, is the control number reversed (e.g. ascending rather than descending) or double printed.

Spain 1901 Alfsono XIII 10 pesetas (Edifil 255 / Scott 286) – major misalignment of last digit (“8”) of control number, note early format with no letter prefix

Use on Non-Postal Stamps

Control numbers were also used on other stamps during the period of their use, such as Giro Postal and Telegraph stamps, in addition to postage stamps.

For example, the Spanish Morocco Giro Postal issues of 1917-18 have control numbers, as do the Telegraph issues from Spain and Spanish Morocco in the 1910s-1920s. The format used for control numbers is the same as with postal issues.

Spanish Morocco 1918 Giro Postal 1 peseta pair MNH** (Edifil 10)

Spain 1921 Telegraph 4 pesetas MH* (Edifil 61) – note the misalignment of two of the numbers

Conclusion

As is evident, the back printing of control numbers, while seemingly simple at first glance, has a number of interesting facets. Quite aside from the question of how successful control numbers were in auditing production and combating fraud, they provide a great deal of interest to the collector of early 20^th century stamps from Spain and its colonies.

Best regards and enjoy your collecting! ~Greg