Spain 1860 Isabel II Stamp Issue - An Overview

Spain issued a new set of stamps featuring Queen Isabel II in 1860. The issue of 1860 was the first new design since the issue of 1855. The six values in this set continue the 4 values of the previous issues (2 & 4 cuartos, 1 & 2 reales) and add two more values with 12 cuartos and 19 cuartos. These six values remain consistent in all issues up to 1867.

This set was issued on February 1, 1860 (except for the 19c value on September 1861), and the stamps were effective until they were replaced by the 1862 issue in June/July 1862.

They are all imperforate, feature the same design with a crowned Isabel II facing left, “CORREOS” in a scrolled cartouche at top, with the value in a rectangular frame at bottom, and are printed on coloured paper. The design was engraved by José Pérez Varela, and they were printed in sheets of 100 at the Fabrica Nacional del Sello.

Distinguishing this issue from others is easy, as only one issue in Spain or its colonies shares the same design –the black ¼ reales de plata fuerte of Cuba (Ed 11 / Sc 16).

The six values are as follows:

Value	Colour/Paper (En)	Colour/Paper (Sp)	Edifil #	Scott #	Yvert #	Michel #
2 cuartos	green on greenish	verde s/ verde	51	49	47	43
4 cuartos	orange on greenish	naranja s/ verde	52	50	48	44
12 cuartos	carmine on buff	carmin s/ anteado	53	51	49	45
19 cuartos	brown on buff	castaño s/ salmón	54	52	50	46
1 real	blue on greenish	azul s/ verde	55	53	51	47
2 reales	lilac on lilac	lila s/ malva	56	54	52	48

 

As expected, Edifil Especializado Tomo I catalogue has the most detail on this issue, identifying a number of shades, paper varieties and plate flaws. Scott Classic Specialized covers some shades, whereas neither Yvert nor Michel catalogues distinguish shades or papers.

2 cuartos

Green on greenish paper (verde sur verde). Edifil 51 / Scott 49. Issue quantity of 2,160,648.

Edifil distinguishes shades of dark green (Ed 51a, verde oscure s/ verde) and yellow green (Ed 51b, verde amarillento s/ verde), with the dark green being slightly more valuable. Other catalogues do not distinguish between shades. The three shades are fairly easy to distinguish in practice, although of course there is a continuum among them.

Green with "1" (Madrid) cartwheel cancel (Ed 51)

Yellow green with pen cancel (Ed 51b)

Dark green, with Puerto de Orotava (Canarias) date cancel (Ed 51a)

4 cuartos

Orange on greenish paper (naranja sur verde). Edifil 52 / Scott 50. Issue quantity of 94,484,838.

Edifil distinguishes shades of dark orange (Ed 52a, naranja oscuro s/ verde) and orangish yellow (Ed 51b, amarillo anaranjado s/ verde), with values being roughly equivalent. Other catalogues do not distinguish between shades. In the copies I’ve seen, the 51b shade appears more a pale orange.

This is by far the most commonly found stamp of the 1860 issue (as over 94 million were printed). Cancellation collections, such as assembling all the cartwheel numbers for this stamp (and the other 4 cuartos stamps before and after it) are a popular Spanish collecting focus. Perhaps a focus for a subsequent blog.

Orange with Rota (Cadiz) date cancel

Dark orange with “9” (Alicante) cartwheel cancel (Ed 52a)

Pale orange with "10" (Cordoba) cartwheel cancel (Ed 52b)

 

12 cuartos

Carmine on buff (carmin s/ anteado). Edifil 53 / Scott 51. Issue quantity of 576,860.

Edifil distinguishes a dark carmine shade (Ed 53a, carmin oscuro s/ anteado) of slightly higher value, whereas other catalogues do not distinguish.

Horizontal pair with Cartegena date cancel

Dark carmine horizontal pair with "3" (Cadiz) cartwheel cancel

19 cuartos

Brown on buff (castaño s/ salmón). Edifil 54 / Scott 52. Issue quantity of 35,521.

Printed in much lower quantities than the other values in this set, this is the most valuable stamp of the 1860 issue. Edifil distinguishes an intense brown shade (Ed 53a, castaño intenso s/ salmón), whereas other catalogues do not distinguish.

Sta. Cruz de Mudela/Ciudad Real date cancel

 

1 real

Blue on green (azul s/ verde). Edifil 53 / Scott 51. Issue quantity of 803,444.

Both Edifil and Scott distinguish two more shades of this stamp, the dark blue (Ed 55a / Sc 53a, azul oscuro) and pale blue (Ed 55b / Sc 53b, azul claro). The paper for the dark blue shade does not appear greenish as with the other shades.

Blue pair with cartwheel cancel

Dark blue with unidentified date cancels

 

2 reales

Lilac on lilac (lila s/ malva). Edifil 56 / Scott 54. Issue quantity of 999,374.

Edifil & Scott distinguish a dark lilac or violet shade (Ed 56a / Sc 54a, lila oscuro s/ malva / dark violet on mauve), with the darker shade valued slightly higher. The shades of this stamp can vary quite widely in my experience.

Lilac with date cancels

Dark lilac with “4” (Coruña) cartwheel cancel

 

Cancellations

Cartwheel (rueda de carreta) cancellations are the most commonly found cancels on stamps of this issue. Also often found are date cancels (fechador), typically of the 1857 type, fechador ambulante cancels, and open grill (rejilla) cancels. Less commonly found are the French petit chiffre lozenge of Marseille (“1896”), closed grill (parrilla), various pre-philatelic and other origin cancels. Of course, these latter will sometimes command significant premiums.

2 cuartos with Puerto de Orotava (Canarias) date (fechador) cancel

 

 

4 cuartos with cartwheel "56" (Santiago) & date cancels

 

12 cuartos with French “1896” (Marseille) petit chiffre cancel

1 real with green Vigo pre-philately town cancel

2 reales with "6" (Malaga) modified cartwheel cancel (darker lilac)

2 reales with large numeral “8” cancel

 

Varieties

Plate or cliché flaws. Edifil identifies several varieties for various stamps of this issue, typically deformities in the words and numbers. Various minor uncatalogued flaws can be found as well.

2 cuartos with “broken O in CUARTOS” variety (Ed 51it)

4 cuartos with “broken T in CUARTOS” (uncatalogued)

 

Specimens. Specimen stamps (muestras) can be found for the 2 cuartos, 19 cuartos and 1 real issue, either with a vertical (19 cu.) or horizontal tinted line (raya de tinta).

Bar Cancels. As is typical for this period, multi-line bar cancels (barrados) were applied on “remainders” when unused stamps were removed from service. They can be found for all values, except the 19 cuartos stamp.

Paper varieties. The usual paper thickness I would characterize as generally medium, with some variety, particularly in the 4 cuartos – to be expected given its large print run. The 4 & 12 cuartos values both can be found in a very thin paper (Ed 52p, 53p, papel muy delgado). The 2 reales value can also be found in a thick bluish paper (Ed 50p / Sc 54b, papel grueso azul).

12 cuartos with very thin, translucent paper (Ed 53p)

Proofs & Essays. All six values in the set can be found as proofs (prueba de punzon), with small and large margins, in the issued colours. See Galvez, Catalogo Galvez Pruebas y Ensayos de España for details.

Forgeries. As is typical of classic Spanish stamps, both postal and philatelic forgeries were widely produced for this issue, including by some of the “usual suspects” – e.g. Segui, Fournier, Sperati, etc. Good information in English on forgeries for this issue can be found at https://stampforgeries.blogspot.com/2022/02/spain-1860-61.html. Further postal & philatelic forgery information is available in Spanish language reference works by Galvez and others.

 

Summary

This is one of my favourite series of classic Spain - the design is elegant and the colours on the respective coloured papers attractive. As with many Spanish classic issues, most values in the set are reasonably affordable to collect used, while more expensive to collect in mint condition. The only high-value in the set is the 19 cuartos value, which due to its limited issue quantities has an Edifil CV of 2065K€ used, 3875€ mint hinged.