Cuba. Postage Stamp History

Transcription

1 Postage Stamp History The United States intervened in Cuba in One of the interesting and rare series of stamps occurred as a result. This was the provisional issues known as 'Puerto Príncipe', now Camagüey named after the town where they were printed. The supplies of stamps in the town included stamps imprinted with the likeness of Alfonso XIII of Spain, but the United States in December, 1898, was now in control. A peace protocol had been entered into between U.S. and Spain on August 12, 1898, and the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, ceded control to the United States. On December 19, 1898 the U.S. supplied stamps were still a month away from delivery. The local authorities solved that problem by obtaining permission from the provisional U.S. military government to contract a local printer to surcharge existing supplies of Spanish Cuban stamps with a surcharge of initially four different denominations. Eventually a total of five different printings were made that resulted in a total of five different denominations. These surcharged issues are scarce. As a result, forgeries are numerous. A Puerto Príncipe stamp should be authenticated to have maximum value to a collector. By using vertical verification lines, one can get a good idea of whether on not a surcharge is original or forged. The provisional stamp overprints on U.S. stamps initially consisted of a 1 centavo on a 1 Franklin, 2½c on a 2 Washington, 3c on a 3 Jackson, 5c on a 5 Grant, 10c on a 10 Webster and a 10c overprint on a U.S. special delivery stamp. It turned out that the 2½ stamp was in error as the postage rates had recently changed. They continued to use the 2½ stamps anyway and sold them for and valued them at 2 so as not to waste the large printing. Later a 2 overprint appeared. Later in 1899, the United States printed a series of six stamps for Cuba. They are known as the 'Alegorías Cubana' or Cuban allegory stamps. Regular postage rates of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 and a special delivery 10 stamp comprised this series. As with the adhesive stamps, the first provisional stamped envelopes were also overprints on U.S. stock. There were eight different U.S. envelopes that were overprinted 'CUBA.' and '1c. (or 2c.) DE PESO.'. By the late summer of 1899, the U.S. had furnished Cuba with its own Columbus design to replace the overprints. Likewise the first (and only) postal cards of the U.S. administration were a 1 U.S. Jefferson card overprinted with 'CUBA.-1c. de Peso.' and a 2 U.S. Liberty card overprinted with 'CUBA.-2c. de Peso.' U.S. rule of Cuba ended on May 20, 1902 when Cuba became an independent Republic. 1 This album is organized with the 'Puerto Principe' issues displayed at the end of this album for those who wish to only print the more common and reasonalby priced issues of this USA Possession.

2 Issued Under United States Administration Puerto Principe Issue In December 1898, Puerto Principe, a provincial capital now called Camaguey, ran short of 1c, 2c, 3c, 5c, and 10c stamps. The Postmaster ordered Cuban stamps to be surcharged on December 19, 1898 The surcharging was done to horizontal strips of five stamps, so vertical pairs and blocks do not exist. Five types are found in each setting, and five printings were made. Refer to the Identifier on the last page for help in properly identifying this issue Examples of Surcharges used and other information can be found in the CUBA section of the Scott US Specialized Stamp Catalogue Regular Issues of Cuba of 1896 and 1898 Surcharged , Black Surcharge on Nos , 160 1cent on 1m (a) 1cents on 1m (b) 2c on 2m (c) 2c on 2m orange brown pos a 2c on 2m (d) 2c on 2m 3c on 1m (k) 3c on 1m (l) 3c on 2m (e) orange brown pos4 orange brown pos a 179B 179D 179F 3c on 2m (f) 3c on 3m (e) 3c on 3m 3c on 3m (f) 179G a 181 3c on 3m 5c on 1m (g) 5c on 1m 181a a 2

3 5c on 1m (h) 5c on 1m 5c on 2m (g) 5c on 2m (h) a c on 3m (g) 5c on 3m 5c on 3m (h) 5c on 3m a a 5c on 5m (g) orange brown pos 1&2 5c on 5m 5c on 5m (h) orange brown pos 1& a 189 5c on 5m 5c on 5m (i) orange brown pos4 189a 189C 3

4 Black Surcharge on No. P25 5c on 1/2m (g) blue green pos2 5c on 1/2m 5c on 1/2m (h) blue green pos a 191 5c on 1/2m 5c on 1/2m (i) blue green pos4 5c on 1/2m (j) blue green pos4 191a Red Surcharge on No c on 1c (k) 3c on 1c 3c on 1c (l) 3c on 1c a a 5c on 1c (i) 5c on 1c 5c on 1c (j) 5c on 1c a a 4

5 10c on 1c (m) 10c on 1c broken figure '1' a The following series lists only the common varieties. Many sub-varieties exist and are catalogued in the Scott United States Specialized. Black Surcharge on Nos. P26-P30 3c on 1m (k) 3c on 1m (l) 3c on 2m (k) 3c on 2m (l) 3c on 3m (k) c on 3m (l) 5c on 1m (i) 5c on 1m (j) 5c on 2m (i) 5c on 2m (j) c on 3m (i) 5c on 3m (j) 5c on 4m (i) 5c on 4m (j) c on 8m (i) 5c on 8m (j)

6 General Postage USA Nos. 279, 267, 267b, 279Bf, 279Bh, 268, 281, 282C, and 283 Surcharged in Black 1899, Wmk. 191, Perf. 12 2c on 2c 2.5c on 2c 2.5c on 2c reddish carmine type IV reddish carmine type III reddish carmine type IV A A 10c on 10c brown type II A Issues of the Republic under US Military Rule Re-engraved The re-engraved stamps issued by the Republic of Cuba in may be distinguished from the issue of 1899 as follows: Nos are watermarked U S-C 1c : The ends of the label inscribed 'Centavo' are rounded instead of square 2c : The foliate ornaments, inside the oval disks bearing the numerals of value, have been removed 5c : Two lines forming a right angle have been added in the upper corners of the label bearing the word 'Cuba' 10c: A small ball has been added to each of the square ends of the label Scott 227 Original Scott 227 Re-Engraved Scott 228 Original Scott 228 Re-Engraved Scott 230 Original Scott 230 Re-Engraved Scott 231 Original 1899, Wmk. US-C(191C), Perf. 12 Scott 231 Re-Engraved

7 Special Delivery Stamps Issued under United States Administration Special Delivery Stamp of the United States No. E5 Surcharged in Red 1899, Wmk. 191, Perf. 12 E1 Issue of the Republic under US Military Rule Special Delivery Messenger SD2 Inscribed: Immediata 1899, Wmk. US-C(191C), Perf. 12 E2 Postage Due Stamps Issued under United States Administration Postage Due Stamps of the United States Nos. J38 J39, J41, and J42 Surcharged in Black like Nos A 1899, Wmk. 191, Perf. 12 2c on 2c 5c on 5c 10c on 10c deep claret deep claret deep claret J1 J2 J3 J4 7

8 Cuba Puerto Principe Identification Page The small letters in brackets next to the denomenation represent the overprint variety as above The numbers next to the colour as in 'pos1, pos2' etc. represent the position of the overprint For further information regarding this issue, many web sites and the Scott United States Specialized Catalogue provide useful information As this page is purely optional, it is placed at the end for easy printing. 8