Ceres series (Portugal)
Encyclopedia
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s is a definitive
Definitive stamp
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp, that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service for an extended period of time...
series depicting the Roman
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
Ceres that was issued between 1912 and 1945 in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and its colonies.
History and description
The Ceres stamps were the first issued after the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic, superseding stamps figuring king Manuel IIManuel II of Portugal
Manuel II , named Manuel Maria Filipe Carlos Amélio Luís Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Francisco de Assis Eugénio de Bragança Orleães Sabóia e Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha — , was the last King of Portugal from 1908 to 1910, ascending the throne after the assassination of his father and elder brother Manuel...
that had been overprint
Overprint
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp or banknote after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail...
ed with the word "República" 1910-1911.
Drawn by Constantino de Sobral Fernandes and engraved by José Sérgio de Carvalho e Silva, the design represents the goddess Ceres, standing and looking forward, holding a billhook
Billhook
The billhook is a traditional cutting tool known and used throughout the world, and very common in the wine-growing countries of Europe, used widely in agriculture and forestry The billhook (also bill hook – although this more usually refers to either a metal or plastic hook used to hold bills,...
in one hand and a sheaf of grain in the other. The inscriptions are "REPUBLICA PORTUGUESA" and "CORREIO" (for Portuguese Republic and Post). It was printed in typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
by the Portuguese mint, Casa da Moeda.
The series were issued between February 16, 1912 and 1931. During their period of issue, they went through several changes:
- 1918-1919 - overprint with new denominationsDenomination (postage stamp):This article deals with the price of a postage stamp. For other meanings of the word 'denomination' see Denomination .In philately, the denomination is the "inscribed value of a stamp"...
- 1929 - overprint "Revalidado"
- 1930 - re-engraving by Arnoldo Fragoso
The 1926 series was printed in lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, engraved by Eufénio Carlo Alberto Merondi and printed by the British firm De La Rue
De La Rue
De La Rue plc is a British security printing, papermaking and cash handling systems company headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire. It also has a factory on the Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, and other facilities at Loughton, Essex and Bathford, Somerset...
. The author's names are not printed on this series.
The Ceres stamps were declared obsolete September 30, 1945, having been superseded in 1943 by the Caravel series of definitives.
In the colonies
Ceres stamps were issued in the Portuguese colonies as well, in a key plateKey plate
In printing, a key plate is the plate which prints the detail in an image.When printing color images by combining multiple colors of inks, the colored inks usually do not contain much image detail...
design with the denominations and name of the colony printed in black.
However, in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
and Madeira Islands, the Ceres stamps in use were Portuguese ones overprinted with the archipelago's name. In 1928, Madeira received intaglio printed
Intaglio (printmaking)
Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate, and the incised line or area holds the ink. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or...
stamps with typographic denominations; they were made by Perkins Bacon
Perkins Bacon
Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co was a printer of books, bank notes and postage stamps, most notable for printing the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamps, in 1840.- Origins :...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.