ASOFILCA

The cuadradas stamps of 1866-78 collectively form the most complex series of stamps of the classic period of Venezuelan philately. The most obvious categorisation of these stamps is into those without an overprint and those with an overprint. In the second category are 4 subcategories – as there were 4 different overprints – one used after another. So, there are in reality 5 main categories or issues of this series: no overprint, first overprint, second overprint, third overprint and fourth overprint.

While Thomas W. Hall & L. W. Fulcher said a little about this series in their work, The Postage Stamps of Venezuela (London: 1924), the leading study of these stamps is that of Cornelius Wickersham in The Early Stamps of Venezuela (New York: 1958). Wickersham did not do a detailed study of all values in all issues. Sometimes that was for lack of material. He did do detailed work for some values in some issues, however. Most notable, perhaps, is his discovery and description of 5 different settings of the medio real value in the unoverprinted issue. For these settings and for a couple other values in certain issues he described the transfer types and how they were used to build up the sheets of these values, in some cases through the use of standard blocks of these transfer types.

One of the issues Wickersham said little about was the medio real value with the second overprint. In fact, there is little information anywhere on this particular stamp. It is not a rare stamp. In this issue, the overprint consists of two lines, the top line says repeatedly “Contraseña” and the bottom line saying repeatedly “Estampillas de Correo”. Wickersham says that the stamp with an inverted overprint is comparatively common, but that with the “normal” (i.e. uninverted) overprint is rare. Wickersham also said that multiple pieces “must be excessively rare” as he knew only of pairs. He added that nothing was known as to the size of the sheet or the arrangement of the transfers. Hall & Fulcher say little about this stamp, but they do note that a stamp with a “normal” (i.e. uninverted) overprint is “exceedingly rare”. Dr Santiago Hernández Ron in his work Estampillas Clasicas de Venezuela (Caracas: 1967) records that there were 500,000 ordered in August 1873, but he records that there is little other information about the production or issue of this stamp.

The following is a stamp – a type 6 – with typical heavy inking (of both the main design and the overprint).

My study of these stamps was structured in an unusual way. I have well over 400 single copies of these stamps but only a few small multiples. I studied the transfer types individual stamp by individual stamp. However, because the lines between the stamps are so regular and characteristic, given the number of stamps I had, many with excellent margins, it was possible to determine how the block that was used to build up the sheet was made. It is clear that there were 25 transfer types used. These were arranged in a standard block of 5 rows of 5 types each. My conclusions about this arrangement was confirmed by my study of larger blocks (including one of 35 stamps that contains a full standard block of 25) in the collection of Dr Knut Heister.

It has been assumed (by Hernández Ron, at p. 135) that the sheet contains 300 stamps. The marginal copies of the medio real stamps are consistent with an arrangement of 12 (3 x 4) complete blocks

The 25 transfer types can be reasonably easily identified. The characteristics set out here are largely related to characteristics not involving the dividing lines between the stamps. Those dividing line characteristics make the identification task even easier and it is my hope to present this identification information more fully in some place in the future.

The description of the characteristics here relates in most cases to various features on the design of the stamp. The following illustration will help the reader understand the locator descriptions used. (The illustrated stamp is a type 20, a rare mint copy of the stamp being studied.)

The stamp is square but is characterised by a design of octagons. The “central octagon” contains the arms of Venezuela. Around this is a “white octagon” containing the words “CORREO DE LOS E.E.U.U. DE VENEZA” and “MEDIO REAL”. There are also two stars, one “left star” and one “right star”, in this white octagon. Finally, there is an “outer octagon” lining the outside of the white octagon. A thin, square “border” marks the outside of the design of the stamp and part of this border is formed by four of the sides of the outer octagon. Inside this border but outside the outer octagon are the four corners of the stamp filled with an “ornamental design”. Another feature of the design is worth mentioning: there is a thin line cutting across the stamp from the top right corner to the bottom border, passing through the letters ED of MEDIO. This “diagonal line” in most transfer types continues beyond the bottom border and connects to or near the lower “dividing line” in a way characteristic of the particular transfer type. The dividing lines around a stamp can be a useful indicator of the transfer type but are only occasionally mentioned in the descriptions that follow.

Transfer Types

The 25 standard transfer types are as follows, in the order they appear in the standard block:

1. Large white triangular flaw on edge of central octagon under RE of CORREO
2. Outer octagon greatly thinned under DIO of MEDIO
3. Outer octagon slightly bumped inwards under M of MEDIO; small ink dot on inside of outer octagon over stalk of 1st E of E.E.U.U.
4. Transfer fold somewhat (and noticeably) squashing the star on left and moving the letters AL of REAL closer together
5. Ink dot on inside of border right of top of D of 2nd DE
6. Ink dot under toe of R of REAL, often joining the R to the outer octagon [see first stamp illustrated above]
7. Left third of lower border missing and the design of the stamp somewhat (and noticeably) cut away here
8. Dot or line cutting across inside of D of 2nd DE slightly above the midway point; diagonal line connecting to a slightly raised lower dividing line that is noticeably thinned just where the dividing line connects to it
9. Large white circular flaw in top left corner of shield of central arms
10. Ink dot or blob under right end of lower arm of E of MEDIO; ink dot under lower border very near left end
11. Right end of bottom arm of 2nd E of E.E.U.U. connected to central octagon by ink dot
12. Ink dot atop top of stock of E of MEDIO; short, clear break in top border at extreme left (cf. types 16, 17 and 25)
13. Short clear break in top border just right of place where thin border line joins top of outer octagon; small ink dot on inside of outer octagon above left arm of 2nd U of E.E.U.U.
14. (*) Large break in lower dividing line under letters DIO R of MEDIO REAL; doubled dividing line above stamp, the lower of these lines drooping noticeably above whole of 1st U of E.E.U.U.
15. Upper tip of C of CORREO joined to the O by ink
16. Clear break in top border near – but not at – left end (roughly north of top of 2nd O of CORREO) (cf. types 12, 17 and 25)
17. Ink dot on outside of outer octagon above EO of CORREO; two short breaks in top border at extreme left, the left break broader than the right and the two breaks separated by a very short dash (cf. types 12, 16 and 25)
18. Short line projecting outwards and upwards from outside of left border left of bottom of left star
19. Very noticeable web of ink lines at NW corner of stamp, particularly noticeable outside border area here
20. Ornamental design in extreme NW corner takes form of a small flattened x; right ends of top two arms of 2nd E of E.E.U.U. joined by ink [see second stamp illustrated above]
21. (*) Top dividing line above S E.E.U. of LOS E.E.U.U. thickened by doubling of the line; right dividing line doubled or noticeably thickened at very top and for entirety of lower half
22. (*) Left dividing line doubled or noticeably thickened at very top and for entirety of lower half; noticeable break in left side of right dividing line right of V of VENEZ
23. Short clear break in top border near right end; notch in top of outer octagon above right end of top arm of 1st E of E.E.U.U.
24. Notch in outside of outer octagon above EO of CORREO and a break in left border near this notch
25. Short clear break in top border near left end, the remnant of the border left of this break sloping slightly downwards to meet the left border (cf. types 12, 16 and 17); usually a dot in white octagon between tops of O of MEDIO and R of REAL

(*) Note: the descriptions for types 14, 21 and 22 unfortunately involve only characteristics of the dividing lines around the stamps and not on the design of the stamp itself.)

As Hall & Fulcher and Wickersham say, the inverted overprint on these stamps is by far more common than the uninverted overprint. Of the 400-odd single copies which could be identified as being of one of these 25 types, only 13 had an uninverted overprint.

While the sheet is very regularly built up using the block of 25, there are a few places where one transfer type has been replaced for another. In the following example, a type 7 has replaced a type 10. On the far right remains the line that is characteristic of type 10:

Furthermore there are several transfer folds found on stamps in some positions. These transfer folds never prevent the identification of the stamp as being of a particular type. Some of the transfer folds are depicted in the following illustration, showing types 21, 22 and 23. The transfer folds all affect an area somewhere around the words MEDIO REAL.

So much for the bulk of the stamps. More intriguingly, however, of the over 400 stamps I had to study, 24 stamps – mostly with full margins and clear details – were not of the 25 usual transfer types, just described. A few of these unusual stamps were clearly of the same type. This group of stamps appears, in fact, to be of 10-12 different types. All but one of these stamps have an uninverted overprint.

The following pair is an example of the unusual types.

How to count for those stamps that are not of the 25 usual types?

It is possible that the unusual types come from the standard sheet and simply represent aberrant types used to fill a particular location on the standard sheet. This use of a less common type in one place on the sheet is known in other cases in the cuadradas series. For example in the unoverprinted medio real stamp, setting 1 has a type 9 that appears only in places on the far right of the sheet. The 2 reales value of the unoverprinted issue has types 8 and 9 that are found only in the extreme bottom right corner of the sheet.

But this scenario does not appear to explain the unusual settings of the medio real stamp with the second overprint. First, as mentioned, there are at least 10 different unusual transfer types, a much greater number than the odd transfer or two in the examples just mentioned. Furthermore, there is no known example of a multiple that has a usual transfer type plus an unusual transfer type. Thirdly, on all but 1 of the 24 seen examples of the unusual transfer types, the overprint is uninverted, not inverted. This is extraordinary given that in the over 500 examples of the usual types seen, including those in the Dr Heister collection, far fewer than 5% of the overprints are uninverted, not inverted. Next, the overprint on the unusual types is clean, sharp and easily legible. This contrasts with the situation in the stamps of the usual types. Here, the overprint is often overinked, as in the first stamp illustrated in this article. Sometimes the overprint on stamps of the usual types is so worn as to make it difficult to read. (See the illustrations, above, of a couple of the stamps with the transfer folds.) Another difference is that the unusual-type stamps are not overinked and are of a paler or bright shade of pink or rose. This colouring does exist in the stamps of the usual types but it is not normal. Rather, these stamps are usually overinked and of a deeper rose shade, as in the first stamp illustrated in this article. A final, though uncertain, point is that, so far as can be determined, the stamps of the unusual types seem to be set slightly further apart in general than the stamps of the usual types.

The conclusion must be that these unusual-type stamps are from a distinct setting of the medio real. There were, therefore, two settings of this value.

What else can be said (or, more accurately, guessed) about these stamps?

Assuming the numbers I have seen are at all representative, it would seem that of the 500,000 stamps of this value, at most 5% of the total were of the unusual setting. Thus, at most 25,000 stamps of this setting were made and even that seems like an overestimate.

It would appear that the unusual setting was (and should better be called) the first setting. This conclusion is made partly because the overprint is of so much better quality than that usually found on the other setting. It is also because the earliest known cover with this stamp – that in the great collection of Dr Knut Heister – appears to be a stamp from this first setting. This cover is dated 16 September 1873. It might also be noted that this is the only known extant use of a stamp from the first setting.

Uso Mas Temprano Conocido de una pieza de la Primera Impresión - Colección Dr., Knut Heister Detalle donde se aprecia el resello no invertido

The fact that the vast bulk of the stamps of the first (i.e. unusual) setting have normal overprint has consequences for the stamps of the second (i.e. the usual) setting. It has been noted by both Hall & Fulcher and Wickersham that the uninverted overprint is scarce or rare in this stamp. But as so many of the uninverted overprints are in fact from the first setting, this increases greatly the rarity of this version of the overprint in the second setting. While the inverted overprint is very common in this stamp, it is the rarest overprint of all, when it is on a stamp of the first setting. The following is the only copy – a dirty one at that! – that the author has seen from the first setting with an inverted overprint.

Truly mint copies of the medio real stamp with the second overprint are very scarce. So far as the author knows, there is no mint copy of the first setting. Multiples of the first setting are also, not surprisingly, rare, and only pairs have been seen.

Given so few examples of the first setting to study, it is difficult to know how many transfer types were made for the first setting. Only about 10-12 distinct types have been seen and, given the scarcity of stamps of this setting, it is still too early to attempt a confident description of any types. Of the types known, only 5 can be plotted as adjacent to each other. The author’s best guess is that a block of 15 stamps (three rows of five types each) was used. This size would be consistent with the blocks used to create the 1 centavo and 2 reales sheets for the cuadradas stamps with the second overprint.