Commemoratives Commemorated
In 1992, in an international postal endeavor of unprecedented scope, the United States, Italy, Spain and Portugal—the four nations most closely associated with Columbus—each issued a set of six souvenir sheets on which all sixteen of the 1893 U. S. Columbian stamps were replicated. The sets of all four countries had been jointly designed and proved largely identical, differing only in details relating to language and national postal usage. The American issues reproduced the original stamps almost exactly but altered the date in the upper right corner from 1892 to 1992.
Three stamp-images appeared on each of the sheets except for the sixth, which was devoted entirely to the original $5 Columbian. The American and Italian sets each offered sixteen perforated stamps, denominated in sixteen values. The Spanish and Portuguese sets, by contrast, included many imperforate images, for only one stamp on each sheet was perforated, and in each of these two sets, all the perforated stamps bore the same denomination—respectively, 60 Spanish pesetas and 260 Portuguese escudos (no denominations appeared on the imperforate images).
On each of the first five sheets, the overall title "The Voyages of Columbus" is followed by an individual subtitle that ostensibly characterizes the sheet’s background art and the trio of the stamp-subjects included on it:
- 1. First sighting of Land (U. S. 1¢, 4¢, $1)
- 2. Claiming a New World (2¢, 3¢, $4)
- 3. Seeking Royal Support (5¢, 30¢, 50¢)
- 4. Royal Favor Restored (6¢, 8¢, $3)
- 5. Reporting Discoveries (10¢, 15¢, $2)
(It can not be said every stamp-image is consonant with its sheet’s subtitle). The final sheet is titled simply Christopher Columbus and its single stamp is accompanied by text that cites the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage and the upcoming 100th anniversary of the first commemorative United States Stamps.
In all four countries, these sheets were offered for sale only between May 22 and September 27, 1992.
Read more about this topic: Columbian Issue