Alfonso XIII – The definitive stamp issues


Alfonso XIII, born after his father's death on May 17, 1886, three days later was declared king of Spain under the regency of his mother, Queen María Cristina. He attained his majority in 1902 and reigned Spain until April 14, 1931. During this long time, five series of definitive stamps with his portrait were issued: Pelón (bald head) 1889-1900; Cadete (Cadet) 1901-1909; Medallón 1909-1923; Vaquer I 1922-1930 and Vaquer II 1930/31. The last issue also exists overprinted "República Española" 1931/32. The Pelón issue was valid until August 31, 1901. All other series ceased to be valid on January 11, 1935. This site is dedicated to this interesting period of modern Spanish postal history.

So far no monographs have been published on these series. There are some articles from the 1920s and 1930s, Mr. Brian Burch's essay on the control numbers and Sr. Martínez Pinna's chapters in his work on the Spanish stamps from 1901-1931. Also, some specialized studies on single values of the first three issues were published by Benito Abalos since 2004. I hope this site will be able to demonstrate how fascinating these stamps and their usage are.
Enjoy!

When using this site you should be aware of the fact that this is a
work in progress. Many chapters will be found "under construction" and some pages on special issues do only show basic information. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Any comments, ideas, critics and questions referring to this site are welcome.
To contact me, please use the Email address given in the left menu. Thank you!


Direct links:
Table showing the highest known control numbers of the different issues.
Table showing the total quantities issued with each serie.


NEW Identification of the 4/4 céntimos stamps of 1872, 1873 and 1876-1920

NEW My site on the Alfonso XIII Official postal stationery cards



Last updated on 12 November 2017

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