The CORREO AÉREO overprint (1920)

In 1919, the Spanish post office decided to issue a special set of airmail stamps which finally were issued on April 1, 1920. The stamps to be overprinted were not taken out of the current print-run of the Medallón issue but were printed and numbered seperately from A.000,001 to A.002,000 (the Céntimos values) and from A.000,001 to A.001,000 (the 1 Peseta value). Philatelic forgeries of all overprinted values exist but can easily be recognized either by the reverse numbering (over A.002,000 resp. A.001,000) or by the fake overprint. An overprinted 30 Céntimos value (listed in the Spanish Edifil catalogue as NE 22) was never issued nor prepared!

There were five national
airline routes in Spain: Barcelona - Alicante - Malaga (01.04.1920-31.03.1925), Sevilla - Larache (15.10.1921-01.10.1930), Barcelona - Palma de Mallorca (21.06.-25.08.1922), Madrid - Barcelona (09.03.-09.05.1928; 8.-10.1928 and 21.10.1929-14.04.1931) and Madrid - Sevilla (21.10.1929-14.04.1931). The additional postage for airmail was 50 Céntimos for each 15 or 20 grams, so most values of this serie were really unnecessary. From October 1929 to April 1931, the postage for airmail on the Madrid - Barcelona and the Madrid - Sevilla lines was double the regular postage fee. Commercially used covers, especially from the Barcelona - Palma de Mallorca line, are scarce. Many philatelic set covers exist. A great quantity of the remained 50 Cts and the 1 Pta values were used up in 1930 on a multitude of covers which went by Zeppelin on it's first South America Flight (20.05.1930).

Complete set of the CORREO AEREO overprinted stamps.

Upper right sheet corner of the overprinted 5 Céntimos value, numbered A.000869.
Plate number "4", so far not recorded with this face value.


Engraver: Bartolomé Maura Montaner | Recess printing with typographic surcharge in red or black. | Sheets of 100 | Perforation: 13 : 12,5 (comb) | First issued: 1 April 1920| Valid until: 11.01.1935 | Control numbers on the reverse | Total issued 200.000 of the 5, 10, 25 and 50 cts; 100.000 of the 1 Pta


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