Spain, 1850 (12 cuartos)
A young queen in profile wearing a small crown, printed in lilac.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
No country name: CORREOS and FRANCO or CERTIFICADO are Spanish, the money is in cuartos or reales, and the queen is Isabella II of Spain.
- 112 CUARTˢ
- 2CORREOS
- 3FRANCO
- Inscription
- 12 CUARTS · CORREOS · FRANCO · 1850
- Meaning
- CORREOS means posts; FRANCO means postage paid. Cuartos and reales were Spanish coins. No country name.
- Issued by
- Spain
- Today
- Spain Flag of Spain
- Year
- 1850. Issued 1 January 1850, Spain’s first stamps.
- Made by
- Bartolomé Tomás Coromina Subirá (stamp designer and engraver, died 1867); Joseph Arnold Pingret (designer/engraver of the 1847 medal used as the portrait model, died 1862)
One fact
The 12 cuartos of 1850 abbreviates its value as CUARTS to fit the frame.
Source and public-domain rule
Spain, creators died more than 80 years ago. Spain’s historical term of life + 80 years applies to authors who died before 1987; the named creators, Bartolomé Tomás Coromina Subirá (died 1867), Joseph Arnold Pingret (died 1862), died long before 1946. For authors who died before 7 December 1987, Spanish law keeps the term of the 1879 law: life of the author plus 80 years (Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996, fourth transitional provision; Law of 10 January 1879, Art. 6). Every named designer and engraver of the stamp died before 1 January 1946. Legal sources: Real Decreto Legislativo 1/1996 (intellectual property law), disposición transitoria cuarta, Ley de 10 de enero de 1879 de propiedad intelectual, Art. 6.
Scan: Spain 1850 stamp Mi 2.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1015084424), licence templates {{PD-old}}. Downloaded 2026-10-22, sha256 ce307d40768f…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-22 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a second check of these rights by a person is planned, and a stamp that turns out not to be free to use will be removed. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
