Spain, 1850 (6 reales)
A young queen in profile wearing a small crown, printed in blue.
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.
- 16 REALES
- 2CORREOS
- 3CERTIFICADO: registered
- Inscription
- 6 REALES · CORREOS · CERTIFICADO · 1850
- Meaning
- CORREOS means posts; CERTIFICADO means registered. 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 6 reales of 1850 says CERTIFICADO on the right: it paid for registered letters.
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 4.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1015084524), licence templates {{PD-old}}. Downloaded 2026-10-22, sha256 af76e780344a…; 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.
