Monaco, 1885 (5 centimes)
A prince with side whiskers in profile inside a beaded oval.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
PRINCIPAUTÉ DE MONACO across the top.
- 1PRINCIPAUTÉ DE MONACO
- 2POSTES
- Inscription
- PRINCIPAUTÉ DE MONACO · POSTES · 5 5
- Meaning
- “Principality of Monaco”; POSTES is French for posts.
- Issued by
- Monaco
- Today
- Monaco Flag of Monaco
- Year
- 1885. Issued 1 July 1885, Monaco’s first stamps.
- Made by
- Jean-Baptiste Daniel-Dupuis (design, died 1899); Louis-Eugène Mouchon (engraving, died 1914)
One fact
Until 1885 Monaco used French stamps. Its own first series showed Prince Charles III, who gave his name to Monte Carlo.
Source and public-domain rule
Creators died more than 70 years ago. Designer Jean-Baptiste Daniel-Dupuis died 1899, engraver Louis-Eugène Mouchon died 1914. (Commons’ description says “O. Dupuis”; the signature on the stamp reads D. DUPUIS.) Copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years, counted from 1 January of the year after death. Every named designer and engraver of the stamp died before 1 January 1956; any contributor who was never named counts as anonymous, whose term is 70 years from publication, and the stamp was published before 1956. Legal sources: Directive 2006/116/EC, Art. 1(1) life + 70 years; Art. 1(3) anonymous works 70 years from publication; Art. 7(1) comparison of terms for works from outside the EU; Art. 8 terms run from 1 January, Switzerland, Norway.
Scan: Stamp Monaco 1885 5c.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1190399459), licence templates {{PD-old-100}}. Downloaded 2026-10-21, sha256 c79e2a4ee97e…; 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.
