The Ceres series of Portuguese postage stamps is a definitive series depicting the Roman

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás st ...

that was issued between 1912 and 1945 in Portugal and its colonies.

History and description

The Ceres stamps were the first issued after the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic, superseding stamps figuring king Manuel II that had been overprinted with the word "República" 1910-1911. Drawn by Constantino de Sobral Fernandes and engraved by José Sérgio de Carvalho e Silva, the design represents the goddess Ceres, standing and looking forward, holding a billhook in one hand and a sheaf of grain in the other. The inscriptions are "REPUBLICA PORTUGUESA" and "CORREIO" (for Portuguese Republic and Post). It was printed in typography by the Portuguese mint, Casa da Moeda. The series were issued between February 16, 1912 and 1931. During their period of issue, they went through several changes: * 1928-1929 - overprint with new denominations * 1929 - overprint "Revalidado" * 1930 - re-engraving by Arnoldo Fragoso The 1926 series was printed in lithography, engraved by Eufénio Carlo Alberto Merondi and printed by the British firm

De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printe ...

. The author's names are not printed on this series. The Ceres stamps were declared obsolete September 30, 1945, having been superseded in 1943 by the Caravel series of definitives.

In the colonies

Ceres stamps were issued in the Portuguese colonies as well, in a

key plate In printing, a key plate is the plate which prints the detail in an image. When printing color images by combining multiple colors of inks, the colored inks usually do not contain much image detail. The key plate, which is usually impressed using ...

design with the denominations and name of the colony printed in black. However, in the Azores, the Ceres stamps in use were Portuguese ones overprinted with the archipelago's name. In 1928, Madeira received intaglio printed stamps with typographic denominations; they were made by

Perkins Bacon Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co was a printer of books, bank notes and postage stamps, most notable for printing the Penny Black, the world's first adhesive postage stamps, in 1840. {{Infobox , above = Details on the mode of preventing the forgery o ...

in London. File:Timbre_Angola_portugais_Ceres_1910s-1930s.jpg, Angola File:Timbre Acores Ceres 5cbistre 1918-21.jpg, Azores File:Ceres-caboverde-1c.jpg, Cape Verde File:Ceres-guine-0,5c.jpg, Portuguese Guinea File:POR_LM_1914_MiNr0117_mt_B002.jpg, Lourenço Marques File:Stamp Macau 1913 4a Ceres.jpg, Macau File:Ceres-mocambique-1,5c.jpg, Mozambique File:Ceres-stomeeprincipe-0,5c.jpg, São Tomé and Príncipe File:Stamp_Tete_1914_5c.jpg,

Tete Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues ...

File:Portuguese_Timor_stamp_2_Avos_Ceres.jpg, Portuguese Timor

References

* ''Selos postais'',

Afinsa Afinsa was a company from Spain, which at one point was the world's third largest collectibles company, after Sotheby's and Christie's, and with its controlling stake in Escala Group operated in many European cities, the United States and Asia. Fo ...

éditions, Portugal ; Portuguese

stamp catalog A stamp catalog (or stamp catalogue) is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices. The stamp catalog is an essential tool of philately and stamp collecting. Stamp catalogs are part of philatelic literature. Similar catalog ...

. * J.M. Miranda da Mota et Armando Mário O. Vieira, ''Portugal Ceres – Variedades de cliche'', Afinsa editions, Portugal.

External links

* * {{cite web, url=http://selosemarcaspostais.blogspot.com/2010/12/postal-maximo-ceres-100-anos-da.html, title=Postal Máximo — Ceres 100 Anos da República, author=Marklaro, date=2010-12-04, work=Selos e Marcas Postais de Portugal, publisher=Marklaro; Blogger, Google, language=pt, accessdate=2011-02-12 1912 establishments in Portugal 1945 disestablishments in Portugal Postage stamps Philately of Portugal Ceres (mythology) Roman goddesses in art

History and description

In the colonies

See also

References

External links