Today I went with my husband to the post office to pick up something he had ordered online and there, in the waiting room, I saw this corner. Collector's Corner. (Rincón del coleccionista). As there were way too many people and we had to wait quite a lot, I was entertaining myself by reading a bit about the history of the postage in Spain.
The board informs us about some important dates for the post service in this country. In 1716 it began to take its first steps but just many years later Spain had its first mailbox. It was installed in one house in Valladolid in 1793. That very first mailbox in the stone wall can be seen in the photo, under the info and the date.
1850 was an important year, especially for this post and collectors, as that was the year when the first stamp for the postal service was manufactured in Spain. That is a year that I guess all the Spanish philatelist know.
I don't have a very wide collection of postage stamps but I do have some so one day maybe they also come to this community. However, today I will highlight just one collection that can be seen in one of the books I picked from the shelves in the post office. It is a collection of stamps issued in 2020 in Spain and Andorra.
It was not the only book there, but I had to choose just one as I would get lost among so many years and collections. These books are titled Valores en el Tiempo, which would be Values in Time, and each has a different year of publication. Each year new collection of stamps and the explanation about them.
It was quite interesting as I had no idea that they are issued every year and that they cover so many different subjects. Of course, it is a delight for the collectors as many artworks and famous people can be represented on the stamps, as well as important dates, happenings, discoveries, buildings and events.
For example, just look at these awesome ones that represent one of the most important types of architecture, the Mudejar architecture of Aragon. When I visited Teruel and Zaragoza I was able to see in person how peculiar these buildings are. Recognizing this tower from Teruel in a stamp, which I had seen in person, was a good feeling.
On these pages, you can read about the history of the place but also important information about the design of the stamp, size, how many of them were issued, and their value. An example:
Another world heritage site, Madinat al-Zahra is presented in this postage stamp. I put this site on my bucket list to visit one day, just because I saw it now in this stamp.
Football fans can also enjoy some stamp designs.
The provinces of Spain had their moment too. Each month there was one city from a different province that was represented in an issued stamp. I also loved the design of the book and how these collections were described.
Browsing through this magnificent book, I came to the part where a summary of all the stamps was presented, in sections by month. First from Spain, and then from Andorra.
January, February and March:
March, April and May:
May and June:
June, July and August:
September:
September and October:
October and November: (it seems that no stamps were issued in December)
Stamps issued in Andorra during the months of 2020:
I guess I would like to go back one day to the post office again and check out the other years too. But until then... do you have your postage stamp collection? Or maybe you have a book that features some stamp collections? In any case, feel free to share it with us if you like. 😉
