GreeceFirst Postage Stamp

Classical Greece goes postal

Issued in 1861, Greece’s first stamps are collectively known as the Large Hermes Heads. Despite what catalogues suggest, this is essentially one long issue, printed from the same plates for over twenty years until 1883. Different values were created simply by changing the small value tablets in the design. The first printings (7 values) were produced in Paris and are known as the fine printings (like the one featured in this post), with crisp engraving and balanced impressions. Printing then moved to Athens, where several successive printings followed. Early local printings appear coarser, later ones more careful, and from 1862 onward the so-called consecutive printings dominate. In total, eight distinct printings were made in Greece. That complexity is exactly what keeps some of the collectors hooked. The design itself explains the familiarity with the first French stamp. Same frame as France’s 1849 Cérès, but with Hermes in profile. Designed and engraved in Paris by Albert Désiré Barre, son of Jean-Jacques Barre, engraver of the French classics. A single design, a quarter century of production, and endless variation hiding in plain sight.