Portugal

Stamp collecting has been a long followed tradition for collecting stamps from Portugal for instance. Aficionados, who exchange, sell and collect these precious paper pieces, have formed their own clan. Portugal is a popular parliamentary democratic country located in the southwestern Europe with the official language, "Portuguese". This justifies the Portuguese inscription on each stamp. The first Portuguese stamp that appeared in 1853, had a white monarch’s picture embossed on coloured background, which made it plausible for its authenticity. During this period, Portugal developed some stamps that are extremely valuable today, including the Gibbons catalogue number eight and nine. Among this series the 100 reis had a bucolic lilac colour.

The history of Portugal reveals the importance that they laid on the sea navigation. Its influence can be seen on the stamps too. The first archetype of pictorial stamp appeared in 1894, celebrating 500th anniversary of Henry the Navigator’s birth. In the 1898 issue of stamps, the journey of Vasco da Gama to India formed the subject. Since, Portugal had colonies in Africa during that period, the Vasco da Gama series of stamps were introduced in Africa; of course, they had dedication in the African language. The early twentieth century stamps showcased overprinting and introduction of Ceres. Aeroplanes were, synchronously, portrayed on the stamps during this era. This was followed by the literary issue and the Caravel type. In the mid twentieth century, first railway stamps were released. Since then, Portuguese stamps have been portraying a variety of incidents and influencing social class on their stamps.