España - Spain - 1998 Carné (Stamp Book) S.m. El Rey Don Juan Carlos

An item that had captured my attention is the stamp book issued for King Juan Carlos I's 60th. birthday, Edifil 3544C. The listing in the Edifil catalogue is somewhat vague.


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The stamp book contains the then current 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1,000 pesetas high value permanent stamps of King Juan Carlos I. The first three appear se-tenant with a label depicting the King's Arms in a numbered miniature sheet (Edifil 3544). The latter two appear se-tenant with two labels showing the Spanish Arms and the King's Arms in a numbered miniature sheet (Edifil 3544).

According to my Edifil catalogue (2023), 40,000 stamp books were printed. This is the same number given for the print run of the two miniature sheets. Although I have not found confirmation, I have found indications the stamp book is the only source for these miniature sheets.

The booklet also contains four pages with numbered proofs of the 100, 200, 300, and 500 pesetas stamps printed in black (Edifil 64A/D). The numbers on the two miniature sheet pages and four proofs are the same and also appear on the back cover of the stamp book.



Edifil mentions that the stamp books were sold for 10,000 pesetas. They contain stamps to a face value of 2,100 pesetas. At the official conversion rate, the price equals € 60. This is quite an expensive item with a hefty implied surcharge for the four official proofs.

In 2023, Edifil priced the stamp book at € 150, the two miniature sheets at € 50, each, and the four proofs at € 50 the set. I bought mine at auction at the starting price of € 30, half the original price. Of course, the auction house charges a fee of 20%. I, already, had to pay the service fee for postage on another item, so at € 36, I could satisfy my curiosity. ...

On 22 November 1995, Correos y Telégrafos issued a 1,000 pesetas stamp in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the accession of King Juan Carlos I (Edifil 3403). The stamp showed the King wearing a civilian suit from a picture taken by Jorge Martín Burguillo.



On 12 December 1996, four stamps with face values of 100, 200, 300, and 500 pesetas (Edifil 3461 - 3464) were issued in the same design.

I was wondering why the crown looks like a cross between an iced bun with a cherry on top. and a cheeseburger. Turns out the actual item is a funerary crown from the 1775 funeral of Elizabeth Farnese, and is not designed to be worn.

No, it is not. It is a highly stylised representation of the heraldic crown laid down in legislation from 1981 and 1982. The crown itself does not exist.



The corona tumular is an existing crown used at official functions. It is thought to have been made for the funeral of Queen Isabel Farnese, but this is not documented.

The corona tumular would have shown four arches when viewed centrally from the front. The corona real shows five arches, as does the crown on the stamps. Also, the cross on the orb is characteristic for the corona real.

Thanks by the way for that post. It made me research the crown.

A bit of cultural blindness on my part. The British heraldic crowns (which appear to be known as St Edward's, and the other is Tudor-style) have real-life counterparts. On Royal Mail pillar boxes the EVII, GV , EVIII, GVI and CIII boxes have the Tudor crown, the EII boxes have the St Edwards crown. QV boxes, if they have a crown, seem to have some kind of dumpy St Edward's crown. That according to Google images.

There might be a typo in there. I would be very interested to learn about the post boxes installed during the reign of Edward II.

The Tudor Crown did exist but was destroyed in the seventeenth century. The Tudor Crown used on letter boxes, in watermarks, etc. were heraldic interpretations based on paintings and documents. A replica was made, but only recently.

Looking at pictures, the letter boxes have a range of crowns. It looks like the most commonly used crown is the Imperial State Crown. This also was the crown used for the watermarks in the stamp paper.

I "poked" around but I couldn't find any examples of Edward II's post boxes. The earliest English post box I'm aware of is Sir Francis Walsingham's beer keg.

Edifil 3544:



Edifil 3545 (above post gives an incorrect catalogue number):



Below are pictures of the full miniature sheets taken from the Fesofi website. The bend on the lefthand side suggests these miniature sheets came from an exploded stamp book. This raises the question whether what Edifil calls "small sheets," in fact, are pages from the stamp book.

The four proofs (Edifil 64A/D) are very similar to the proof of the 1000 pesetas stamp (Edifil 37) that was part of a set of 20 proofs (Edifil 37/56) issued in 1995, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the constitution.

These 20 proofs differed in that there was one for the country of Spain, 17 for the different Spanish autonomies and the two autonomous city enclaves in Morocco.

The proofs show the 100, 200, 300, and 5oo pesetas stamps, printed in black. The existence of the proof of the 1000 pesetas stamp issued in 1995 may have been the reason no proof of this stamp was included in the stamp book.