Columbus

The stamps on this album page depict historic moments in Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas. They include his visits to Spain to get the sponsorship of the royal court. Since he was Italian and from Genova, I’m not sure why he didn’t seek to sail under the flag of the Republic of Genova. Maybe they weren’t interested or thought his idea of going to the East by way of the West absurd.

Other stamps in this series include his arrival in the Americas and declaring it for the Queen of Spain, his ultimate sponsor. And his return to court to describe his discovery. There are a few other scenes shown.

What’s interesting regarding postal history is that these are the first true commemorative stamps from the U.S. The only other ones that come close to being commemorative were the ones on the Pictorials page: Scott 113 of the Pony Express; 114 of a Baldwin Locomotive; 115 of Washington, which is different from the usual definitives of that period; 116 of an Eagle and U.S. crest; and 117 of the U.S.S. Adriatic.

Note

There are many stamps depicting Christopher Columbus and commemorating the many related events of his voyages to the Americas – and in Spain. I like the look of these stamps and enjoy the scenes presented in them. They’re pretty expensive: not too much each, a little more for higher denomination ones. The cost of all seventeen of them in unused condition can be plenty. I still haven’t finished building my Italian Pre-Unification album or my Italian Colonies album. It’s a matter of deciding which I want more.

Contains 16 spots: own 11 – 11 unused, 0 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed May 8, 2024

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Columbus - World’s Fair

1.1	✓	230	Columbus: Land	1c (jan 1893) comm., dark blue
2.1	✓	231	Landing of Columbus	2c (jan 1893) comm., brown violet
2.2	✓	232	Santa Maria (1460)	3c (jan 1893) comm., green
2.3	✓	233	Fleet of Columbus	4c (jan 1893) comm., ultramarine
3.1	✓	234	Columbus Solicits Queen	5c (jan 1893) comm., chocolate
3.2	✓	235	Columbus at Barcelona	6c (jan 1893) comm., purple
3.3	✓	236	Columbus Restored	8c (mar 1893) comm., magenta
4.1	✓	237	Columbus with Natives	10c (jan 1893) comm., black brown
4.2	✓	238	Columbus: Discovery	15c (jan 1893) comm., dark green
4.3	✓	239	Columbus: Rábida Friary	30c (jan 1893) comm., orange brown
5.1	✓	240	Recall of Columbus	50c (jan 1893) comm., slate blue
5.2		241	Queen Isabella Pledges Jewels	$1 (jan 1893) comm., salmon
5.3		242	Columbus in Chains	2$ (jan 1893) comm., brown red
6.1		243	Columbus: Third Voyage	3$ (jan 1893) comm., yellow green
6.2		244	Isabella & Columbus	4$ (jan 1893) comm., crimson lake
6.3		245	Adm. Christopher Columbus	5$ (jan 1893) comm., black

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.