Especializado de Selos Postais e Marcas Pré-Adesivas de Portugal, Açores e Madeira [Mundifil Catalog of Postage Stamps and Pre-Adhesive Marks of Portugal, Azores and Madeira] and Especializado de Selos das Colónias Portuguesas [Mundifil Catalog of Portuguese Colonies Stamps]
Especializado de Selos Postais e Marcas Pré-Adesivas de Portugal, Açores e Madeira [Mundifil Catalog of Postage Stamps and Pre-Adhesive Marks of Portugal, Azores and Madeira] and Especializado de Selos das Colónias Portuguesas [Mundifil Catalog of Portuguese Colonies Stamps]. By J. Miranda da Mota [Orientação Técnica]. Published by Mundifil, Rua da Madalena 227, 1100 Lisboa, Portugal. Catalog of Postage Stamps and Pre-Adhesive Marks: 573 pages, 24 x 20 cm format, 32nd edition. ISBN: 978-989-99994-0-4. 2020 edition (sold out); 2018 edition price 25 euros, available from Mundifil, www.mundifil.pt. Catalog of Portuguese Colonies Stamps: 527 pages, 23 x 16 cm format, 8th edition. ISBN: 978-989-20-5510-7. 2019 edition rice 38 euros, available from www.mundifil.pt.
Reviewer: Stephen Washburne
[email protected]
For anyone beyond the beginner level, the best and most useful catalogs are two volumes published by Mundifil (www.mundifil.pt): Selos Postais, usually abbreviated CE or Cat.Esp. Coverage of the Portugal catalog includes the “countries” Scott catalogs list as Angra, Azores, Funchal, Horta, Madeira & Ponta Delgada. These regions are listed after the mother country. Coverage of the Colonies catalog includes “countries” listed by Scott catalogs as Portuguese colonies: stamp listings to 1974 independence (except Macau, to 1999 absorption into China). (A third volume, PALOPS, standing for African Countries with Official Language Portuguese, covers 1974 & later issues.) While the language is Portuguese, all stamps are pictured in color, and the catalog symbols are universal. Numbering is close enough to Scott catalog’s – at the end of 1979, Portugal’s numbering was identical – to make identification easy. Added features make these the catalogs of choice. Colonies is simply better, specifying perforation and paper varieties, listing Ceres star varieties, emergency airmails of Angola, Guinea & Mozambique, pricing **, * & ?, and not listing several speculative, although highly collectible stamps. After 20 introductory pages on printing and paper details, 1st and 2nd reform numeral postmarks (with rarity), special and nominal postmarks, official reprints, illustrated deluxe, normal, and 2nd quality classics, and increments for multiples, Portugal lists each 1853-1892 issue in detail *, ?, & 2nd, including all Dahl-Vieira die varieties, proofs, reprints and on-cover. The 1912-31 Ceres issues, a specialty of the author, are treated with the same thoroughness and detail. After 1949 FDCs are priced, from 1981 ATMs, then S/S (blocos), booklets (cadenetas), and the usual B-O-B sections. Then the Azores, Madeira and their districts are treated with less specialization. The pricing of pre-adhesive marks is useless unless you have the Frazao book illustrating them, but the extensive table of domestic surface and air postal rates – derived from the author’s earlier book – is wonderful for deciding if a franking is proper.