The first issue of the local mail of the city of Havana consists of four very rare stamps. I show here the two printed with the taller, thinner Y. The thicker Y issues, also printed in these two colors, are considerably scarcer. The overprint plate consisted of 7 top rows of thin Y stamps, and three bottom rows of thick Y stamps. The plate consists of 10 rows of 17 stamps. Quick links here are for a page showing side-by-side the three carmine red specimens and the single orange specimen I have that I consider genuine. Each of the specimens also has its own page that enables to show the overprint under higher magnification: carmine red specimen 1, pictured below, bears a Habana circular postmark, and there are also carmine red specimen 2, and carmine red specimen 3, as well as a dedicated page for the orange specimen pictured here. I also include a filtered image of the overprint, and a page dedicated to forgeries, one dangerous, and one crude.

The specimen below comes very close to being considered genuine. There are three giveaways, each of a varying degree of severity. The clearest giveaway is the position of the overprint: it is off the center of the stamp. Genuine specimens bear the overprint near the center and have very thick and oily ink-the latter quality is the second giveaway. Notice that the left bottom tip of the Y is blank, that there is missing ink at the top of the 1 and the diagonal left corner of the 4. The fraction bar is also thin, and has an uncharacteristic dot below the half-point. The third, and least important, giveaway is the postmark, which is not "Sock on the Nose." The specimen with the Havana postmark is also not "Sock on the Nose," but likely this is because the cover was mailed without a canceller and somewhere along the way a postal official applied the postmark. Adding to the dangerously close to genuine overprint is the choice of a stamp missing two edges, which is typical of genuine specimens. A priori ALL used "I Griega" stamps with four clear margins are suspect.

This is a crude forgery, and unfortunately quite common in ebay. The stamp has been obliterated by ink for the payment of newspaper subscriptions. This is a shameful forgery, for the stamp without the forged overprint is a beautiful genuine specimen.

Information about the stamps in this issue may be found in the following articles (including the present one):

1: The Color Varieties of the Cuba 1855 1/2 Real: A brief look at the bluish and white paper color varieties.

36 (Postal History Part 1): Some of these stamps were also used in other Spanish Colonies; only the Cuban usages are discussed here, with the exception of one cover used in Puerto Rico. This article is divided into three major sections:
1. Covers with the 1855 and 1856 Baeza postmarks.
2. Covers with smaller postmarks of varying design.
3. Covers from the 1860s with the small, and final postmarks.
A very interesting characteristic of postal history before the invention of the envelope is that the letter is almost always preserved with the cover. I find no better way to place these stamps in their times than to include a family letter from 1856 with a poignant and interesting tale.

46 (Postal History Part 2): In yet another installment of the postal history of this issue, I show the basic cancellers, and focus on some covers from the ramirez y oro correspondence, including a postal forgery on cover, bayamo Baeza postmarks, and cauto region modified Baeza postmarks.

51 (Cuba "I Griega" or the first Havana local issue): Quick links here are for a page showing side-by-side the three carmine red specimens and the single orange specimen I have that I consider genuine. Each of the specimens also has its own page that enables to show the overprint under higher magnification: carmine red specimen 1, pictured below, bears a Habana circular postmark, and there are also carmine red specimen 2, and carmine red specimen 3, as well as a dedicated page for the orange specimen pictured here. I also include a filtered image of the overprint, and a page dedicated to forgeries, one dangerous, and one crude.

64 (The 2 Reales Values): Here are quick links to this article: the main page / 1855 First Printing: bluish paper, watermark loops / 1855 First Printing Blocks ( 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 ) / 1855 First Printing with forged postmark / 1855 Second Printing: white paper, watermark loops / 1855 Second Printing blocks ( 1 / 2 ) / 1855 Second Printing paper and watermark / 1856, watermark crossed lines / 1857 First Printing Orange, clean plate / 1857 Second Printing Rust Red, worn plate / 1857 Third Printing Rust Red, bleached plate / 1857 Third Plinting block of eight

136: Cuba 1855-1863 Half Real I have previously shown the color varieties of the 1855 half real. I expand here by adding some larger images for the 1855 printings, and many more from the later printings, including many plate varieties. Quick links: main page / 1855 Blue Paper / 1855 White Paper / 1856 / 1857-61 Dirty Plate / Postal Forgeries / Plate Varieties main page : CORRFOS / CORRFOS detailed image / Early line breaks / Late line breaks / Plate Wear / 1862 Cleaned Plate

193: Cuba First Issue 1 Real Value This is the last article in this round of Cuba First Issue articles. Quick links: 1855 on blue paper / 1855 on white paper / 1856 dirty printing (lemon) / 1856 clean printing (emerald) / 1857 early and worn impression / 1862 cleaned plates / blocks with pen cancel / postal forgery