This fascinating article, which is extracted from “The Postage Stamp” (15 October, 1910) and refers to the researches of a Portugal specialist, J. N. Marsden, in the London Philatelist, with useful background material, concerning the reprints of the stamps of Portugal and Colonies (1853-1905).
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These stamps, which were prepared by the Portuguese Mint in 1903, were created in consequence to a request for a complete set of the postal emissions of Portugal and Colonies, made by King Alfonso XIII of Spain, whilst on an official visit to the late King Carlos I of Portugal in that year.

Writing in the London Philatelist a short time back, Mr. J. N. Marsden, the well-known specialist in Portugal, gave following interesting account of these stamps:

“This request could not be granted at once, as no complete collections, either of originals or reprints, existed in official hands. The authorities therefore decided to make special printings of all the stamps of which no originals existed, and they are generally known as the ‘King of Spain reprints.’

Altogether 168 collections were made. They are arranged in cardboard boxes, having printed on the outside the number of the collection and ‘Collecçào dos sellos de franquia de Portugal, Ilhas Adjacentes e Ultramar – 1853-1905’ (Collection of the Postage Stamps of Portugal, the adjacent islands, and the Colonies – 1853-1905).

The stamps are arranged in large envelopes with the name Continente, that is Portugal, or the island or Colony printed thereon, and inside each large envelope, the stamps are arranged in small envelopes in their separate issues. The dates of issue, which are given, do not in many cases agree with the dates, which investigation has shown to be correct.

Although much mystery surrounds their process of manufacture, and of all the collections I have seen, no two seem to be exactly alike, some containing originals, where reprints exist in others, but this applies to the later issues. It appears, and indeed I have proof, that in some cases the stamps were printed one by one, and then attached to sheets of paper and perforated, probably a few at a time,

Already amongst the Lisbon dealers many are being sold in ignorance as originals. They are, of course, in most cases, much rarer than the originals. No chalk-surfaced paper has been employed, except in the case of the stamps printed on coloured papers, and the perforation is invariably 13½. They are all gummed, and the gum is very white.

In most cases there should not be much difficulty in distinguishing these reprints when they are placed side by side, but it is sometimes difficult to describe the differences. The paper, except in the case of the coloured papers, is thinnish and semi-transparent, showing the colours slightly through it on the back, and bears a faint greyish tinge. The colours, too, vary in a greater or lesser degree from originals and former reprints.”

Mr. Marsden remarks that it was the boast of the authorities that these ‘King of Spain reprints’ could not be detected from the originals.