1892-93 Scott 5 25r deep green "King Carlos"
Quick HistoryHorta was a Portuguese administrative district in the Azores, including the islands of Pico, Faial, Flores and Corvo. The City and Capital was Horta, located on the island of Faial. The population of Faial was 22,000 in 1900.
Horta and Faial
Horta has existed a long time, with 2500 inhabitants noted in 1643. With the construction of a commercial port in 1876, and telegraph cables linking Lisbon, Horta became a more common transatlantic shipping stop.
Horta in 1842
Under Portuguese administration, Stamps were issued for Horta in 1892, and continued through 1905. Thereafter, stamps of Portugal were used.
1897-1905 Scott 13 2 1/2r gray "King Carlos"
Into the Deep Blue
The 2011 Scott Classic specialized catalogue has, from 1892-1905, 34 major stamp descriptions for Horta. Twenty-Four of the stamps are CV <$1-$3.
A closer look at the stamps and issues
1892-93 Scott 7 75r carmine "King Carlos"
The issue of 1892-93 had 12 stamps on chalk surfaced paper. The image was of King Carlos, and is similar to other Portuguese colonies stamps. CV for 10 stamps is $1+-$10.
1892-93 Scott 6 50r blue "King Carlos"
Shown above is another stamp in the series, badly faded. Colors, blue particularly, I have found also in this condition on other Portuguese colony stamps. From soaking, or natural decomposition?
1897-1905 Scott 14 5r orange "King Carlos"
"Flamengos" settlement postmark almost SON
The second issue was of the familiar design ( to Portuguese colony collectors) shown above. The issue had 22 stamps, and has a CV of <$1-$1+ for sixteen stamps.
Of interest, the stamp has a fine postmark of "Flamengos", which one can locate on the illustrated map near Horta.
1897-05 Scott 221 50r blue
This series illustrated the Portuguese Empire's frugality, with the name of the colony and denomination applied to the basic design. I must say I don't find the stamps themselves very interesting, but the stamps are sometimes saved by an exotic Portuguese colony postmark. In other words, I generally prefer used to mint for Portuguese colony stamps.
Deep Blue
Deep Blue (Steiner) has two pages for Horta, one page for each series, and follows the Scott catalogue exactly.
1897-05 Scott 15 10r light green
Big Blue
Big Blue '69, on one line of one page (The page also includes Hejaz and Hatay), has seven stamp spaces. There are two spaces are for the 1892-93 issue, and five spaces are for the 1897 issue. I note that the '41/'47 editions have the same coverage.
Horta in Big Blue
Big Blue's coverage is 21%. Since 24 stamps (71% of Horta) in the Scott catalogue are CV <$1-$3, BB could definitely have been more generous with their coverage.
Checklist
1892-99
6,(5),13,14,15,(17),(18)
Comments
A) Expensive stamps ($10 threshold): none
B) ( ) around a number is a selected blank space choice.
1897-1905 Scott 24 75r rose "King Carlos"
Out of the Blue
I enjoy delving into the Portuguese colonies or administrative districts; not so much for the stamps themselves, but for the out of the way places they represent.
Note: Maps, images and pics appear to be in the public domain.
Comments? Would like to hear from you!
Horta on Faial