Spain - ATM issue JACOBEO 1993

The fifth Klüssendorf issue is a modification of the design found in the earlier issues, with the white posthorn emblem in the centre, the Pelegrín on the left and a grey background.

In 1993 the Pelegrín became the symbol and mascot of the Holy Year of St. James. It is a design of the Galician artist Luis Carballo reproducing the traditional figure of the pilgrim in the St. James' Way, with the cape, hat, pilgrim's staff and pumpkin, and this was employed in a variety of scenarios. In the ATM, we can see a postman Pelegrín, carrying a post bag with the Correos logo.
At the beginning of the 21st century, this symbol was gradually abandoned in favour of a new logo based on the yellow arrow, the icon universally bound to the St. James' Way.
Tradition tells that, after the martyrdom of St. James the Apostle at the hands of king Herod Agrippa I, his disciples picked up the body and buried it in Santiago de Compostela, the farthest border of the Roman world known, and where his teacher doctrine had reached. Many pilgrim’s routes, crossing all over Europe, come together at the tomb of the Apostle, in the cathedral built in his honour. The Holy Year of St. James or Xacobeo is held every year on which July 25th falls on a Sunday and it celebrates the martyrdom of the St. James the Apostle, and during that year the Church grants its followers the jubilee or the plenary indulgence.

Due to a printing error during the manufacture of the labels, the pilgrim's staff and the Pts symbol were vertically displaced. Depending on which roll of ATMs is used, the pilgrim's staff may or may not cross the eye.

Printing varieties

On July 16th 1993, the first day of issue, it was possible to obtain this design from the Philatelic Service and the Klüssendorf Stampcenter 631 vending machines installed in the main post offices of Barcelona, as well as at Madrid-Cibeles, and some of the main provincial capitals (Bilbao, Malaga, Seville, Valencia, ...). From this date, the ATMs were also available in other Klüssendorf machines.

All these machines issued ATMs with a 3 digit face value.

From the end of 1993, and for some years after, it was possible to obtain them from the Prosetecnisa, INESC and IBM postal kiosk prototypes, and also, from 1996, from some IBM postal kiosks.

Depending on the machine used, its configuration, or the face value (in the case of the INESC prototype), the ATM face value was printed with 3 or 4 characters. In all instances the impression was mechanical, with black ink, although there are some rare ATMs of this design with 4 characters and the face value printed in lilac-violet. These were issued by the IBM postal kiosk installed in the Bilbao main post office, in 1997.


Variety 3 digits black	Variety 4 digits black	Sub variety 4 digits violet
Klüssendorf StampCenter 631 Klüssendorf StampCenter 847	Prototype Prosetecnisa Prototype IBM IBM postal kiosk	IBM postal kiosk

Variety INESC
3-4 digits black

Prototype INESC

Some ATMs have, on the back of every fifth label, a 4-digit pre-printed control number ranging from 0005 to 2000, which indicates the number of blank labels remaining on the roll within the machine.

This number was printed in different positions on the back of the stamps or blank labels, and also in 1 of 2 different printing formats.

(For more information about the Klüssendorf type ATMs, errors and special printings, see study).

Read complete study - Jacobeo 1993 >>>
Printing varieties - Values - Sets - The ATMs and receipts of the Klüssendorf 631 vending machines - The first prototypes of the self-service postal kiosks (1993-1994) - Prototype PROSETECNISA - Prototype SMD-INESC - Prototype IBM - The ATMs and receipts of the IBM postal kiosks - Errors and curiosities - Perfins and postmarks - Holy Year of St. James in the Spanish philately