Sinais de crianças expostas (Foundling tokens) - Santa Casa Misericórdia de Lisboa

Few philatelic themes/subjects can be so moving. The Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML), a charity created in the late 15th century, had - since 1759 - an entrance called 'roda dos expostos' or 'foundling wheel', a revolving door used when abandoning newborn babies. Along with the babies, parents sometimes left objects such as letters or small notes with information about the baby, as well as other religious or even sentimental objects; the so-called 'sinais dos expostos' or 'foundling tokens'. As can be seen in the right image (Foundling of Agostinho, 1793), some of these objects had strange cutout shapes to be used for the purpose of identifying the child in the future should the parents have ever decided to recover their child - which almost never happened. In any case, delivering a newborn to a charity did not guarantee its survival at all. As an example, of the 1,038 babies abandoned in the Santa Casa during 1743, only 260 survived. The number of abandoned babies peaked between 1850 and 1870. The SCML alone received more than 2,500 babies each year with up to 2,909 in 1870 (i.e. 8 children a day!).

Although this system of abandoning children anonymously was abolished by decree in Portugal at the end of 1867, it continued in some cities until the beginning of the 20th century.

The new series shows three 'sinais dos expostos' or 'foundlings tokens', objects left with the abandoned babies and part of the documentary archive of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia; the foundling of João da Cruz, a baby born on September 14th 1802, of Susana, born in 1812, and of Maria das Dores da Cunha, born on November 18th 1863.

The design of this very poignant series is by Helder Soares, from the Design&etc graphic studio, and the rolls of self-adhesive labels were offset printed and manufactured, for the first time, by the Portuguese company Copidata, SA. This change of manufacturer is characterised by the preprinted number on the back of the silicone coated backing paper which is much smaller than previously.

			The first philatelic day of issue of the series was March 27th 2020 but with the country in a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is possible that no Newvision postal kiosk had it on sale. In any case, on the date of issue, the Newvision E-Post 2000 machines supplied direct printing of stamps with seven programmed values (see table below) - five for non-priority mail or Correio Normal (0.53 - 0.70 - 0.75 - 0.86 - 0.91 EUR), and two for priority mail or Correio Azul (0.65 - 2.90 EUR). Additional postage values are also available from the E-Post 2000 M postal kiosks, which are fitted with scales.

A pictorial first day cover with the five-value set of stamps with one of the designs, and the Lisboa commemorative postmark. There are first day postmarks for Lisboa and Porto.

2020, the 'Rescue in the Mediterranean' series

Following on from the poignant series featuring historic tokens associated with babies abandoned at Lisbon's Santa Casa da Misericórdia during the 18th and 19th centuries (see previous article and VARIABLE 56), the second 2020 series is dedicated -(as if the ongoing global epidemic was not enough) - to another current social and humanitarian tragedy, the search and rescue operations of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

In Portugal, this humanitarian work, in addition to border control, is carried out by the Marinha Portuguesa, which since 2006 has participated in operations in the Mediterranean; the Autoridade Marítima Nacional, through the Polícia Marítima, whose operations since 2017 are coordinated by the European agency " Frontex" responsible for controlling the external maritime borders of the European Union; and the Guardia Nacional Republicana or GNR, through the Unidad de Control Costero, responsible for surveillance and interceptions along the coast.

The new series was available at select Newvision postal kiosks from December 7th 2020. A week later, on December 16th, Correios de Portugal organized a ceremony at the Casa de la Balanza in Lisbon to officially launch the new series, with the assistance of officers and operations staff from the GNR, the Maritime Police and the Navy who participated in these missions.

The rolls of self-adhesive labels were manufactured by the Portuguese company Copidata, S.A., printed in offset with a dull/matt finish. However, due to an error in the manufacturing process, there are rolls of labels with a shiny finish (see picture below). All the labels have a preprinted small control number on the back of the silicone coated backing paper.

The three designs that make up the series, dedicated to the three military and police bodies (GNR, Marinha and Polícia Marítima), are by Luís Taklim, a local graphic designer specialized in illustration and infographics.

			The basic sets of these designs are made up of the main rates in force after the last change in postal rates, on November 1st 2020. Like other postal administrations, CTT has also included a new special section in the new rates for shipments to the United States.On the first day of issue, the basic set consisted of the five values for non-priority mail or Correio Normal (0.53 - 0.75 - 0.80 - 0.88 & 0.91 EUR) and two for priority mail or Correio Azul (0.68 - 3.10 EUR), as per the table below. Additional postage values are also available from the E-Post 2000 M postal kiosks, which are fitted with scales.

Pictorial first day cover with the five-value set for normal mail, with the GNR design, and the Lisboa commemorative postmark. As with the previous series, there are first day postmarks for Lisboa and Porto.