THE
1910 RIZAL CHRISTMAS SEAL
by
Nemy L. Rivera
The year
was 1910. The just founded Philippine Anti-Tuberculosis Society
urgently needed money to begin its work. In September, two members
of its Ways and Means Committee proposed the “preparation and sale
of so-called holiday stamps” as an initial means of raising funds.
On October 10, the Committee “authorized the purchase of 500,000
holiday stamps at a cost of P378.00 “ (!)
This was
the first Christmas seal of the Philippines. It features a portrait
of Jose Rizal (1861 – 1896), the Philippine national hero, in an
oval frame superimposed on an ornate double-barred cross. This was
printed by the Bureau of Printing, Manila, in green and red, VR 22
˝ x 30, roulette 7.
On the
occasion of its 75th anniversary, the Society, now named
“The Philippine Tuberculosis Society” approved the reprinting of the
Rizal seal, together with two other early seals, for incorporation
into the se-tenant design of the 1985 Christmas seals. PTS,
however, instructed the artist to make the following deliberate
artwork differences to clearly distinguish the original from the
reprint: In the original, the face of Rizal is completely covered
with fine contour shade lines; the berries at the top portion of
the seal are bunches of small red dots and the upper tip of the
cross is pointed and touches the upper frame. In the reprint, the
face of Rizal is partly covered in solid green, with blank spots on
forehead and cheeks; the berries are single bigger red dots and the
tip of the cross is a bit rounded and does not touch the upper
frame.
With a
mintage of 500,000 seals one wonders how come the Rizal seals has
now become such a rarity.
(With
excerpts from the 1960 50th Anniversary issue of
The Crusader, the official organ of the Philippine Tuberculosis
Society, Inc.)