The Large Hermes Heads of Greece—Deciphering These Magnificent Classical Stamps

This site is dedicated to the exciting world of the first Greek stamps, Large Hermes Heads (LHH), as they are presented in the book The Large Hermes Heads of Greece—Deciphering These Magnificent Classical Stamps. They were first printed in Paris in 1861 and subsequently in Athens until 1886 (with another Paris printing of new values in 1876).

They are difficult to classify, as no specific printings were ordered and executed. The different issues were printed on an “as-needed” basis, depending on the paper type, color dyes, and printing plate conditions that were available at any given time—using the same plates throughout the 25-year printing run of these stamps.

One important research tool for LHHs is the Control Numbers (CNs) feature that exists, almost uniquely in the philatelic world, at the back of each stamp—except all the 1 lepton and 2 lepta values, most of the 1861 Paris values, and all 1880-1886 values. Due to the CNs’ ever-changing look, they provide us with a unique way of differentiating printings and, thus, correctly categorizing them.

On this site, photos from all the stamp sub-categories of the Hellas catalog are provided—the same ones used in the book, as well, which is available via Amazon (US and Canadian customers only) and eBay (US customers only) at the following links:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D452B29G
https://www.ebay.com/itm/186444462736

For the rest of the world, the book is distributed by the Hellenic Philatelic Society at https://www.hps.gr.