page_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Greece
section_title: Large Hermes heads (1861–1888)
hierarchical_section_title: Postage stamps and postal history of Greece / Classic period (1859–1902) / Large Hermes heads (1861–1888)
caption_attribution_description: English: Greek large Hermes head stamp, Athens issue, Scott Cat. no. 20 (1862-1867).
context_page_description: Greece's first postal service was founded in 1828, at the time of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. This initial service continued mail delivery and, later, the issuing of postage stamps until 1970. It was then succeeded by the Hellenic Post S.A., which remains Greece's official postal provider. The first Greek stamps were issued in 1861; by then, the postal service had expanded to operate 97 branches.
  Until 1966, with the exception of a set issued in 1927, all Greek stamps were simply inscribed ΕΛΛΑΣ. From 1966 to 1982, the inscription was modified to include both the Greek and Latin versions: ΕΛΛΑΣ-HELLAS. Beginning in 1982, ΕΛΛΑΣ was replaced with ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑ; this inscription is still being used on Greek stamps. It was also used on the 1927 set referred to earlier.
  In 1875, Greece was among the founding members of the General Postal Union.
  Greece's territory and population was greatly expanded by the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars; it acquired some additional territory during World War I. This led to the issuing of several sets of occupation stamps, which consisted of both existing stamp issues with overprints and newly printed issues.
context_section_description: The first stamps of Greece were the so-called "Large Hermes heads", depicting a profile of the Greek messenger god Hermes in a frame strongly resembling that used for contemporary stamps of France. The basic design was by the French engraver Albert Désiré Barre and the first batch was printed in Paris by Ernst Meyer.  The first set was issued on October 1, 1861.  It consisted of seven denominations (1 lepton, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 lepta). In November 1861 the printing plates were transferred to Athens and subsequent printings made there. The plates continued in use into the mid-1880s, resulting in a number of varieties due to plates becoming worn and then cleaned, as well as the printing of the stamps on several kinds of paper.  Most types were also printed with control numbers on the back, and all were imperforate.  Additional denominations (30 and 60 lepta) were introduced in 1876, to comply with the General Postal Union's international letter rates (30 lepta for basic, 60 for registered letters).
caption: 20 lepta Large Hermes head
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