½ real, blue.

Apam, plate I, pos. 60	Monterrey, plate II, pos. 42	Guadalajara, plate III, pos. 57

Hard wove paper. Three plates of 60 subjects were used. There were 2 deliveries of the ½ real stamps from the printer. The actual number of printings is unknown, but no more ½ real stamps were printed after December 30, 1856. Celis Cano has the following distribution of stamps:

 

This, however, does not coincide with experience. According to Turnburke, the number of stamps from each plate is about the same.

 

 

Again, please note that experience contradict the rarity factors.

These numbers are probably much too high. For a short period, between August 1, 1856 and December 20 of the same year, the medio real was the newspaper rate as well as the rate for single letters. When the rates were effectively doubled this stamp did not correspond to any letter rate. For a long time there was little need for this value, but later large quantities were sent to the various districts to be used instead of printing more 1 and 2 reales stamps. This is also the reason for this value being more common in larger units, such as blocks and strips, than the other values.

The stamps used for newspapers have a much lower survival rate than the ones used on letters. The plate quantities are under the assumption that the stamps have survived in the same ratio as they were printed. This may or may not be the case. It is not known if the plate I & II stamps were distributed first, for example, though it may seem logical that this was indeed the case.

A very large cache of these stamps, 165986 copies, was burned on April 18, 1861.

According to Turnburke, the vertical spacing is distributed like this: