Bull's Eye issue

The Bull's Eye issue, known in Portuguese as the Olho-de-boi, comprises the inaugural postage stamps released by Brazil. Issued on 1 August 1843, they marked Brazil as only the second country globally, following the United Kingdom, to introduce postage stamps valid for postal conveyance throughout an entire nation rather than merely within a local territory. The series was produced in three distinct denominations: 30, 60, and 90 réis.

The stamps performed specific postal functions based on their denominations, with the 90 réis value being reserved exclusively for international correspondence. Total printings recorded for the issue numbered 1,148,994 examples of the 30 réis value, 1,502,142 of the 60 réis denomination, and 349,182 of the 90 réis stamp. In common with the first stamps of the United Kingdom, the Bull's Eye stamps did not display the name of the issuing country. Instead, the design featured prominent, ornamental value numerals placed within heavy oval settings. The distinctive moniker arose from the visual effect of these oval frames combined with the layout of the sheet, where adjacent se-tenant pairs gave the impression of a pair of bull's eyes. This vivid naming convention set a precedent for later Brazilian issues, such as smaller rectangular stamps nicknamed snake's eyes, as well as scaled-down versions of similar designs printed in blue, termed goat's eyes, and in black, termed cat's eyes.

This differentiates the issue from later Brazilian types, which are either rectangular or feature smaller designs.