Classic Latin America

News, commentary and opinion on Central and South American philately

A visit to the Edificio Correos in San José

I visited Costa Rica last week and took some time out to take a look around the Edificio Correos in the heart of San José.

In a country not known for its architectural beauty – not least because so much has been razed by successive earthquakes – the Central Post Office is a rare gem.

This is a building constructed in the days when a capital’s main post office was a visual statement to the importance of communications. What could now be viewed as a historical curiosity – albeit one still serving its intended purpose – would have been looked upon as the Google HQ of its day.

It was built in 1917 by The English Construction Company in a French Renaissance style. Previously painted in pea green, it was refurbished to celebrate its centenary last year and now sports a fresh ‘coffee and cream’ façade.

The Costa Rican Address System

Despite issuing stamps for over 150 years, Costa Rica has never really got to grips with establishing a fully functioning postal system. Fundamental to the successful arrival of mail is a delivery address…and Costa Rica doesn’t really do addresses.

Many streets don’t have names, most don’t have signs and homes rarely have numbers. Needless to say, a significant amount of mail goes undelivered due to the vague addressing system.

Whereas you may be familiar with the format of 101 Main Street, Anytown, a typical Costa Rican address will go along the lines of ‘150 metres north of the Citibank office, over the bridge, 3rd floor of the blue painted house on the right’.

Reference points such as churches, buildings, trees, statues and squares all play a vital role in determining the rough location of a particular delivery point. After the reference point, just add the fact that your location is two blocks north, next to the supermarket on the left and, well, what could possibly go wrong…?

Tricky for the postman.

Aligned to this is a dearth of street post boxes, often meaning a trip to the town or city post office to post a letter. Things are starting to change with investments in a new street signage initiative over the past few years. But it will take a long while before the old ‘landmark and directions’ system is no longer used.

Nicaragua has similar issues and utilises the same system.

For guaranteed delivery, at least in a town centre, a mailbox is probably the best way of ensuring your post gets delivered.

The Costa Rican Mailbox

A mailbox in the nineteenth century would have only been accessible to those with means.

And they certainly looked the part.

Original Mailboxes Costa Rica
Nineteenth century Costa Rican mailboxes.

 

Original Mailboxes Costa Rica
Lock detail illustrating emblems of Costa Rica

Today, they are still in use although the ornate decoration has given way to economic conformity. As an indicator of the continued decline in mail usage, many of these mailboxes lie empty and will probably not see usage again.

Empty mailboxes
Modern day mail boxes now lying empty

However, it’s good to see the Costa Rican authorities engaged in the promotion of philately.

Prominent within the Post Office is a new philatelic museum, covering the basics from Rowland Hill to Costa Rica’s first issues of 1863 and a judicious showing of thematics.

Museo Filatelico de Costa Rica
The new Museo Filatelico inside the post office
Museo Filatelico de Costa Rica
An introduction to the first issue within the philatelic museum

Originally located on the second floor,the museum was relocated as part of the centenary renovations.

The final irony however, may be that by the time a universal addressing system has been adopted throughout the country, the days of mail delivery by your local postman may well be a thing of the past.

Philatelic Societies – a review

FIAF logo
FIAF represents philatelic societies and associations across the Americas

I’ve recently updated the Resources pages. Part of this exercise was to revisit links to philatelic societies and investigate others that I wasn’t so familiar with.

In reviewing so many sites in a relatively short space of time, you quickly get a feel for what seems to separate the well-organised societies from those that ‘could do better’.

Don’t get me wrong. Running a philatelic society for the benefit of its members – most often staffed by unpaid volunteers – is a noble pursuit and not one that I am in a position to criticize.

But that’s not say improvements can’t be made.

The importance of the webmaster

The roles of treasurers, secretaries and presidents are predominant in most of these organisations but the role that often gets overlooked in importance and relevance today is that of the webmaster.

This is the individual that effectively presents the image of the society to the world. Creating the right impression is the difference between a basic ‘we exist’ presence versus that of a forward-looking organisation, keen to recruit new members.

It’s surprising how many websites don’t fully convey the features and benefits that could draw in new blood and help to swell the ever diminishing coffers. A good webmaster, with the right copy and eye to design can make a big difference as to how a society is perceived by the outside world and hence its ability to recruit new, fee-paying members.

A journal index can make all the difference

One of the primary member benefits that is most often overlooked is the journal index.

Many societies have published journals for decades. Within this literature lies much of the wisdom of past members who will have written in depth on subject matter as relevant today as it was when originally published.

The first step is in making these back issues easily accessible.

Many societies have achieved this by making past issues available online, perhaps holding back recent editions for ‘members only’ to encourage new sign-ups. But it’s the creation of a searchable index of these historic volumes that enables the collector to pinpoint articles quickly and easily: this is where the real benefit lies.

Some societies have embraced this approach and made a huge difference to the value of the data that is buried within these journals.

No doubt this is a Herculean task for some but for others, much of the work may have already been done by referring back to previous paper-based indices and simply providing a digital version.

The internet can also be used to leverage society auctions; a significant member benefit if they can be done postally and attract collectors from other countries into becoming members.

This enables collectors to dispose of pieces to an appreciative audience, particularly the esoteric and unusual which may get overlooked or unidentified in a more general auction environment.

Overall though, it is heartening to see that most countries are still supporting at least one philatelic society (multiple societies in some cases), continuing to publish useful literature and offering relevant and ‘value-added’ services to their members. With online translation tools, language is far less of a barrier than before and should be leveraged to encourage wider participation.

Whichever country you collect, consider supporting the relevant society.

You need each other.

Tasty Brazil, Bolivia and Chile at Gartner

1881 Brazil 100 Reis Proof Sheet
1881 Brazil 100 reis proof sheet in blue. The issued stamp was released in olive-green

Watching the postman struggle to our door the other morning could only mean one thing: it was time for another Gartner auction.

Of all the international auction houses, Gartner probably produces the most substantial catalogues. They are usually multi-part affairs which even need their own separate booklet to enable the hapless bidder to navigate the listings.

Their auction later this month (15th-19th October) is no exception with a mind-boggling 27,000 lots (if you include the bank notes and coins).

Buried in amongst these listings however, are some rather fabulous Latin America collections looking for a wealthy benefactor to find them a new home.

First up is a marvelous, highly specialized collection of Brazil, focusing on the years between 1881 and 1889, encompassing the ‘Casa da Moeda’ small heads, larger heads and numeral issues printed by the Brazilian mint. A plethora of rarities included in this lot, backed up by a suitably ambitious start price of €70,000.

Next we have two superior Bolivian collections. The first is an in-depth study of the famous 1867 Condor issue (start price €17,000). The second (and for my money the most interesting of the Gartner offerings) is an accomplished study of the airmail service in Bolivia, with a great selection of proofs and varieties. The 1924 Aviation School issue is one of my personal favourites. This collection kicks off at €22,000.

Bolivia Aviation School Proofs
Examples of the Bolivia 1924 Aviation School proofs

My final selection from Latin America is a collection of the Colon Heads from Chile. Perhaps more of an accumulation than a collection per se but a great start if you wanted to get properly stuck into these. Starting at €17,000.

Plenty more information on the Gartner website for those of more modest means. Or give your own postman a workout and order a catalogue.

 

Which country has the world’s worst postal service?

Which countries should you avoid shipping to?

Let’s say you put a few items up for auction on eBay and one lucky winner has an address in Haiti.

Would you post it using regular mail?

If you’d just read the Universal Postal Union’s annual report on the global ranking of postal services around the world, probably not.

Each year, the UPU assesses the postal services from 173 countries to come up with an indexed score and ranking to show how individual countries have performed.

Each country is ranked on four key measures:

  • Reliability – operational efficiency
  • Reach – global connectivity
  • Relevance – the demand for postal services
  • Resilience – diversification of revenue streams and ability to innovate

These four metrics combine to create a score which then determines its country ranking, such that each country can be compared with its peers.

And the award for Worst Postal Service goes to…

Enough of the preamble. Who’s at the bottom of the table?

164th – Iraq

165th – Dominica

166th – Guinea

167th – St. Vincent

168th – Mozambique

169th – Samoa

170th – Liberia

171st – Haiti

172nd – Sao Tome and Principe

173rd – Tuvalu

A few predictable names in there but ironic to see St. Vincent so low in the table, given the fact that it is the third most prolific stamp issuer on the planet (over 5500 new issues since 1950!).

How about the top ten?

In order of postal excellence, the best performers are: Switzerland, Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France, Poland, Singapore, USA, UK and Austria.

How does Latin America do?

As this is a Latin American blog it would be remiss of me to not mention the performance of the twenty republics. Out of 173 countries, in descending order, we have:

44th – Brazil

66th – Colombia

72nd – Chile

76th – Mexico

78th – El Salvador

90th – Costa Rica

99th – Peru

101st – Argentina

105th – Dominican Republic

114th – Honduras

119th – Panama

123rd – Paraguay

125th – Uruguay

127th – Ecuador

134th – Cuba

151st – Venezuela

163rd – Nicaragua

171st – Haiti

Surprised? What you expected?

Conspicuous by their absence are Bolivia (whose postal service has been in turmoil in the past few years, culminating in a new institution being formed in March this year) and Guatemala (also suffering from protracted disruption and suspension of services).

This exercise has been undertaken since 2013 and each year, comparisons can be made against prior year to see how individual countries are performing and how they move up and down the rankings. Quite how relevant the table will become in future years is open to question though, as stamp issuance ceases, mail volumes decline and delivery services are more reliant on the private sector. Witness the aforementioned Bolivia and Guatemala…

For those that want to dig a bit deeper or view the entire list, you can read the full report here.

Collect Brazil? You probably need this…

Brazil catalogue cross reference book

Pre-internet, collectors tended to be far more reliant  – dependent even – on the catalogue that was written in their own language. Buying and selling was limited to the relationships with dealers you knew, and the auctions you attended were those nearer to home.

I’m generalising but you get the picture.

Move on to the present and you can be buying or selling, from and to, anyone who is anywhere. The click of a mouse secures you a win on a bid from an auction on the other side of the globe.

If so, the odds are that they’ll not necessarily be using the same catalogue that you depend upon.

The four main catalogue publishers – Scott, Michel, Stanley Gibbons and Yvert & Tellier – all have have their own reference systems, none of which directly relates to the other. Throw in a regional specialized catalogue to the mix and the collector that wants to take advantage of the global market has a lot of cross-referencing on their hands.

Which is what makes this new handbook rather useful.

Cross referencing between Michel, RHM, Scott and Y&T

The author, Ulrich Schierz, has managed to convince four catalogue publishers to authorise the use of their numbering systems, so as to provide a cross-reference between either one.

Scott, Michel and Y&T numbers are printed alongside their corresponding RHM (the specialised Brazilian catalogue) counterpart to provide a quick and easy cross check.

Brazil catalogue cross reference example
A sample number comparison

There are no prices here, no values, no colours…just numbers. But that’s all you need. The presumption is that you’ll already have your own catalogue and will be taking whatever other information you want from there. The book covers issues from the ‘Bull’s Eyes’ up until 2015.

There is also a section that cross-references the watermark types that each catalogue uses. Officials are covered and there are a few pages devoted to the notoriously complex ‘Série Vovó’, issued between 1919 and 1941. Keijo Kortelainen has a very good overview of the catalogue differences of this series on his website www.stampcollectingblog.com.

The only omission is any reference to Stanley Gibbons. Whether they were never invited to the party or declined the invitation is unclear.

But overall, I would suggest that this is a ‘must’ for the acquisitive Brazil collector. Certainly makes those eBay and Delcampe searches much easier.

 

Footnote

The book is produced by ArGe Brasilien in German and can be obtained for €11.92 plus shipping directly from the publisher. ArGe Brasilien is a German/Brazilian philatelic society but with 30% of its members outside Germany and over 100 papers published.

Hackmey’s Chile to be sold

Chile Colon block of 12
Chile Colon 10 Centavos block of 12

Conveniently following on from my plug for SOFICH a few weeks ago, comes the news that Joseph Hackmey is to part with his Chile collection. This is set to be a landmark auction with rare and exceptional items from one of the most important classic Chile collections ever formed.

You’ll need deep pockets for this one.

The auction will focus on the 1853-67 Colons including die and plate proofs, large multiples and unique frankings.

Corinphila will host the auction at the end of the year. They seem to be leading the way in securing major Latin American collections at the moment. Their May/June auction contained a wealth of quality material with particular strength in Brazil and Peru.

A teaser pdf illustrating the highlights of the collection can be downloaded at www.corinphila.ch