Turn to the letters page of any self-respecting philatelic monthly magazine and you will invariably find a diatribe from a reader bemoaning the paucity of creativity in current-day stamp design. Whether it be yet another Harry Potter or Marvel series of stickers, or the ubiquitous photoshopped images that tend to monopolise stamp design, there is […]
Publications
Costa Rica at The Royal
There are a few ways in which an advanced collection can be shared with fellow philatelists, not least in the global competitive arena in the Quest for Gold. Club displays are the alternative route with some offering more cachet than others; none more so than an invitation to speak at the Royal Philatelic Society in […]
The Postage Stamps & Postal Stationery of Guatemala
We appear to be in something of a Golden Period in the introduction of new resources for the Latin American philatelist. An excellent example is the Mi Oficina YouTube channel which has now garnered well over 1600 subscribers since inception and is heading towards 250,000 views in under three years – a remarkable achievement and […]
Venezuela – the final specialized catalogue for 2022
Just as I’d pressed ‘send’ on my recent post about new Latin American catalogues, along comes yet another (very welcome) reference work. This time, it is Venezuela’s turn. The last generation of specialized catalogues of Venezuela were originally published by Juan Jose Valera. He had been releasing updated editions since 1964 and old copies can […]
New Specialized Catalogues: Bolivia, Nicaragua, Peru and Paraguay
It’s been a good year for new and updated specialized catalogues for the Latin American collector with four catalogues recently published. First up is the Cefibol catalogue – Especializado en Filatelia Boliviana by Daniel Gonzalez Fernandez. This is a substantial, full color catalogue that improves considerably upon my aging Cefilco alternative. The first Cefibol catalogue […]
The Bustamantes of Peru
For three generations the Bustamante family has been producing both simplified and specialized catalogues for collectors of Peru. A new edition is planned for publication in 2022 (see details below). In this article we discuss Peruvian catalogues and collecting Peru with Ysmael Bustamante, the grandson of the founder. CLA The name “Bustamante” has been associated […]
Book Review | The 19th Century Issues of El Salvador 1867-1900. Guillermo F. Gallegos & Joseph D. Hahn
Many of the Latin American republics have had a variety of specialized catalogues and handbooks written over the years but El Salvador has not been one of them. There has been a dearth of literature on the early philately of the country; certainly, various articles have appeared in specialist journals in the past but nothing […]
The Mainsheet goes digital
Next year will be the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Mainsheet. And to bring it in to the 21st century, the entire run has now been digitised. For those not familiar with The Mainsheet, it is one of the most (if not the most) comprehensive sources of information on the myriad aspects of […]
The Collector | Peter Bamert | Mexico
Peter Bamert is the editor of the ‘Postal Stationery of Mexico’, a comprehensive work that catalogues Mexico’s envelopes, postal cards, wrappers and more. CLA How did you get interested in collecting postal stationery? PB As a boy I began collecting stamps of the whole world. Then I started a topical collection about reptiles. One day […]
The Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue: a review
Once upon a time, Stanley Gibbons’ twin volume South America and Central America catalogues were my daily reference tools. They are still powerful weapons in the Latin America collector’s armoury but for a number of years, the Scott Classic Specialized has been my ‘go to’ first port of call. Gibbons hasn’t updated the aforementioned volumes […]
New specialized Argentina catalogue published
It wasn’t so long ago that stamp catalogues contained a handful of grainy, black and white images to help identify an issue. The new GJ Argentina Catalogue shows just how far things have come. Profusely illustrated in full colour on heavyweight, glossy paper, this A4 format catalogue brings the stamps to life and conveys a […]
Collect Brazil? You probably need this…
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 […]