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 […]
Collecting Classic Honduras
Honduran philatelists are a rare breed. With a steady supply of forgeries and a history of philatelic exploitation, the country is often overlooked in favour of its Central American neighbours. But the consistently low price of the material means that the specialist, armed with a little knowledge, can build up a formidable collection for a […]
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 […]
London 2022…from a Latin American perspective
London stages an International once every decade but in the case of London 2022 it was a twelve year wait. In common with so many other shows, the tribulations of the past two years led to the inevitable postponements. This time, the organisers were going to delay no more. And rightly so. After a slowish […]
Collecting and selling Mexico (Part 2)
Bubba Bland is the past President of MEPSI, the leading philatelic society for collectors of Mexico. He is also a well-known dealer in classic Mexico stamps and has been selling via eBay for over twenty years. In the second of this two-part article, we focus on catalogues, proofs and forgeries. CLA How far will the […]
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 Collector | Joe Hahn | El Salvador & Paraguay
Joe Hahn has been a well known figure in Latin American philately for many years, both as a collector and author. In this article, Joe discusses two of the formidable collections he has formed; those of El Salvador and Paraguay. Images selected for this article were originally in the Hahn Paraguay Collection CLA When and […]
Discovering the lesser-known forgers of Latin American stamps
Forgers such as the Spiro brothers, Fournier and Sperati are well-known characters in philatelic folklore. But what of the lesser-known forgers? Gerhard Lang has spent over six years investigating the mischievous creations of the little-known Placido Ramon de Torres…and uncovered one of the most prolific forgers in philately. He is now conducting research on more […]
Collecting and selling Mexico (Part 1)
Bubba Bland is the past President of MEPSI, the leading philatelic society for collectors of Mexico. He is also a well-known dealer in classic Mexico stamps and has been selling via eBay for over twenty years. In this two-part article, we discuss the profile of today’s Mexico collector, the market in Mexico’s stamps, collector resources […]
The Collector | Robert Shaw | Paraguay
Robert Shaw has been a collector of the early stamps and postal history of Paraguay for over forty years, with a particular focus on the War of the Triple Alliance. This was the deadliest inter-state war in Latin America’s history, with a huge number of casualties, pitching Paraguay up against the alliance of Brazil, Argentina […]
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 […]