In the first of a new series, Latin America collectors share an insight into their passion for Central and South American stamps. Here, John Shaw MBE FRPSL discusses – amongst his many interests – his collection of early Paraguay, which was recently displayed at the Royal Philatelic Society London… CLA When and how did you […]
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. […]
Philatelic Societies – a review
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 […]
Tasty Brazil, Bolivia and Chile at Gartner
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Hackmey’s Chile to be sold
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 […]
SOFICH, so good
I recently acquired a very nice collection of pre-1940 Chile that had been collected by SOFICH and cross-referenced by Scott. It clearly shows just how much room for expansion there is by collecting using this specialized work. The SOFICH catalogue is published by the Chilean Philatelic Society (Sociedad Filatelica de Chile). It is a lavish, […]
Part 20, Part 20, wherefore art thou Part 20…?
It is now ten years since Stanley Gibbons printed the fourth and current edition of their ‘Part 20’ South America stamp catalogue. And the separate ‘Part 15’ that covers Central America was last published in 2007. It looks like these are the final editions of these heavily referenced catalogues. Stanley Gibbons business has gone through […]
Bookshelf Essentials Part II – The Central American Newsletter
Although The Mainsheet covered all twenty republics, its focus was primarily on South America. In 1980, under the editorship of Bernard Davies, The Central American Newsletter was launched as a sister publication to The Mainsheet. Bernard edited until his death in 1985 when Mike Birks took over the helm. The CAN ran for twenty years, […]
Bookshelf Essentials – The Mainsheet
If there is one thing philatelists are not short of it is reading material. Decades of book publishing has produced a wealth of literature on every subject imaginable and each month brings a swathe of new titles. Coupled to that, society magazines, articles, catalogues and the multitude of websites and forums and, well…you get the […]
Colombian air post rarities under the hammer
One of the most iconic and distinctive series of stamps in Latin American philately are the nine colourful labels used by CCNA (Compania Colombiana de Navegacion Aerea) in 1920. These beautiful designs have an almost cartoon like appearance and were originally designed as promotional labels for the Curtiss Aeroplane Company. Used to supplement the regular […]