Classic Latin America

News, commentary and opinion on Central and South American philately

Book Review – Introducing Venezuela’s Escuelas Stamps by Williams Castillo

Introducing Venezuela's Escuelas

Before we get to the content, I should point out that the beauty of this book is the author’s skill for taking a complicated subject and making it very simple to understand.

There are countless philatelic books and articles that undertake to enlighten the reader on less complex issues but end up making things far more complicated than they need to be. This useful paperback serves to be a template for philatelic authors wishing to convey their knowledge in a clear and concise style.

The Escuelas (Schools) stamps were introduced by a government keen to expand its commitment to public education. Without the financial means to start building schools and employing teachers, the state hit upon the idea of placing a transactional tax on documents by utilizing a dedicated stamp. It didn’t take long before these stamps were being used for postal service.

And the idea worked. Between 1873 and 1885, the number of schools rose from 392 to 1957.

A focus on the first three series of Escuelas

Castillo’s book recognises the eight different series of Escuelas, released between 1871 and 1893 but focuses on the first three series. The bulk of the book is given over to the first series and their nine printings, taking us through until 1878.

The component parts of the stamp are broken down into easy to recognize elements, such that identification becomes a logical, systematic process of elimination until you are confident you have the correct stamp. The images are large, clear, in colour and do an excellent job in guiding you through the possibilities.

Castillo also provides a very useful rarity guide to the first series that makes something of a mockery of ‘catalogue prices’ and clearly shows the relative scarcity of certain values from specific printings.

The book stops short of going down to the level of discussing transfers of the values but as a comprehensive introduction to identification and classification it is a superb piece of work.

Available at www.escuelascollectors.com

Scott Specialized adds another 67 listings to Venezuela

Venezuela AR39 stamp
The newly listed ‘AR39’. Worth paying attention to…

It’s taken a while but Scott is now recognizing Venezuela’s postal fiscals (or postage and revenue stamps) in the 2017 edition of its Classic Specialized Catalogue.

This bumps up the number of stamps listed during the classic period to a further 67 items, all of them now prefixed under an “AR” code. AR1 through to AR26 are overprints of the 1893 ‘Instruccion’ series (with the usual smattering of inverts) whereas those following were printed in their own right. The later stamps are all easily identifiable by the words ‘Instruccion’ or ‘Timbre Fiscal’ included within the design.

Issued between 1900 and 1922, Venezuela was already well known for using fiscal stamps in the Escuelas series of issues (see next month’s post).

All of the new listings are priced at nominal amounts with the odd $10 or $20 stamp.

Double-check copies of the 1911 1 Bolivar Green

However, pay attention to AR39, the 1 Bolivar Green from 1911, illustrated above. There is a variety without the name ‘Bello’ shown below the portrait. Blanco (the Venezuelan specialized catalogue) has this priced at eighty times the regular issue. The variety is unlisted in Scott, SG or Michel.

And note the inverted triangle next to the V in this example. In many countries, this would be a listed variety in its own right…

This brings the total number of major listings up to 1940 in Scott (including local posts) to 661 items. In comparison, Gibbons covers 673 major listings within the same time period whereas Michel leads the pack with 872.

Latin American Auctions – first event for eighteen months

Seebeck Mosquito Coast

Brian Moorhouse’s auctions tend to be somewhat infrequent affairs, the last being held in February last year. Peterborough is a rather incongruous location but for a single day it becomes the epicenter of Latin American philately.

Brian had curated over 750 lots and attendance was good with a number of international collectors who had made the pilgrimage. And bidding was strong with less than 4% of items unsold.

A wonderful selection of over 100 die proofs of the El Salvador 1895 ‘Coat of Arms’ issue sold for £2500 and a run of 14 exhibition pages of the 1932 Nicaragua ‘Earthquake’ issue achieved £2000.

A pair of the 1858 Uruguay 180c Block Letters reached £1100. Interesting to note the premium paid for the pair as the preceding lot was for a single of the same issue in equivalent condition that was snapped up for a mere £70. Shows how even small multiples can have a significant knock-on effect on price.

Colombia was strong (as ever) and Haitian collectors were well served with a good selection of lots, including an 1846 pre-stamp cover bid up to £1100.

A surprise result was for the 1894 Mosquito Coast Provisional with seven copies on piece. This achieved nearly 14 times the start price, closing at £550. The preceding lot was also a Mosquito Coast Provisional, this time a pair on cover and went for £280. Although not listed in Gibbons or Scott, it appears in Michel and is an issue apparently sort after by ASFE (A Stamp From Everywhere) collectors, a branch of philately particularly popular in Eastern Europe, with the objective of collecting at least one item from every stamp issuing ‘authority’.

I placed a few select bids on some of the bulkier lots and came away with some useful selections for future sorting.

Royal puts on a Latin American show

RPSL Latin America booklet

Fifty-two frames of some exceptional Latin American material was the feast laid on by the RPSL yesterday. Exhibits were described as covering the canvas between “world class rarities” and “modest, but nonetheless interesting”.

Either way, it was a treat.

With so much to cover I can only give a flavour. For want of a theme, there are a handful of stock phrases that exhibitors often use that are always guaranteed to gain attention. Such as:

“the largest known block…”, “the unique…”, “the first…” and so on.

A few examples included:

  • Argentina (Frank Broad): 1864 Rivadavia – earliest recorded entire franked with a perforated value
  • Chile (Joseph Hackmey): 1854 10 Centavos Colon Desmadryl printing – largest known block (of twenty)
  • Colombia, Gobierno Provisionals (Alan Anyon): 1900 20 Centavos Tête-Bêche Pair – only known example
  • Ecuador (Guido Craveri): 1864 1 Real Green and 1866 4 Reales Red – earliest recorded usages on cover
  • Haiti (Brian Moorhouse): 1887-1890 Salomon Issues – the unique master dies
  • Peru (Christopher Harman): 1860 1 Dinero Blue – earliest dated cover
  • Uruguay (Gregory Todd): 1884 5c Deep Blue – unique die proof
  • Venezuela (Guido Craveri): 1862 ½ Real Red, used and unused – unique error of colour

I could go on.

All said, an excellent display.

Extensive Venezuela – Peter Brack collection goes to auction

Venezuela 1 Bolivar black

It isn’t often we see an auction catalogue focused on Venezuela.

Strictly speaking, this Cavendish auction was billed as a ‘Collection of Central and South America’ but this was very much dominated by Brack’s superb holdings of Venezuela.

Brack lived in Venezuela for a time and was an occasional contributor to The Mainsheet, back in the day.

I put in a few (successful) bids myself and came away with a very nice selection of hard to find Venezuelan items.

The star lot (not one of mine) turned out to be a ‘Coro A La Vela’ local issue on cover from 1869. This stamp was issued by the company that covered the railway journey between Coro and La Vela and represented the payment for forwarding. Rather than use a hand stamp or pen cancel, the stamp was ‘franked’ by the application of a corrosive, acid substance which turned it from orange to blue, thus preventing reuse. The cover achieved £1900 on a £200 estimate.

Another great rarity was the 1900 1 Bolivar Grey-Black with overprint omitted (Scott 160a, SG 218a). Poorly centered, it fetched £1300 against a catalogue of £7,500.

World Stamp Show – NY2016

NY 2016 Stamp Show logo

The US holds an international stamp show every ten years but it was back in 1956 that New York took centre stage as the host of the world’s most important philatelic event.

The cavernous Javits Centre in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan provided ample space for collectors and dealers to spend seven days meeting, buying, selling, exhibiting and discussing every facet of philately.

I holed up in a neat, little Airbnb in Weehawken on the west bank of the Hudson and took the ferry over in the morning. Quick, easy and traffic free.

With over 4000 exhibition frames, a multitude of dealers and world-class auctions there was plenty to keep me occupied. Amongst veritable treasures, the ‘Court of Honour’ proudly displayed the infamous 1856 British Guiana One Cent, a miserable little stamp in my humble view. I think you could have a lot more philatelic fun with the $9.5 million it was auctioned for in 2014.

And don’t get me started on John Lennon’s schoolboy collection…

NY 2016 Commemorative Stamps
This pair were Issued to commemorate the event. Not one of the USPS’s best efforts.

Latin America at NY2016

Much more interesting from a Latin American perspective was the Black Honduras, a key exhibit on the Mystic stand. This unique stamp was once the world’s most valuable after the British Guiana but still retains its place as the world’s rarest airmail.

Strictly speaking it is the Dull Blue Honduras with Black Overprint. But that doesn’t sound nearly so sexy, does it?

A good percentage of the Latin American single country groups were in attendance, most with booths staffed with volunteers to win new converts and catch up with far-away members, including Colombia/Panama, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

Latin American specialist dealers are a rare bunch but Brian Moorhouse and Castlerock were present. I found an esoteric mix of proofs and material at the farthest end of the Back of The Book at the enigmatically named etradegoods, plus a shout out to A&D Stamps and D&P Stamps. Both are generalists but with a strong selection of Latin America.

Awards for Latin American exhibits were judiciously scattered amongst the various classes and the region even scored the top award of the show, the Grand Prix D’Honneur. This went to Alvaro Castro-Harrigan of Costa Rica for his snappily titled ‘Panama: First Issues as a State of Colombia and their Forerunners’.

And if you were wondering whether you might be eligible to go for the GPDH yourself next time around, note that you need three Large Gold Medals in three different years at international exhibitions held during the past 10 years.

Boston gets the crown for 2026 (www.boston2026.org) and is already in the planning stages.

Plenty of time to get those three gold medals then.