WHY COLLECT COLOMBIA
Colombia offers the collector wide ranging possibilities from the Spanish Colonial era to modern times. While there are some costly major rarities, there is much inexpensive material, some of which is quite scarce, making for a challenging pursuit. With time and patience, you can assemble an interesting collection on a limited budget. There are also many areas that have not been fully studied, leaving open possibilities for research and new discoveries.
Colombia issued its first stamps in 1859. Its history has been marked by political instability which is reflected in its philatelic history; this includes four name changes, the last in 1886. Civil wars and insurrections, including the War of 1,000 Days 1899-1902, resulted in many interesting stamps and postal usage and set the stage for the independence of Panama.
Some of the diverse collecting opportunities include:
- The pre and post independence pre-philatelic era with a wide range of interesting rates, markings and routes
- Pen and hand stamped cancellations on 19th c stamps
- British Post Offices in Colombia and Panama
- Provisional issues
- Postal stationery
- Revenues, including municipal issues and stamped paper
- War covers
- Plating of lithographed issues
- Air mail from SCADTA though Avianca, including transoceanic mail
- Private Express Carriers
- Local city posts such as Medellin and Bogota
- Official mail
- Colombian States, considered “dead countries”
- Forgeries, both postal and for the collector market
The listings in Scott Catalog are incomplete; European catalogs include additional listings, some controversial. In depth information about Colombian philately can be difficult to locate as much of it has been published in journals with limited circulation and availability. To address the problem of locating information, COPAPHIL developed an extensive library and published a comprehensive bibliography.
Last Updated December 1, 2009