Guatemala Rarest Scott #23A

Guatemala #21~25 are the most beautiful stamps to me. The design and the printing are superbly done by the American Banknote Co. #23a is known by the Guatemalan philatelists as the rarest and most expensive. Are they rare? The answer is YES. There are 3 or 4 known unused, only one with "original gum". The book, Guatemala I, says there are only about 25 exist. Are they expensive? NO, they catalog at $3250 mint and $1300 used. For years I have been tracking this stamp in auctions, searching them in the old auction catalogs, spend a lot of time searching in the philatelic libraries. I estimate that there are about 40 in existence.
(I am using this as a "bait" to get Mr. Philb to communicate with me if Mr. Philb indeed is a collector of Guatemala.)

I think you meant "bait". The distiction matters in today's text-crazy shorthand.

Hahahaha...my stupidity! I don't go fishing often so I don't know how to use a bate...oops, I mean bait.

What you need bait?? Just my opinion for what its worth but south america seems to be on an upward trend but still many great deals. Not sure how long it actually takes catalogs to play catch up but there are some really hard stamps to acquire that list at bare minimums in catalogs. Brazil(brasil) is a good example of south american stampsgaining weight and I'm sure others will follow. I do believe alot of inverted items were done after normal print runs so there may be discrepencies between originals and reprints (not counting forgeries)

Fotofila, You have drawn me out.....i have an extensive Guatemala cover,postcard and stamp collection..but not to the extent of 23a, I am sure I will never own one...glad to meet another Guatemala 1 owner or reader...Do you read El Quetzal or belong to the I.S.G.C. ? When it comes to rare stamps Scott can only go by what stamps previously sold for...i wonder when the last 23a was sold ? If one came to auction and several people wanted it..the price might well be more than scott. I have been an Guatemala society member since 1998 and have an idea how things work with Guatemala stamps..The best Guatemala stamps are in the hands of collectors and society members...not the dealers...members buy and sell among themselves and when a member passes on,,his collection usually brings a decent price from other members...but perhaps you know this ! phil

Hi Phil. I am a member of ISGC for many years. I now have 5 #23a, one unused and 4 used, as well as 4 post office inverts, including one pair that I bought at Cherrystone last year. I collect the 19th century classics only. As you know the early covers are extremely rare and they stay dormant till some collectors who have them decide to sell them. I believe we are going to meet at WESTPEX in San Francisco this yer. Last time I met with the ISGC members was in Washington, DC, a few years ago. Since I am a new family member at SCF, the system rejected my email to you yesterday. Now I "met" you and my apologies to lure you out like this. I did a little translation on Chinese characters yesterday and Mr. Cheng told me that you collect Guatemala. I also posted Mexico Revolution stamps yesterday to creat some interest among the members. This is also my passion.

Fotofila, I was at Washington 2006 and actually manned the I.S.G.C. table for a while...i imagine we both attended the society meeting ! I first met the members at Orlando 99...they were quite friendly to a newbie like myself..Jack Jonza was casually handing around a large packet of 19th century Guatemala covers..i was afraid to ask what they were worth...i am glad I did not ask ! Wow, I am not usually envious of other collectors collections..but you own a good percentage of the known 23a's !

We probably met in Washington, DC. I am the only Chinese member. We ate at a Chinese Restaurant. Jack Jonza did not show me any cover. But, he showed me a collection of stamped revenue papers and I thought the price was too high, I think he wanted $15K. It belong to a family of a deceased member and I forgot his name. Then, you must know Mike Barie, who used to handle the library. I understand that his study on the post office inverts is going to be published in the journal soon.

fotofila, Did you exhibit at Washington 2006 ! Sure I know Mike Barie..first from Orlando Americas 99 and then we met in Providence at the APS show...have had much correspondence with Mike ! phil

No, I did not exhibit at Washington. The last exhibit I participated was in Boston. I believe it was 1979 and my China went to the Champion of the Champions final competition. I am planning, however, to either exhibit my Guatemala classics or Mexico Revolution issues very soon.

The Mexican revolution sounds interesting ..i just watched a film on Netflix about the Cristero Rebellion !

I searched Netflixand failed to find this movie. I love movies. At my age, what else do I do. Stamps, movies and meet my friends at the Starbucks and BS for a couple of hours.

Fotofilia the film is "The Greater Glory" with Andy Garcia as the general leading the revolt !

I read this page a few days ago........I wanted to see what responds there was ?............The poster says "are they rare ?The answer is yes .......For years I have been tracking this stamp in auctions." Then he says 'I have 5 #23a .....I collect the 19th. century classics only."
Am I the only one here who reads this as someone who is trying to corner the market for this rarity and has some other idea other than collecting this rare stamp.I interested if anyone sees this differently than me or is this a play to corner the market on a stamp that other collectors need for their collection.

Mr. Floor trader: I am not trying to corner the market. Any collector trying to corner the market on a stamp issued by a country that is not popular is a fool. I paid $1500 for my first #23a around 1985 and that is a long time ago. I just bought my 5th one at $750 at Cherrystone recently. As a investment, I made a fool out of myself repeatedly. The pleasure of owning another copy, on the other hand, is undescribale in words. You are a collector and you do have the same feeling. I am not rich; I would starve myself to buy a stamp. That is passion. Believe me it is not the money. I am doing the same on Mexico #321. There are about 40 around and I have 10, 3 on covers. I am trying to recostruct the complete setting and I am still looking for Position D and I will keep looking till I find it. I am not here to offend anyone. I am here to share the joy in this wonderful hobby.

Hmmmm.....

A specialist collector of Guatemala,a member of his society who exhibits, who enjoys rare and beautiful stamps, and buys them when he can.

I see nothing wrong here.

Thanks for sharing your passion for the 23a with us!