Completing A Country

This weekend, I was spending some time with my Haiti collection, making sure my checklist was up to date in advance of a small show here in town next weekend.

I originally started collecting Haiti because I was there for about two years while serving in the US Coast Guard. Originally, it was part of a collection of countries I'd visited in the USCG, but I eventually dropped all those little island nations, settling on Haiti.

It occurred to me that Haiti is a country that is realistically possible to complete. There are only a handful of stamps (four, maybe five) that catalog (Scott) over $100, and none over $1,000 (only one approaches that in terms of Scott) and those you can get with some smart Ebaying for considerably less.

Under 1,000 regular issues listed in Scott, and maybe three-fourths that in terms of back of the book, and very very very much of it is at or just above the minimum value. It's been issuing stamps since 1881, though nothing in the last few years, and it was never quite bitten by the topicals bug so many island nations seem to succumb to.

I just think that in terms of numbers of issues, and in terms of cost, it is within doable.

Any other countries you can think of that started issuing 100 years or more ago and might actually be completable?

Newfoundland is very popular.

There are several Indian States that are quite possible to complete.

For example, Bhor:





These two are undoubtedly legitimate issues, and catalogue a grand total of £12 in Gibbons, though you can find them for rather less. There is a debatable third stamp of Bhor:



which can be found with these delightful vanity cancellations. Some authorities question the legitimacy of this stamp though: it may have appeared after the Bhor State Post Office closed.

If you don't want to be bothered with shades, Jhalawar State is another easy one:



and even cheaper, at £7.25.

And if you prefer the simple/simplified life, you can do Wadhwan State in a single stamp:



for £13.

If you want to make life harder for yourself, you can try finding these stamps on cover



or intact sheets



and I could go on ...

The Faroe Islands.

6 stamps above 50$ (Well below 1000$), the rest is easy obtainable Both CTO and MNH

How about a British Commonwealth country such as Niue? The stamps are quite attractive - most are easy to find with a few challenging issues.

I like the suggestion of Niue. There are a number of the Pacific Island states which are 95% easy. Closer to my home, Memel, Estonia and Lithuania are all possible candidates. Nigeria and Gambia are good, with some classic stamps at relatively affordable prices. Pakistan and Bangladesh are also challenging choices, especially if you want to collect genuinely postally used early issues. Hope this helps.

German occupation of both Poland (Generalgouvernement) and Bohemia & Moravia (Böhmen und Mähren) come to mind.

I agree that Newfoundland is popular and I have a reasonable collection. However, striving for a complete Newfie collection; just considering major numbers; would be a "bank breaker" task. The 2014 Scott Classic catalog has a combined used catalog value, just for C1, C4, C5, at a "mere" $43,000. 2014 catalog for a used copy of Newfoundland #9 is $10,000.

I recommend some of the Portuguese colonies as all, except Macau, became independent after the 1974 revolution in Lisbon that overthrew the long time dictatorship. As an example, consider Lourenco Marques; a district of Mozambique. Issued stamps between 1895 and 1921. Total of 162 major numbers under regular postage; plus 12 semi-postals; and two newspaper stamps. For used, only two stamps catalog over $100 (#27 at $160 and #29 at $150).

I thought Niue was still issuing stamps ???

I always thought Bulgaria might be fun, lots of cheap stamps, but my WW Specialized Scott stops at 1940 so I don't know how many stamps I would need.