Spanish Submarine Mail Stamps Of 1938

These stamps can't be that rare as Scott has them at reasonable prices but what is with all the color change varieties . I'm tempted to think they're fakes or are they ? Any imput welcome . Bernie

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BVANASSE ----In answer to your question , I looked at E-bay and notice the many real stamps ,proofs and fake issues that are listed for sale .The first thing is not to purchase those stamps without a certificate or only from a dealer you trust.
My guess to this situation is that someone who had a large inventory of these stamps are dumping them. Watch the stamp auction houses both in Europe and the U.S. to see if that set shows up in various auctions and how it realizes price wise . Again this is my guess as to what is happening ----The stamp firm ASFINSA went into receivership and these stamps are part of their massive inventory finial coming to market. What ASFINSA did was buy stamps for investment over 20 year or more and then when the firm's investment scan collapsed then a lot of holders were looking to exit the market and this Submarine set could of been jacked up in price .

My question: If this information below is accurate, where did all the perforated stamps come from?


http://www.submarinesonstamps.co.il...ry.aspx?h=90

The submarines set of stamps - The Submarine Post

The first, the most valuable and one of the beautiful set of stamps is by no doubt Spain`s "The Submarine Post".
By early 1938, faced with defeat, the Republican Government was in desperate need of foreign currency with which to buy both food and munitions. Faith in the Republican peseta was diminishing as the Nationalists advanced. It therefore became necessary to resort to a number of new ideas to raise the much needed currency.

One of these was by issuing stamps and thus the AFO (Official Philatelic Agency) under Don Arturo Fernandez Noguera came into being. In August 1938 Sr. Noguera had the idea of a special submarine post between the besieged island of Menorca and the mainland.

A set of six stamps were issued on the 11th August 1938. Printed photogravure by a small company - Oliva de Vilanova of Barcelona.

The following values and designs were printed:
1p blue- Submarine D1 (20.000 printed)
2p red/brown- Submarine A1 (15.000 printed)
4p orange/red- Submarine B2 (12.000 printed)
6p indigo/blue- Submarine A1 (10.000 printed)
10p mauve- Submarine B2 (10.000 printed)
15p grey/green- Submarine D1 (8.000 printed)
The stamps have `REPUBLICA ESPANOLA` at the top and `CORREO SUBMARINO` at the base.

In addition there was a miniature sheet, 12.500 printed, of three stamps:
4p black and carmine- Submarine B2
6p black and blue- Submarine A1
15p black and dark green- Submarine D1

All are found imperf. and with overprint `MUESTRA` (Specimen). The stamps are also found on carton paper, imperf.
The set of stamps and the miniature sheet were sold in the AFO at double face value. A Barcelona newspaper dated 26th November 1938 gave notice that the plates had been destroyed in the presence of postal employees, the press and various eminent stamp dealers. This was also reported in the then `Daily Worker` for 23rd December of that year.
In addition to the straightforward stamps there were various proofs and essays. The Galvez 1960 Proofs and Essays catalogue shows details of three projected designs of which it states there are six colors of each - brown, blue, ultramarine, mauve, green and dark orange. I must state here that I have never seen them nor can I find any Spanish dealer or collector who has either.

The designs are as follows:
1p Isaac Peral and his submarine of 1886.
4p The submarine constructed by Monturiol in 1850 for gathering sponges.
10p A submarine with periscope symbolizing the `Submarine Post`.

I have an Edifil catalog from the late 198os and it implies that the total printing was 8 million if t refers to printing .