Rare Guatemala Scott C875

Today's pleasant surprise.
While looking through my modern Guatemala, I came across this used pair. Although, unfortunately they are not canceled, the piece the stamps are on fit the description of a Christmas mailing in Guatemala City.

The stamps (re: 1993 census) were politically controversial and thus were never issued. During the Christmas rush in December 2001, a postal employee mistakenly removed some from the stamp vault at the main post office when he ran out of stamps in use at the time.

The C875 was on sale for a very short time until postal authorities found out about their use and immediately removed them from sale. The stamp is listed in Scott with no value indicated due to rarity and a note that says "No. C875 was withdrawn from sale 12/11/01."





Marty

Great find, Marty! Definitely a pic worth my keeping!

k

Woo Hoo !! Marty ..thats Guatemala for you..the smaller post offices used whatever was on hand to post a letter revenues,tax stamps, officials...makes for interesting covers..i imagine you will settle for them "on piece" ...Guatemala in 1988 issued a million souvineer sheets of the Folklore festival...an absurd amount for such a conservative stamp issuing country...the International Society of Guatemala Collectors bought up a large amount of them to use as postage for El Quetzal...i have several front covers with the souvineer sheet cancelled...that sheet in 2008 scott catalogs 10 dollars mint or used...who comes up with these values ?????

Some questions are better off left unanswered.

This is why I have always believed that for 99.99% of stamps, the wholesale buy/sell prices are a much better indicator of a "monetary value", because it better reflects the actual supply/demand.

Only when you get into the rarities, that's when retail (auction) prices are basically equivalent to a "monetary value" of the stamp.

My opinion.

Kim and Phil,

I appreciate your comments. This was a totally unexpected find. It so happens that I have a pair of C875 MNH that cost me $50.00. I don't normally spend that on stamps but I was aware of the history and rarity of the stamps and my good wife said "OK".

I hear that the International Society of Guatemala Collectors is looking for a used C875 on cover to verify their use. I don't know if these 2 on the piece would qualify since they are not canceled, but no matter, I'm keeping them on piece.

Marty I am pretty sure Cecile Gruson the editor of El Quetzal would like to see a scan of them...if you do not have her e mail I would be happy to provide it..she is always looking for something to put in the magazine..even my mundane things have showed up,,,,like yourself a 50 dollar item is a big deal for me...but when the time is right I will spring for an item.

Don't count on the No Value listed as theory a measure of scarcity. I had an Ethiopian stamp(actually 15 copies) that was unlisted in Scott for years(#806A). When I finally got them to list it, it had no value also for years. Even though it was well known to sell for around $25(if you could find one). I haven't looked them up in several years so I don't know if they ever did list a value.

Interesting background info, rev'!

In the 2009 Scott, Ethiopia 806A is priced at 3.75/2.25 for MNH/used.

Is the 1 Birr value still #806A? I had a North Africa Specialty dealer pay $18.00ea for 3 of them about 9 months ago. Makes you kind of wonder doesn't it!

Phil, please send Cecile's email and I'll contact her.

revstampman,

You are correct, of course, that no stated value is not an indication of scarcity. I kinda jumped the gun here. What makes Guatemala C875 a rarity was its illegal use, by postal clerks no less. There may have been a maximum of 1,000,000 1993 census stamps printed (an average run at the time as well as I can recall). So, if the remaining stamps were not destroyed when yanked from sale in 2001 after an approximate week of sales, then there is a chance that my stamps could become basically worthless. That is, if they still exist and if someone were to illegally obtain and sell them.

Due to the fact that the 1993 census data was highly falsified for political reasons, it is doubtful they will ever be issued by the postal authorities. So, yes, unless it can be verified that the stamps were destroyed there remains doubt as to their scarcity.

Marty

Yes, the 1 "BIRR" overprint is still #806A. In brief...

806A 1b 3.75/2.25
806B 2b 7.50/4.50
806C 3b 9.00/6.25

I am unfamiliar with this set. It could be a case where the Scott catalog has actually undervalued the stamps.

Italy/area has reawakened in the past couple of years, with major price increases of many stamps, both mint and used. It would not surprise me to see Ethiopia riding some coattails.

Thanks for mentioning this stamp. I had not noticed it in the past.

Further Info if you are interested. All known A, B, & C's are postmarked in Addis Ababa. All of the Birr values came from he same source The Bank of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. All of mine were sent to Citi Bank in NYC over a 1 month period.

Thanks, rev'! That will go into my notes!

k

Marty...check your e mail ! Will look for you if I am ever down that way..my son had a girlfriend who was up in the hills with the peace corps..i asked her if she spoke Spanish and she said no..but neither did the natives she lived with !!

in regard to the stamp C875 Guatemala -1993 census-, I knew the version that by casuality a Guatemalan collector passed by central post office to register some letters; suddenly he saw for sale the stamp census and thought to go to philatelic office to buy them and ask about the issue, etc. There he was informed that stamps have been printed and kept for the issue but there was no published authorization still to do the official issue, so they went to see the sale and ordered immediately to stop selling those stamps -by mistake- and tried to know who were the persons who had bought those stamps without any result. The stamp was never issued officially and its value -originally approx us$0.13- began to raise; it is a year and a half that I payed us$40.00 for a mint stamp of this and it is not easy to see it for sale. The seller had a block for sale but it was much to me. surely it will go up more.

Welcome David to our growing family of people interested in the stamps of Guatemala..do you belong to any of the societies ? Phil International Society of Guatemala Collecters member # 853 !