Collectors, like hikers, enjoy a challenge. They may want an easy philatelic climb some of the time, but for long term appeal most collectors need some difficulty in their pursuit. For a philatelic specialty to be popular, items after the basics, should be hard to find. Perhaps there are rarities that require great monetary outlay, and perhaps there is the challenge of reprints and forgeries. But make the challenge too daunting and people give up the climb and collect something else. 
Such is the case with Venezuela. Venezuela should be a popular country. It is one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America, with large oil revenues and it has a educated and literate population. These are both factors that predict philatelic popularity in a country. And yet very few people collect the stamps of Venezuela. The reason I think is because of forgeries. The early issues were very crudely printed and have been extensively forged. Beyond forgeries there were many issues that were remaindered out (sold to the philatelic trade after demonetization, and sometimes before) which are impossible to tell from the originals. Next add a series of fiercely difficult to distinguish overprints that were placed on the stamps as anti conterfeiting and anti theft measures (similar to the US Kansas-Nebraska overprints) and you have a collecting situation appealing largely to masochists. Years ago Harmer’s had a great specialized auction of Venezuela that I attended. If you knew what you were doing, great rarities could be purchased for little cost compared to what they would be worth if they were the stamps of a more popular country. The same situation exists today.
