What Can Be Done: Honduras is one of the most philatelically interesting countries in the world. The first issues have a wonderful, primitive appeal. They are very rare but not very expensive. The later nineteenth century and twentieth century is loaded with scarce and difficult to find varieties. Printing methods and printers were unsophisticated in Honduras, and poverty meant that postal rate changes were effected by overprinting older stocks of stamps, not issuing newly designed ones. This makes for many varieties, many of which are very scarce and most of which are far harder to find than to afford. Post-1940 Honduras is particularly interesting due to the small number of newer issues. Honduras has always been ruled for the benefit of a few prominent families. Since there were virtually no internal philatelists to speak of and very few people outside of Honduras specialized in its stamps, the feeling was that there was little revenue to be gained by issuing new stamps. Accordingly, the difficulty in collecting Honduras is getting the earlier varieties, not in getting later mint sets.
The Airmails of Honduras are among the most interesting issues in our hobby and are avidly collected by themselves (indeed, the Black Honduras, a Honduran airmail stamp is one of only two stamps that are unique). The capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, in the early twentieth century had no railroad connection with the rest of the country. It was several days mule ride to traverse the 150 mountainous miles between the capital city and the country’s major port. Airmail was a communications godsend and was avidly and legitimately used. Many airmail stamps were issued, many of them short-lived and now very scarce. Collectors avidly seek out Honduran airmail stamps, varieties, and flight covers.
Specialty Catalogs: The Scott Classic catalog is quite good for Honduras. It lists hundreds of interesting and hard to find varieties in both the regular and airmail issues. There is a specialized section of Honduran airmails in the Sanabria airmail catalog. This catalog is out of print, but you should be able to borrow a copy from the American Philatelic Research Library.
Specialty Albums: The Scott specialty series album for Honduras is pretty good, as far as it goes. The main interest in collecting Central American stamps is the thousands of varieties that exist in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. No preprinted album could possibly list them all, so specialists in these countries usually find they need to make albums of their own.
Availability of Material: There is a steady stream of material that is offered for Honduras, making for interesting collecting. It is very difficult to attain the collecting status where you have acquired most of the varieties of Honduras.
Expense: This is tricky for Honduras. Most of the regular issues are inexpensive, as are the regular issue varieties. The airmails are quite pricey-the unique Black Honduras should sell in the six figures. Many airmails sell in the hundreds of dollars and varieties and covers sometimes for even more.
Overall Grade: A-