What Can Be Done: The first issues of Ecuador are primitive and interesting to collect. Americans tend to think of Latin America as one more or less geopolitical area. As you learn the history, the differences in these countries become apparent. And nowhere are the differences and the mental distance among these countries more apparent […]
What Can Be Done: Costa Rica on the west coast of Central America, bordering the Pacific Ocean, is the wealthiest country in Central America. The country has long been a profitable exporter of agricultural products, especially coffee. In recent decades, tourism, especially ecotourism, has benefited the economy. Costa Rica has aggressively protected its natural resources,
What Can Be Done: Colombian philately is the jewel of Latin American philately. The nineteenth century stamps have an allure like few others. They combine both primitiveness and beauty, and almost all are scarce and hard to find yet fairly modest in price. The classic imperfs are highly prized, but it is the later nineteenth
What Can Be Done: Chile is the wealthiest country in Latin America and, with a highly educated population, has the highest per capita number of stamp collectors of any nation in that region. The philately of Chile is very interesting and, after making allowances for the first issues (called “Columbus Heads”), rather straightforward. The Columbus
What Can Be Done: Bulgaria is an excellent country to collect. Until 1878 Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and used the stamps of Turkey. Specialists collect these stamps by identifying the Turkish stamps that were used in Bulgaria by the cancellations on the stamps. This is a thriving specialty. After independence Bulgaria
What Can Be Done: Brunswick is one of the more interesting and manageable of the German States to collect. It has a limited number of stamps and, though several of them are scarce, none are rare. There are some forgeries, but they don’t present nearly the problem that they do for several of the other
What Can Be Done: Bremen is a city in the north of Germany near the North Sea. It was a part of the Hanseatic League and was its own city state before the confederation of Germany. The stamps of Bremen are very difficult to collect and to specialize in. There are a total of 16
What Can Be Done: If you want to collect a country that was among the first issuers of stamps, that is easy to complete, and which can be completed for less than $50, then Bergedorf is for you. Bergedorf is a city in northern Germany that for a short period between 1861-1867 issued its own
What Can Be Done: Argentina is a case study in how important it is that a country’s political system works. In 1930, Argentina was the seventh wealthiest nation in the world. Eighty five years later, after a succession of bad governments, it has sunk to third world status. The stamps of Argentina provide a collector