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, and its rain forests and mountains draw thousands of visitors each year. Costa Rica has been a stable democracy for many decades and is a relatively safe country. Because the cost of living is much lower than in the United States, this has meant that Costa Rica has benefited from many transplanted Americans, especially retirees.
The stamps of Costa Rica are relatively straightforward. There are few varieties and probably fewer overprints and surcharges than on any other Central American country. Collectors like the fact that there are few forgeries and no Seebeck issues for Costa Rica. The stamp issuing policy of the country has been conservative, which is always something that stamp collectors like.
Specialty Catalogs: The Scott Classic catalog is very good for Cost Rican issues to 1940, and the general Scott catalog serves adequately for the issues through the modern period. Cost Rica probably has the fewest varieties of any central Amican country, so making a comprehensive collection is less complicated than it is with most other countries.
Specialty Albums: The Scott Specialty series for Costa Rica is very good.
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ilability of Material: The fact that there are so few expensive stamps from Costa Rica (in fact there are even very few stamps that catalog over $5) makes Costa Rican stamps hard to come by as very few dealers bother much with it. After the first few issues, which are a bit more expensive and actively specialized in, it is unusual to see individual Costa Rican stamps listed for sale on eBay or on dealer lists. This makes the country a bit difficult to collect, and most collectors who collect Costa Rica resort to buying collection lots of the country and taking out what they need for their main Costa Rican collections and reselling the rest.
Expense: The price of Costa Rican stamps presents a bit of a paradox. As the wealthiest country in Central American and with an active tourist industry and tens of thousands of US expatriates living there, you would expect Costa Rican stamps to be more popular than they are and for prices to be higher. The reason for the relative unpopularity of Costa Rica is that many of the Americans living there are on fixed incomes and so are not active collectors. From a standpoint of cost, a collector can make an important collection of Costa Rica for less money than about any other major country in the world.
Overall Grade: B