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2024 ISGC Benefit Auction

  
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     AP Cover March 2019   

    Member David Lindwall's article
    got Guatemala? was published in
     the March 2019 issue of
    The American Philatelist. APS members
     may read the article online here.
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   Topical Time cover

   The March/April 2019 issue of
   Topical Time,
   the journal of the American Topical
   Association
, contains two articles on
   Mayan topics on stamps.
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Help/Question Center

Help identifying a stamp
James Jacob
Hello, wondering if someone can help me identifying this stamp. I believe it is a 1984 airmail stamp that is a rarer version of the Scott C789 with the design of C782/785, though it is not an identical design. How rare is this, and what would I expect to pay for it?
Thanks!


Eric Dyck
Hi James. I don't see that you uploaded an image, but I assume you are referring to the "Jumbo Coffee" stamps of 1984. They are listed as ISGC # 1538 and 1539, with 5,000 copies of each printed. One million each of the regular sized coffee stamps were printed, except for C789 (25c), which had half that amount printed.  The 2013 Scott catalog mentions the Jumbo Coffee stamps in a note at $80 and $110 respectively, but they are not assigned Scott #'s. I found a set of the two Jumbos listed on ebay just now for $125.

From an article in El Quetzal #246, April 1985:  

 THE JUMBO STAMPS:  The decree originally called for two souvenir sheets (hojas miniaturas). As a result of some confusion, the sheets of six were perforated and thus lost their status as souvenir sheets.

I remember hearing about some controversy surrounding the sale and resale of the Jumbos in Guatemala. I was able to find this in EQ #316, November 2003, about dealer Kurt Weiss:

Kurt was involved in some way and profited from the Coffee jumbos. We don't know how many he acquired for resale, but did well. He would proudly show off the large television in his living room, and a new refrigerator, commenting that both had been funded from the sale of the Jumbos.

Eric Dyck
Librarian and Website Administrator
ISGC
James Jacob
Thanks for the information, Eric! I did indeed forget to include the image, which I edited into my first post.
I do have the Guatemala Scott list, but looking up that stamp perplexed me with their vague description.
I've ordered the "Postage Stamps of Guatemala" from Jonathan Topper, which should be a nice resource for me to look up this type of information. Cheers!
James Jacob
Well I got lucky and was able to buy both for $50 - a great deal, I'd say!
Now if I can get my hands on a #5.... :)


David Reitsema
Like many issues of Central American countries this issue was promoted and at least partially funded by the Guatemalan coffee growers. The oversized stamps were reputedly for the growers' Christmas greetings, but I have never seen these used on cover. I do have first day covers of them. The limited quantity printed led Scott to apply its weird policy of not listing issues with limited printings.
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