EL SALVADOR PHILATELIST X, Number 1.pdf · at the Archivo General de Centroamerica (AGCA) in Guatemala City. El Salvador Philatelist is the on‐line, quarterly journal of AFISAL

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E L S A L V A D O R P H I L A T E L I S T

YearX,Number1 July‐September2013

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Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the first

issue of our publication

under the name of “El

Salvador Philatelist”! For

our long time readers,

this change had already

been communicated in

previous issues. For new

readers, it is important to

note that this “El

Salvador Philatelist” is

the continuation of the

publication “El Salvador

Filatelico – El Faro”,

published by AFISAL

(Asociación Filatélica

Salvadoreña) since 2003,

albeit with a shorter,

more direct name and a

new layout and overall

design.

Starting with this issue,

we will usually focus at

least one article on

Salvadorian postal

history, while trying to

keep a balance between

XIX and XX century issues

in the other articles so

that most of the

collecting interests are

covered.

In this issue we are also

very proud to inform that

the El Salvador Postal

History Handbook is very

close to become a

reality, please check

page 4 for details!

We hope you like the

new design, and we are

open to your comments

and suggestions!

Obviously as usual, we

also like to remind you

that your support in the

form of articles or

illustrations is very

important for the

sustainability of the

journal, so we hope the

new format motivates

you to collaborate more!

We look forward to hear

from you!

Cordially,

Guillermo F Gallegos

Year X, Number 1

July – Sept 2013

Director’sColumnInside this issue:

Front cover and page

one of the document

requesting the creation

of an Estafeta in

Ahuachapan, 1796.

The original document is

at the Archivo General de

Centroamerica (AGCA) in

Guatemala City.

El Salvador Philatelist is

the on‐line, quarterly

journal of AFISAL.

Requests for reprinting

articles can be sent to

ggallegos@elsalvadorphi

lately.org

In Memoriam – Cécile

Gruson 3

Postal History Handbook

Update 4

The creation of the

Ahuachapan Estafeta 6

1930 Bolivar Forgeries 10

Small Town Cancels (1) 14

Show‐n‐Tell 18

Adlets 19

Member Services 20

OntheCover

Board of Directors

President: Santiago Yudice

Vice‐president: Robinson Cruz

Secretary: José Luis Alonzo

Treasurer: Manuel Menjivar

First Vocal: Guillermo F

Gallegos

Second Vocal: Carlos

Quintanilla

Third Vocal: Iván Zelaya

Honorary Presidents:

Ramon de Clairmont Dueñas

Pierre Cahen

Jose Luis Cabrera

Honorary Member:

Joseph D Hahn

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INMEMORIAM–CECILEGRUSONGuillermo F Gallegos

During the first days of

August, I received the sad

news of the passing of Ms.

Cécile Gruson on July 24,

Editor of El Quetzal for

several years,

distinguished philatelist

and one of the most

knowledgeable postal

history researchers I have

met.

Cécile and I never met

personally, although we

exchanged emails on a

regular basis for more

than eleven years. In

2001, she became aware

of the Handbook project

and kindly offered to

include a note in El

Quetzal so its readers

could become aware of

the ongoing project and

support it if they had

related information or

collected El Salvador.

Over the years, we started

exchanging our respective

journals and agreed to

publish the table of

contents of the other

magazine in ours as “ads”

to promote Central

American philately in

general.

Regardless of these

collaborations, Cécile was

an important contributor

to the El Salvador

Handbook Project,

especially when its scope

for the first volume

became the PreStamp

Period. Cécile’s deep

knowledge of Colonial

Central American Postal

History helped me to

better understand the

intricate nature of the

topic. She also never

hesitated to share the

results of her research

with me in order to

improve or properly

document the manuscript.

I am deeply grateful for all

her comments,

suggestions and

information!

My last emails with Cécile

are from mid‐2012.

Afterwards I learned that

she was very ill and that

she had been working with

several other notable

philatelists for drafting of

a book about the Correo

Mayor period in Spanish

America. Because of her

illness, the editors of this

work requested me to

complement Cécile’s

contribution, the chapter

about the Correo Mayor in

the Kingdom of

Guatemala, a task that I

was rather happy, but also

much honored, to accept.

I hope that my additions

are up to her standards…

Our prayers and thoughts

are with her family, and

we will definitely miss her.

Au revoir!

Cecile Gruson

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POSTALHISTORYHANDBOOKUPDATEGuillermo F Gallegos

It has been a while since

we last reported any

updates in the El Salvador

Postal History Handbook

project, so it is now time

to share some very good

news.

Although we had planned

to finish the book by mid‐

2011, that original

deadline was postponed

(once again) as we decided

to complement the

research by visiting the

Archivo General de

Centroamerica (AGCA) in

Guatemala. Although we

were not able to visit

Guatemala until March

2012, this delay was

extremely fruitful, as we

found several important

documents, some of them

never reported before,

which significantly

strengthened the postal

history aspect of the work.

The final draft of the book

was completed in

December 2012. After

that, it went through the

review process, in which

we were honored to have

the support of Leo John

Harris, Yamil Kouri and

Thomas Lera, the first two

extremely knowledgeable

postal historians, and the

latter the Winton M.

Blount Chair in Research at

the National Postal

Museum in Washington

D.C. Their comments and

suggestions greatly

improve the draft and we

greatly appreciate their

help.

After the review process

was done, Dr. James

Mazepa, President of FIAF,

a great supporter of this

work and author of the

Foreword, arranged to

have us present the

manuscript to the

Collectors Club of Chicago

(CCC), one of the premier

philatelic organizations in

the United States.

I flew to Chicago on July

2013 to be the Guest

Speaker at the CCC’s

monthly general meeting

with a presentation about

the PreStamp Period of El

Salvador. We also had

the chance to present the

manuscript to the

Publications Committee of

the CCC, and we are quite

happy and honored to

inform that the

manuscript was accepted

by the CCC for

publication!

We are now starting the

final editing and pre‐press

stage, so we will keep you

updated on the

publication.

We have been waiting for

this moment for decades,

so it is important to

recognize all the

colleagues that have

considerably helped with

Collectors Club of Chicago

Clubhouse

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this book, and who have

been included on its

Acknowledgments. We

also deeply appreciate all

the support from Dr.

Mazepa, who made the

contact possible with the

CCC, and obviously the

Collectors Club of Chicago,

its President, Charles E.

Cwiakala, and the

members of the

Publications Committee,

James E. Lee and Leonard

H. Hartmann.

Once the PreStamp Era

book is published,

probably the question will

shift to ‘When will the XIX

Stamp Period will be

ready?’ It’s a fair

question, and the

straightforward answer is

that we need to revise

these chapters, improve

their postal history

aspects, and revise the

quality of the images. We

will start working on this

most probably at the start

of 2014, and once we

understand better the

work required to have a

high quality publication,

we will let you know an

estimated deadline.

How can you help to

speed up the XIX Century

Stamp Period? As

mentioned before, the

best way is with

information or illustrations

of interesting items you

think could be included in

the Handbook. Some areas

we would especially

appreciate your help with

are the following:

Varieties, proofs,

specimens, forgeries,

etc. that you feel could

be useful to report.

Covers of the 1867,

1874, 1879, 1887‐

1889, and Seebeck

issues.

Information or

illustrations of 1887‐88

private stationery not

included in H&G or

Ascher.

With YOUR HELP we will

make a comprehensive

and authoritative work

about the XIX Century

stamps!

Charles E. Cwiakala, CCC President, Guillermo F Gallegos &

James Mazepa, FIAF President.

Guillermo and the El

Salvador Prestamp

exhibition that supported

the conference.

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THECREATIONOFTHEAHUACHAPANESTAFETAGuillermo F Gallegos

Searching at the AGCA for

the El Salvador PreStamp

Era Handbook, we found a

fascinating document from

1796 that formalizes the

creation of a new estafeta

(post office) at

Ahuachapan. As this is

probably the only known

document related to the

creation of a Colonial

estafeta in present‐day El

Salvador, we thought it

was important to share it

in its entirety.

Ahuachapan (known in

Colonial times also as

Ahuachapa) is one of the

oldest towns in El

Salvador, inhabited since

the Prehispanic Period. In

1770 it was named as

parish seat and in 1785 as

the seat of the Partido of

Ahuachapan, part of

Guatemala. Its population

according to the census of

1790 was around 4,000.

The document is five

pages long; including a

cover page with the tittle

“El Administrador General

sugiere que en el pueblo

de Ahuachapan se

establezca estafeta” (The

General Administrator

suggests that a estafeta

should be established in

the town of Ahuachapan.

The “free” translation of

pages two and three of the

document, where the

Main Administrator

requests the creation of

the Estafeta, the reasoning

behind and outlines the

potential benefits vs the

costs, are as follows:

“To the Adviser in the

Postal Sub Delegation

The competent number of

Spanish and mixed‐race

inhabitants that the town

of Ahuachapa has, the

commerce of sugar and

dyes that has with this

capital, as well as products

of its lands, and the

creation of Ordinary

Mayors, have made

necessary and even urgent

since some time ago the

creation of the estafeta

and the provision, on

account of the Postal Rent,

of means to carry

correspondence so it can

communicate with all the

Kingdom and ease the

development of its

interests, while at the

same time giving the

necessary expedience to

the Justice and Royal

Revenue processes.

The location of this town

between the town of Santa

Ana and the village of

Sonsonate, where it

belongs, and separated

two or three leagues from

the road, eases the

planning, as the courier

communicating the other

two settlements can go

inside Ahuachapan twice

per month with a short

detour and some increase

in his current

remuneration, by

anticipating one day the

departures from

Sonsonate (assuming that

there is enough volume)

with the purpose of

arriving to Santa Ana to

deliver and receive the

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correspondence. In this

way, as it won’t affect the

current flow of

correspondence and won’t

cause a significant cost to

the Estafetas fund, the

establishment of this

Estafeta can be done,

which will surely cause a

positive public benefit,

while being compatible

with the interests of the

Service, which are to

reduce by just means the

continuous frauds that

prevent it from obtaining

its rights.

In this concept, and

without having objections

from the Superior

Government, I request

your acceptance of the

creation of the Estafeta in

the town of Ahuachapa in

the aforementioned terms,

and to order the execution

of the this resolution so

that the Main

Administration may take

the necessary dispositions.

May God bless Your

Highness many years.

Nueva Guatemala, April 14

1796.

Miguel de Ateaga y

Olozaga”

Ateaga was the Main

Administrator of the Postal

Service in the Kingdom of

Guatemala, and it fell

under his jurisdiction to

manage the creation and

maintenance of the

Estafetas.

Subsequently, on April 18

of the same year, the

Advisors gave their

consent to this creation

(on page 4):

“We agreed to the

establishment of an

Estafeta in Ahuachapan as

proposed by the Main

Administrator, so that he is

notified with the

corresponding documents

and an order is prepared

to notify the Alcalde

Mayor of Sonsonate and

the Justices in

Ahuachapan, who will also

be provided with notices

for publication, in the

understanding that this

creation will contribute to

their growth and their

perfection, by giving the

Administrators and their

subordinates the support

they require. In this way it

was decided and signed by

the President of the

Government and Captain

General with the Adviser

of this Rent…”

Page four ends with an

annotation that continues

on page five (not

illustrated):

“Two notices were

prepared of the referred

documents, one for the

Alcalde Mayor of

Sonsonate and the other

for the Ordinary Mayor of

Ahuachapan on April 20

1796.”

And thus the Estafeta at

Ahuachapan came into

being…

Markings used during the

Colonial Period in Ahuachapan

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Page 1

Page 2

9


Page 3

Page 4

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BOLIVARFORGERIESGuillermo F Gallegos

The forgeries of the 1930

Bolivar issue were first

reported by Lowell Ragatz

(George van den Berg) in

Philatelic Notes on June

1941. Since then, there

have been several

mentions of these

counterfeits in the

philatelic press; some of

these mentions have been

in the SPA Journal (January

1943), Stamps (1967), the

column “Latin American

Notes” of the American

Philatelist (August 1968),

three times in El Faro

(1977, 1991, 1996), and by

Varro Tyler in Linn’s Stamp

News on October 1995.

These forgeries have been

also included in Billig’s

Philatelic Handbook.

Despite this relatively

extensive coverage for an

El Salvador issue, most of

these publications were

before the advent of the

internet, so the

illustrations used on them

were in black&white or

using photocopies.

Because of this, we

thought an update with

1930 First Day Cover with the four values of the Bolivar issue

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full color images was

necessary.

According to Lowell

Ragatz, these forgeries

were produced in Havana,

Cuba, probably during the

1930s. Some authors have

reported that they are

relatively common, but

collectors seldom find

them. For example,

Joseph Hahn, in his 40+

years of collecting El

Salvador, has only

identified three sets!

The reported differences

between the forgeries and

the originals have not

varied much amongst the

mentioned articles. In

general, nine main

elements have been

noted:

1) The most visible

difference is in the

tip of the lower

edge of the flag.

On the originals,

the tip almost

touches the

numeral ‘3’ in

‘1830’, forming an

almost 90 degree

angle with the

closest diagonal

line to the ‘3’. In

the counterfeits,

the tip of the flag

ends about 0.5mm

above the numeral

and the angle with

the diagonal line is

not formed.

2) The second most

visible difference is

in the ‘s’ of ‘CENTS’

in the value block.

The ‘s’ is very clear

in the originals but

washed‐out in the

fakes.

3) Color differences

have been noted,

but the shades

have not been

specified. We will

compare the four

values side by side

to determine the

shades of the

counterfeit items

analyzed.

4) Originals are

perforated 11½,

while forgeries are

perforated 12 or

12½. In the

counterfeit items

analyzed, the 15c

and one example

of the 25c values

were perforated

12, while the 20c,

another 25c

example and the

40c were

perforated 12½.

5) Fake cancellations

are often found on

the counterfeits

(see illustrations).

6) Diagonal lines are

thin and straight in

the originals vs

irregular in the

forgeries.

7) There are slight

differences in the

Bolivar portrait

design between

the originals and

the fakes, mostly

because of the

heavier lines on the

latter.

1 2

12


8) General washed

out appearance in

the forgeries vs a

clearer printing in

the originals.

9) Paper in the

forgeries is softer

and thinner than

that of genuine

stamps.

These differences become

clearer when compared

side by side the originals

and the fakes:

Comparison of the original

Bolivar portrait (top) vs the

counterfeit (bottom)

Counterfeit cancel applied to the forgeries. It has the inscription

“CORREO AEREO / EL SALVADOR” on the outside and “SERVICIO

INTERNACIONAL / SAN SALVADOR” on the inside. The cancels

sometimes is clearly seen from the back (image at right flipped

for better reading).

Original 15c stamp (left) vs 15c counterfeit (right). All the major differences are clearly

seen, especially the overall washed‐out appearance of the forgeries when compared

against the clearer impression of the original issue. Note the deep red shade of the

original vs the dark rose red of the counterfeit.

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Comparison between the original Bolivar stamps (left) vs the counterfeits (right). In the

20c stamp, the original shade is emerald and the fake is greenish olive; in the 25c value,

the original is brown violet vs the dark lilac red of the forgery; and the 40c deep ultra

shade of the original contrasts against the indigo of the counterfeit. The shades of the

forgeries have been determined using the Michel Farbenführer (color guide).

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SMALLTOWNCANCELS( )Guillermo F Gallegos

Have you ever heard of

the Aldea Bolaños, the

town of origin of the cover

shown above? How about

Comasagua, Talnique or

Estanzuelas? Jiquilisco

anyone?

If you haven’t, you are not

alone. The town names

mentioned are not

household names even for

many Salvadorians. That’s

why I was somewhat

surprised to find

correspondence from

these and several other

towns when I bought a

cancel collection of El

Salvador some years ago.

The collection was

composed of

correspondence sent

mostly during the 1970s,

and was classified

according to the town

from where it was sent.

The collector, of whom

regretfully I do not know

his name, took the care of

trying to determine the

date of usage ranges and

of identifying the different

types of cancels for a town

if there was more than

one. The work is very

good; albeit probably

incomplete as there were

surely other towns with

post offices and cancels

during this period (I still

need to check this out).

Nevertheless, his study is

very valuable as post

office cancels, particularly

during the XX century, is a

topic seldom covered in

Salvadorian philatelic

literature. Because of this,

starting from this number,

we will present several

examples of small town

cancels from this

Cover sent from Aldea Bolaños, Department of Santa Ana, 1975.

15


collection with the

intention of starting to

document these cancels

like it has been done for

other countries,

Guatemala for example.

For each town presented,

we will include a short

summary of its location

and history, and we will

try to determine the

approximate date of

creation of the postal

office. For this purpose,

we will check the different

Guias Postales (Postal

Guides) published since

the early 1900s, assuming

that a first time

appearance in a Guia

Postal would mean that

the office was created

between the publishing of

the previous Guide and

the compilation of the one

where it appears.

To make this work

complete, we cordially

invite you to share with us

your ‘small town covers’

so they can be included in

future articles about the

topic to gain further

knowledge about the XX

century postal offices in

the country. Thanks in

advance for your help!

Aldea Bolaños is located

in the department of Santa

Ana (see red star on map).

Originally it was a

Hacienda named La

Parada, which was

purchased by the Bolaños

family in 1859, and

eventually evolved into a

settlement that took the

name of the family. Up to

Map of El Salvador with the 14 departmental divisions (Names in upper case blue are for the

departments that do not have the same name of their capital).

Aldea Bolaños

Aguilares

Atiquizaya

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the 1960s, it seems that

there was no post office in

the town, depending from

the nearest one in

Candelaria de la Frontera.

As currently Correos de El

Salvador does not list a

postal office in Aldea

Bolaños, it seems that this

was a rather short‐lived

office. The cancel

collection has two items

from Aldea Bolaños, one

from 1975 and the other

from 1979. We would

rather be interested in

knowing about items

before and after these

dates, to better determine

the period of existence.

Aguilares is also a

relatively young town

located on the

Department of San

Salvador (see green star

on map), and founded in

1932. The Guia Postal of

1936 already lists a postal

office of the 3rd degree in

the town (the smallest one

according to the

classification used for

most of the XX century).

Currently Aguilares is a

primary post office for

Correos de El Salvador,

with the secondary offices

of El Paisnal and Guazapa

subordinated to it.

In contrast, Atiquizaya

has existed since Pre‐

Columbian times,

belonging at times to

Sonsonate and Santa Ana,

before being incorporated

to Ahuachapan. Although

the exact date of the post

office creation is not

known, Atiquizaya already

appears in an 1876

itinerary, which would

mean that a formal office

was created sometime

between 1867 and that

year, as the town does not

appear in the prestamp

era itineraries. By 1908

Atiquizaya was a

secondary office, and

currently is a primary

office.

Aldea Bolaños cancel processed

with RetroReveal (see The

Collector’s Club Philatelist, Sep‐

Oct 2013)

Aguilares cancel used in the

early 1970s.

Atiquizaya cancel used in the

early 1970s.

El Salvador, truly one of the last frontiers in philately. Where can you find

such an impressive array of complex issues still waiting for new discoveries

to be made? Whatever your interest, El Salvador has it all. Let us help you

build your collection!

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Top & Middle: 1972 cover sent from Aguilares to San Salvador. Note the Official Seals at

the back. Three new Official Seals from the 1970s have been identified among the covers

in this collection; they will be covered in a future article. Bottom: Cover sent in 1972

from Aguilares to Guatemala.

18


SHOW‐N‐TELLThis section presents an illustration of an interesting item from the collection of one of our member or

collaborators.

Proofs for unissued stamps.

10c and 25c designs for the XVIII Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of the Banco

Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID – Inter‐American Development Bank). The meeting

was scheduled to be held in San Salvador during May‐June of 1977, but due to the

deteriorating security, it was cancelled and finally held in Guatemala City. Therefore,

although stamps were going to be issued to commemorate the event, in the end they

were cancelled and only the imperforate proofs remain. They are seldom seen outside El

Salvador.

(Guillermo F Gallegos Collection)

We would appreciate if you could send your comments, suggestions, and

contributions for El Salvador Philatelist to our e‐mail address:

sfes‐[email protected] or

[email protected]

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ADLETSOur adlet service allows members to publish their philatelic interests on each ‘El Salvador Philatelist’ so

they can buy, sell, or exchange with other collectors. Every member is eligible to place one adlet in the

journal. In order to send us the adlet you want published, please send us an email to

[email protected].

Looking for El Salvador stamps Scott #'s: 57, 229, 247, 252, 257, 293, 558, C31, O223, O224,

O226, 1 of (O227, O228, O230, O231), O355. If you have any of these, please e‐mail price to

[email protected] ‐‐ will respond promptly.

Wanted: Errors, proofs, oddities of El Salvador. If you have any of these for sale or exchange,

please send an e‐mail to: [email protected] .

Looking for Scott #’s: 25E, 190, 191A, 211, 212A, 225, 227, 230B, 232, 237H, 240A, 297 y 311B;

Officials O66, O67 y O68/O72. All of them either mint or used. Please contact at

[email protected] .

Wijesena, a lawyer from Sri Lanka & a keen philatelist, interested in contacts with fellow

collectors from El Salvador and other Latin countries for the exchange of stamps, fdcs, s/s, m/s,

etc. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Essays, Color Trials, Proofs, Freaks, Fakes, Oddities. Your offers most welcomed to Pierre

Cahen: [email protected] or POB 483 San Salvador, El Salvador.

Interested in trading revenue stamps of El Salvador. Bryon Batjiaka, e‐mail:

[email protected]

WANTED: Multiple copies of Scott #452 to 455 and 457 to 467 for a study. Unused, used, no

gum, poor centering, slight thins are of use to me provided they are priced accordingly. I am

NOT interested in shifted overprints. I can use up to 50 copies of any of the mentioned Scott

numbers, including varieties. Of course, pairs, strips and blocks are worth a premium. Please

write first to Joe Hahn, [email protected]

20


MEMBERSSERVICES

AFISAL regularly meets

every Saturday at 3PM

(local time) in the

premises of the National

Museum of Anthropology

(MUNA) in San Salvador.

The meetings are

characterized by the

informal exchange of

material and information

between the members.

MUNA is located at

Avenida Revolución, Col.

San Benito, in front of the

Centro Internacional de

Ferias y Convenciones

(CIFCO). It is the largest

museum in El Salvador,

with an extensive

collection of Pre‐

Columbian artifacts and

ethnographic material.

New Issues Service

Collectors interested in having all recent issues of El Salvador can subscribe to our New Issues Service. The general conditions are as follows:

a. The Society will provide the members subscribed to the "New Issues Service" all the stamps issued by El Salvador from the date of the subscription onwards until the collector requests the end of the service or leaves the Society.

b. The stamps will be sold at face value + 10% commission to the Society in order to cover administrative costs.

c. Shipping costs will be based on current postal rates to the country of residence of the

collector. In order to save on shipping costs, the new issues will be sent every three months in a single package.

d. In order to subscribe to the New Issues Service, members will have to send US$30 in cash or check from US or Salvadorian banks made payable to Pierre Cahen (checks from other countries are not accepted), along with the new issue service agreement filled out and signed ( New Issues Service.doc or New Issues Service.pdf ) to the following address:

Pierre Cahen

Vipsal 1342

POB 02‐5364

Miami Florida 33102

USA

The payment is a

deposit in the Society

which is debited every

time a new issue is

purchased or sent to

the collector. Every

member will receive a

statement of his

deposit along with

each New Issues

package. When the

deposit reaches a level

of US$5 or less, the

Society will request a

further advance to

increase the deposit.

e. Members may cancel the New Issues Services by sending a letter or an e‐mail to [email protected] at least a month in advance from the date they wish to end the service.

Documents

EL SALVADOR PHILATELIST X, Number 1.pdf · at the Archivo General de Centroamerica (AGCA) in Guatemala City. El Salvador Philatelist is the on‐line, quarterly journal of AFISAL