During the 1920’s is very rare to find Costa Rica stamps used in correspondence to Africa.

Recently came to my hands one of those extremely rare piece of Costa Rica stamps’ postal history from the 1920’s.

A beautiful postcard depicting passengers getting into a train to depart from Limón to San José. That’s nice, but there’s a rarer factor to it. It has a 2 céntimos Jesús Jiménez stamp and was sent to Algeria!

Let’s begin explaining it one detail at a time:

• The Jesús Jiménez issue circulated for only 6 months. It was demonetized in December 31st, 1923. This postcard was sent in July 28th, 1928 from Limón.
• The postcard has another stamp, the 10 céntimos from the 1910 issue that was also demonetized at the end of 1923. It is a common mistaken belief that this issue was demonetized before 1923.
• This is the only piece of postal history with a Jesús Jiménez issue stamp sent to Africa! The 2 biggest Jesús Jiménez collections in Costa Rica don’t have any piece of postal history sent to Africa.
• It has the arriving mark at Algeria. It was a common practice not to hand-stamp postcards at the arriving country during the early 1900’s.

You can check some really interesting Jesús Jiménez’s issue errors here.

Make sure to review our tips for stamp collecting in the XXI century.

Want to buy the best philatelic supplies? Remember to visit the ultimate stamp collecting supplies list.

To keep your stamps and postcards safe from stains and getting damaged we recommend Lighthouse stock books.

Stamp Magnifying Microscope: Celestron 5 MP Handheld Digital Microscope 

Stamp Magnifying Lamp Desk Clamp-Mount 90 SMD LED Adjustable Spring-Arm

Make sure to view these amazing full stamp pane protective storage bags.

Manual perforation measurement gauge which has a really low price.

Electronic perforation measurement gauge, that has a higher price, but is easier measure perforations.

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Rare use of a cuban postal censor in Costa Rica air mail.

Air mail cover from Esso Standard Oil with double WWII censor. Sent via air mail in May 18th, 1945 (11 days after Germany surrended). As mentioned before, this cover has two censors. One “defensa continental” censorship tape, which is really common in Costa Rica mail. The other one is a Cuban postal censor in hand stamp, that being honest, is the first time i see it.

It´s true that the Cuban censor is pretty rare, it isn’t the most attractive characteristic of this cover. The most attractive thing is its franking. Why, well, just because 5 colones and 74 céntimos is way to high. A 5 colones stamp from the Legislación Social Issue. A 50 céntimos revenue surcharged for air mail use in 1945. A 15 céntimos Francisco Morazán surface mail stamp. And finally a 10 céntimos San Ramón issue stamp for surface mail. According to the postal rate decree from November 15th, 1942, the 5 colones and 75 centimos franking can be broken down as follows: 85 centimos for the regular franking + 7 times the rate every additional 5 grams (70 centimos x7).

The cover doesn’t have a receiving mark from La Habana. This is not an inconvenient since the censorship demonstrates it arrived at the island.

The post Costa Rica Stamps – Air Mail Cover with cuban postal censor and 5 colones from Legislacion Social appeared first on Costa Rica Stamps.

Are you that kind of philatelic enthusiast that likes to surf the web looking for pics of stamps from time to time?

Well, here I am to help you! I know that looking at stamps can be hypnotizing. I know that once you start, you’ll leave your computer until you saw the last one.

I’ve been a Costa Rica stamp collector for over 20 years. And i’m pretty sure I never get tired of looking at stamps.

That’s why Estampillascr’s Facebook page has more than 1,500 pics of stamps…Costa Rica stamps. It doesn’t matter what you are looking for, we have plenty! We divided them in several sections, so it would be easier for you to browse them.

You can browse our albums of surface mail stamps, air mail stamps, semi postal stamps, Christmas stamps and proofs. If you like cancellations on stamps, there’s an album too. Also we have albums for postal history and postcards. At last but not least the “errors” albums will take your breath away.

If by any chance you don’t find the stamp you were looking for, don’t panic! Just let me know and I will help you finding it.

Also, you can view the rarest and most expensive Costa Rica stamps from the Frederick R. Mayer collection auction.

The post Costa Rica: pics of stamps – lots of pictures appeared first on Costa Rica Stamps.

It’s the dream of every stamp collector to own the world’s rarest postage stamps. For most of us it is indeed just a dream. 9 years ago, the philatelic world had the chance to witness the auction of the biggest Costa Rica stamp collection.

In October 22nd, 2008 Spink Shreves Galleries sold at an unreserved  auction, one of the greatest single country collections ever formed. There is no question that the collection of postage stamps and postal history of Costa Rica is the most comprehensive and valuable ever formed. This collection was assembled over a lifetime by the renowned philatelist Frederick R. Mayer. Its scope and depth are simply remarkable. Replete with virtually every recorded major rarity in all categories. Often with multiple examples of each.

Costa Rican philately were extensively covered in Mayer Collection in all areas. It included stampless covers, stamp issues both on and off cover. It also included the finest and most comprehensive selection of 1863 First Issue covers ever offered at auction. Essays and proofs, air mail related material, postal stationery and revenues and much more. The appearance of this spectacular collection was truly a once-in-a-life opportunity for collectors of Latin American stamps.

I’m excited to present you the rarest and most expensive items sold in this auction.

The post World’s rarest postage stamps. Greatest Costa Rica items from the Frederick R. Mayer Collection appeared first on Costa Rica Stamps.

For no reason the issues from the early 1920’s are hard to find used on cover. The most difficult to find on cover is Scott 111J which consist in an overprint for coffee promotion that reads “COMPRE UD. CAFE DE COSTA RICA”. There are only 13 covers known with that stamp.

Scott 111J has an error (position 72): instead of “UD” it reads “VD”. Some people say it was made on purpose some say that it’s a legit error -that will be addressed in another post-.

So, what are the chances that if only 13 covers are known, one of them has the stamp with this error? Low, very low.

The nice thing about the mentioned cover is that it doesn’t have 1 stamp, it has a block of 4! and if that wasn’t amazing enough, it also has the 20 Cts from the Jesus Jimenez issue!

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