Aguera- a closer look at the stamp issues

1922 Scott 20 25c deep blue

"King Alfonso XIII"

Into the Deep Blue
The 2011 Scott Classic Specialized catalogue has, for Aguera 1920-22, 26 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 18 are CV $1+-$2+. The stamps of Aguera are affordable for WW collectors, but there is a catch....One has to find them. ;-) They tend not to be found often in general WW collections, at least in the United States.

La Aguera, or La Guera, is located on the southwestern edge

 of Western Sahara

A closer look at the stamps and issues
100 Centimos = 1 Peseta

1920 Scott 9 40c pink "King Alfonso XIII"

Type of 1920 Issue Rio de Oro, Overprinted

As Aguera was an administrative district of Rio de Oro on the northwest coast of Africa, it makes sense that the first issue for Aguera in 1920 used the stamps of the mother colony. The 13 stamp issue was overprinted as shown. It is a "type" of the Rio de Oro issue, however, as the denomination colors are different. There are control numbers in back printed in blue. CV for nine stamps is $2+. The CV is listed as identical for used and unused, although Scott admits that genuine used are not that common.

1920 Scott 6S 20c lilac, overprinted

Specimen Stamp

The 1920 issue ( and the 1922 issue as well) has minor numbers in Scott for specimen stamps. CV is higher, at least in the $8+ range. How does one tell that one has a specimen stamp?

Specimen stamp: "A000,000"

The control numbers on the back of specimen stamps have a "A000,000" number.

1922 Scott 15 2c dark green

"King Alfonso XIII"

In 1922, a new issue was produced for Aguera consisting of 13 stamps. Now, both Rio de Oro and La Aguera were under the rubric of "Sahara Occidental", or "Western Spanish Sahara". In fact, this was the last issue for Aguera proper; as by 1924, the stamp issues of "Western Spanish Sahara" were used.

1922 Scott 21 30c dark brown

The 1922 issue also has control  number printed in blue on the back. CV for 9 stamps is $1+.

Deep Blue

1922 Aguera issue in Deep Blue

Deep Blue (Steiner) has one page for the issues of Aguera, and naturally the spaces include all the major Scott numbers. The minor number "Specimen" stamps will either need to be put into the major number space, or a quadrilled page can be utilized.

1922 Scott 22 40c rose red 

"King Alfonso XIII"

Out of the Blue

The earlier blog entries in Big Blue 1840-1940 were heavy in information, but not so much in illustration. I am now slowly making up for that. ;-)

Note: This blog entry "Aguera- a closer look at the stamp issues" is now incorporated into the original Aguera blog post. 

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