Big Blue 1840-1940: Argentina

Argentina in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue
Bud's Observations

Most Latin American countries secured their independence before the mid-19^th century and the introduction of stamps. The result is an exuberant philatelic diversity that is lacking in, say, African stamps where colonial powers dictated stamp design well into the 20^th century.

Argentina is my favorite among South America countries, followed closely by Peru and Brazil.

Heroes of war and allegories of Liberty, birds of prey and a boat load of anomalies make collecting a pleasure.

Two anomalies merit comment. The gray 1930 24c Victorious Insurgents (Scott #383, supplement p.2) is an unlisted color variant; I don’t think it’s bleached. The San Martin panel of 16 (Scott #231, supplement p. 4) has ghosts. They’re most pronounced on the bottom row right. Other anomalies are mostly perf glitches.

The 30c and 50c San Martins (p. 3) are interlopers from the 1916 series; I wanted to include a few of the higher value independence commemoratives even though they don’t quite fit Scott strictures.

Census: 225 in BB spaces, 23 tip-ins, 138 on supplement pages including 22 anomalies.

Jim's Observations

Would you believe, for the first twenty-seven stamp spaces in Big Blue's Argentina from 1858 to 1898, the most expensive stamp is $2+? And almost all 20th century stamps are less than $1 to $3? There are some exceptions: a 1932 (C37) Graf Zeppelin catalogs for $20+. Then there is the 1939 Scott 470-72 set for $10+$30+. Apparently, stamps issued for the recording and mailing of phonograph records was not a big seller.

The largest surprise is the huge cache of cheap stamps available that is not in Big Blue. The Official Department Stamps (OD1-OD357) were overprinted with initials for various departments (such as M.G. for Ministry of War) from 1911 to 1937 on 1911-37 regular issues. I counted 299 of them for the minimum catalog value of 25 cents.

Argentina Blog Post and Checklist

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