VENEZUELA 1859-1882

Return To Catalogue - Venezuela 1883-1920 - Forgeries of the first issues 1859-1865 - miscellaneous - 'Escuelas', 'Instruccion' and fiscal stamps

Note: on my website many of the pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
contact me if you want to purchase them: evert@klaseboer.com.

Country in South America, bordering Colombia to the west, British Guyana to the east and Brazil to the south with capital Caracas. Check out the excellent website on Venezuelian stamps, its locals and forgeries http://www.mystamps.net, made by Williams Castillo. I would like to thank him for setting some of the information available to me. Stamps with inscription 'ESCUELAS' or 'INSTRUCCION' were fiscal stamps, but they could be used for postage before July 1895.

1859 Arms of Venezuela, small stamps

2 r red

  1/2 (medio) r orange
  1 r (un) blue
  2 r (dos) red

For the specialist; these stamps were issued in a fine and a coarse impression.

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
1/2 r	R	R
1 r	R	R
2 r	R	R

For forgeries click here.

'0', '5' and '2 1/2' cancels

1861 Arms of Venezuela

  1/4 (cuarto) c green
  1/2 (medio) c grey
  1 c (un) brown

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
1/4 c	R	RR
1/2 c	R	RR
1 c	R	RR

For forgeries click here.

Red cancels (I'm not sure if these are genuine cancels)

1863 Eagle with 7 stars

  1/2 c red
  1 (un) c grey
  1/2 (medio) r yellow
  1 r (un) blue
  2 r (dos) green

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
1/2 c	RR	RR
1 c	RR	RR
1/2 r	**	***
1 r	R	R
2 r	RR	RR

For forgeries click here.

1865 Arms of Venezuela in an octagonal frame

  1/2 c green
  1 c green
  1/2 r red
  1 r red
  2 r yellow

Overprinted in very small letters

2 c green 2 r yellow

  1 c violet
  2 c green
  1/2 r red
  1 r red
  2 r yellow

For the specialist; the overprint is either repeatedly 'Contrasena Estampillas de Correo', or 'Contrasena Estampilla de Correos' or 'Contrasena Estampillas de correo' (with small 'c' in 'correo').

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
1/2 c	RR	RRR
1 c	RR	RRR
1/2 r	***	***
1 r	RR	R
2 r	RR	RR
Overprinted with small letters
1 c	R	R
2 c	RR	RR
1/2 r	R	***
1 r	RR	R
2 r	RR	RR

The 1/2 r without overprint exist in tete-beche (RR), example:

1/2 r tete-beche

For forgeries click here.

More information about these stamps can be found on http://www.mystamps.net/venezuela/identificacion/octagonos01.html (in Spanish).

1880 Bolivar, inscription 'VENEZUELA'

  5 c blue
  10 c red
  25 c yellow
  50 c brown
  1 B green

These stamps are perforated 11.

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
5 c	*	*
10 c	***	***
25 c	**	**
50 c	***	***
1 B	***	***

Forgeries:

Probably a forgery 1 B green
(Probably forgeries)

(Note the strange cancels on these forgeries, reduced size)

Forgeries of these stamps are described in 'Focus on forgeries' by Varro E. Tyler, they seem to have been made in Venezuela. All genuine stamps are perforated 11 on all sides, stamps with any other perforation (11 1/2 or 12, or combations of 11, 11 1/2 and 12) are forgeries. Genuine stamps also have thin guidelines outside the stamps, these guidelines extend to the complete length or width of the stamp (according to Focus on forgeries). Some forgeries also have guidelines, but they are only visible in the corners of the stamps. On http://www.mystamps.net/venezuela/identificacion/bolivar01.html we can also find that there should be oblique shadelines on the nose of Simon Bolivar. In the forgeries these are absent, or only a few dots can be found. These 'reprints' also exist in tête-bêche.

Forgeries with tete-beche stamps.

For issues of Venezuela from 1883 to 1920 click here.

Cancels

On the early issued, sometimes cancels with only a number can be found. I've been told that these are actually weight indications already existing in pre-philatelic times.

(A '0', '2 1/4', '3' and a '8' cancel)