You have to admire the pretentions of early Latin American stamps. When you look deeper, the sad reality comes into view. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The title of this article mentions corruption. This stamp is a good exemplar of that. The original stamp was designed and printed in London under a contract with the Bolivian government. This is normal for a small country, stamps are essentially currency and so have to be printed elaborately to avoid forgery. However a corrupt Bolivian official contracted with a Paris printer for further copies of the same design. The paper of the Paris printing was thicker. The Postal authority initially rejected them but failed to return or destroy the stamps and some were eventually used. Meanwhile further copies of the stamp were fraudulently cancelled in Paris and sold to stamp dealers. My stamp displays this style of cancelation.
Todays stamp is a fraudulent printing of issue A9, a 50 Centavo stamp issued by Bolivia in 1892. The legitimate issue consists of seven stamps of various denominations displaying the then Bolivian coat of arms. The London legitimate printing of my stamp is worth $20 according to the Scott catalog. The fraud attached to my copy leave it worth far less.
Bolivia got it’s independence from Spain in 1825. For a while there was a federation with Peru that marketed itself as a successor to the Inca Empire but the ruling class was still of Spanish heritage. A disastrous series of wars with Chile ended the federation with Peru and then later lost Bolivia it’s outlet to the Pacific ocean. The main industry in Bolivia was mining of silver and copper but without a seaport there was little way to export it. Much of Bolivia is high and dry so the export revenue is necessary to pay for the importation of food. Eventually British investors were enticed to build a railroad that connected Bolivia to the port of Antofagasta in Chile. This arrangement ate up a lot of the profits but gave some security to the ruling landowner class. Their political party marketed themselves as Conservatives and were based in the capital of Sucre.
Meanwhile a rival political movement rose out of La Paz that marketed itself as Liberal. The impetus behind them were tin mining that wanted the railroad extended to them and the capital transferred to La Paz. British investors eventually saw to it that the railroad was extended and now Bolivia has two capitals. The railroad still operates with the British eventually selling out to the Chileans who now benefit from much of the profit of the export of Bolivian resources. To their credit, they have managed to keep the railroad operating without the help of a major power. It seems that Bolivia will forever pay the price for foolish wars from 150+ years ago.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the British investor that accomplished a long lived railroad that locals could not achieve on their own. I suspect it was never as profitable as they hoped and they of course will never receive any thanks from the beneficiaries in Bolivia or Chile. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.