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Colombia

31st August 1859

Including the Grenadine Confederation (1859),
the United States of New Granada (1861),
the United States of Colombia (1862) and
the Republic of Colombia (1886) †

South America 7
  Columbian States  

Col1
ColSc13
Grenadine Confederation
United States of New Granada
  1859 Sc1 SG1 1860 Sc13 SG11  
ColSG16
ColSc129
United States of Colombia
Republic of Colombia
  1862 Sc19 SG16 1886 Sc129 SG120  

 

Description     Scott SG Mi Y&T
1859 Grenadine Confederation, imperforate, unwatermarked, lithographed, wove paper
2½ centavos green     1 1, a, b    
5c blue     2 2    
5c violet     3 3, a, b    
10c red brown     4 4, a    
20c blue     6 5    
1 peso carmine     7 6    
1p rose bluish     8      
1861 United States of New Granada imperforate, lithographed
2½ centavos black     13 11    
5c yellow     14 12, a    
10c blue     16 13    
20c red     17 14    
1 peso pink     18 15    
1862 United States of Colombia imperforate, lithographed
10 centavos blue     19 16    
20c red     20 17    
50c green     21 18, a    
1 peso red lilac     22 19    
1p red lilac bluish     23 20    
1886 Republic of Colombia tinted papers, perf 10½ and 13½
1 centavo green     129 120, a    
5c blue     130 124    
5c ulta     130a 124c    
10c orange     131 125    

All issue quantities are approximate.

† As with Argentina, the geopolitical history of many of the South American countries emerging from the control of Spain in the nineteenth century affects their early stamp issues. The Spanish Viceroyalty of Granada covered what is now Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. An uprising in 1810 overthrew Spanish control and the Republic of Colombia, covering the same area, was established in 1819.

When Ecuador and Venezuela left the Republic in 1830, the remainder became the Republic of New Granada and in 1858 the Grenadine Confederation which issued stamps in 1859. In the same year an anti-clerical movement ousted the Catholic government and established the United States of New Granada and then the United States of Colombia, these entities issuing stamps in 1861 and 1862 respectively. The first Republic of Colombia stamps were issued in 1886. [1]

Colombia invented the Acknowledgement of Receipt stamp. Mackay's Guinness [2] explores stamp shapes at length and notes (p.112) that Colombia produced the first (possibly the only) scalene triangle stamp in 1869 and the first upright oval, an 1881 Registration stamp.

ColAR
Coltri
ColF7
First Acknowledgement
of Receipt stamp
First scalene triangle stamp
First upright oval stamp
1893 ScH1 SG-AR169 1870 Sc59a SG58 1881 ScF7 SG-R105

There were numerous issues from Colombian states, these are shown on a separate page.

Sources: JM1 [1], JM2 [2], NB, ScC, SGP20.

Image from David Olson, Matthew Bennet Int, and ebay.

FI ref: 84, 95, 104, 237 Page credit: NB

Page created 25 Jan 2016 Page updated 30 Jan 2016