Stamp Investment Tip: Ethiopia 1947 Franklin D. Roosevelt Issue (Scott #278-80/C21-22)

In 1947, Ethiopia issued a compound set of stamps honoring Emperor Haile Selassie and Franklin D. Roosevelt (Scott #278-80/C21-22). 20,000 sets were issued, and Scott '10 values the set at $ 15.20 for unused). The set has obvious dual market appeal, and represents a very low-risk bet on Ethiopia's future economic development.

Ethiopia is still a poor country, with an estimated population of over 85 million people. However, it has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with annual GDP growth of 9%-11%. It has the greatest water reserves in Africa, and is one of its most fertile countries. According to the New York Times, it has the potential "to become the breadbasket for much of Europe if its agriculture were better organized."

Ethiopia has a fascinating philatelic history, and most serious collectors who specialize in Ethiopia are Europeans and Americans. I expect that this will change over the long-term, as it has for so many countries which have risen out of poverty. It doesn't take much imagination to envision how prices for scarce, inexpensive issues of Ethiopia will be affected if more of a middle class develops and more Ethiopians begin collecting their own stamps.

Stamp Investment Tip: Saar 1928 Paintings Semi-postals (Scott #B9-15)

The Saar is a region of Germany with a checkered history that was marred by two world wars. Following World War I, it was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles. It was returned to Germany following a plebiscite held in 1935. After World War II, the region became a French protectorate until 1955, when a referendum ended French rule and shortly thereafter returned it once again to Germany.

During the Mandate and French Protectorate periods, Saar issued its own stamps, the scarcest of which are of interest from an investment perspective because of their appeal to collectors of Germany and Area and France and Area- two powerful philatelic markets.


A number of Saar's semi-postal sets and souvenir sheets are attractive, including the third semi-postal set picturing paintings with religous themes (Scott #B9-15). Only 15,000 of this beautiful Art/Religion topical were issued, and the key 10fr +10fr high value (Scott #B15) is often sold alone. Scott '10 values the set at $ 480.00 for unused, and I recommend purchasing either the set or the high value (Sc. 10 CV= $ 400.00) in either VF NH or VF LH condition.


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Stamp Investment Tip: India-Convention States-Chamba 1886-95 Overprint (Scott #1-15)

During the Raj period, the Convention States of Chamba, Faridkot, Jhind, Nabha, and Patiala had postal agreements with Great Britain, allowing their stamps franking power throughout all of British India. Stamps of the Convention States were all overprinted stamps of British India, in contrast to the stamps of the Indian Feudatory States, which were issued independently, and which were only valid within the issuing states.The stamps of the Convention States are rich in varieties and errors. Typical errors include inverted overprinting, spelling mistakes in English or Devanagri, errors of omission and smaller capital letters.


A number of issues from both the Convention and Feudatory States are quite scarce and desirable. While quantities issued information is generally unobatainable for stamps of the Feudatory States, there is some available for certain Convention States issues, quite a few of which have been overlooked.


One such issue is Chamba's 1886-96 Overprints (Scott #1-15). The 2r-5r high values of the set (Scott #12-14) had printings of only 672 each, and Scott '10 values the set unused at $ 710.75. It is worth focusing on just the top three values, if the complete set is difficult to find in decent condition. While fake overprints may possibly exist on the high values, this does not represent much of a risk, because the difference in value between the stamps overprinted for Chamba and the basic stamps of British India has not been enough to justify faking them.


Until the last decade or so, most of the demand for stamps of India's Convention and Feudatory States has come from British Commonwealth collectors and specialists outside of India. With India's economic rise, its stamp market has been heating up considerably. I am confident that in the coming years, the center of demand for these collecting areas will shift to India, as the number of stamp collectors there will number in the millions, if not tens of millions.

Phila-Trivia: Stamps That Began a War

Wars have sometimes been started for rather trivial reasons, but it's hard to come up with a more petty one than a postage stamp. Yet, postal propaganda was one of the factors leading to the Chaco War (1932-35), the bloodiest military conflict fought in the Americas in the 20th century.

Both Paraguay and Bolivia claimed an uninhabited desert region known as the Gran Chaco. Bolivia, landlocked after war with Chile, wanted the territory in order to give it river access to the Atlantic. Paraguay, having lost most of its territory to its neighbors during the War of the Triple Alliance, needed the Gran Chaco just to stay on the map. Both sides believed that there were rich oil reserves in region as well.

The dispute heated up considerably when Bolivia issued a stamp featuring a map of Bolivia that included the Gran Chaco, now marked as "Chaco Boliviano." Paraguay soon issued even bigger stamps than Bolivia, with an even bigger map of the Gran Chaco, but this time marked as "Chaco Paraguayo."

Bolivia then forcefully asserted its claim by moving troops into the Gran Chaco. Paraguay responded by doing the same. In 1932, philatelic warfare gave way to the real thing.

The Chaco War saw the use of armor and aircraft on both sides. British, American, French, and Italian arms makers took the opportunity to profit from the carnage by exporting some of their newest weapons to the combatants. German and Russian veterans of the First World War served as staff members and mercenaries on both sides, advising the armies of Bolivia and Paraguay on how to butcher one another more efficiently.

In the end, after casualties and losses numbering about 100,000 were sustained by both countries, the Paraguayans won. The Paraguayans got the Gran Chaco, but it turned out that the oil that everyone had thought was there didn't exist.

Funereal Paraguayan stamp honoring the Chaco Peace, a truce negotiated in 1938

Stamp Investment Tip: Colombia 1919-20 Airmails (C1-10)

In 1919 and '20, Colombia issued its first airmail stamps, the first eleven of which (C1, C2-10) are extremely scarce. C1, of which 200 were issued, was intended for an experimental flight from Baranquilla to Puerto Colombia. 160 were used, and many of the stamps which remain are defective. C2-10, produced by the Compania Colombiana de Navegacion Aerea, incorporated Art Deco-style designs illustrating various flight motifs, and only 100 of each of these stamps was issued.

None of these stamps seems inexpensive, as most catalog between

$2,750.- and $5,500.- with the exception of C7 ($ 10,000.- for unused). Purchase of any of these stamps should be made conditional on expertization. Despite their apparent priciness, they are all grossly undervalued, especially given the prospects for growth in the Latin American stamp market in general, and Colombia's in particular.

A nation of 45 million people, Colombia has been plagued by decades of serious internal armed conflict, drug trafficking, corruption, and gross inequities of income, but has nevertheless racked up impressive annual GDP growth averaging 5.5% over the last 5 years. Moreover, until the global financial fiasco cut its GDP growth to 3% in 2009, it had been steadily accelerating, from 2% in 2003 to 8% in 2008. Recently, the government, armed to the teeth by the U.S., has applied a dual policy of combining military pressure with negotiations to cope with the various guerrilla factions within the country. This seems to have worked to some extent, as the number of insurgents has been halved, and the number of homicides and kidnappings drastically reduced. While some argue that the Colombian government is still utterly corrupt, and has violated human rights and supported paramilitary death squads in order to achieve relative peace, it may be that this is par for the course, given the nation's history. The main challenge that the country faces will be that of sharing more of the wealth with the majority of the population so as to develop more of a middle class and political center. Otherwise, it will devolve into an unstable mess.

Stamp Investment Tip: Lebanon 1956 UN 10th Anniversary (Scott #C221-22,C222Note)

In January of 1956, Lebanon issued a set of stamps and a souvenir sheet commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the United Nations (Scott #C221-22, C222Note). Only 15,000 sets and 4,000 souvenir sheets were issued. Scott '10 values them unused at $ 11.75 and $ 90.00, respectively. Both are attractive, and it is unclear which represents the better bargain, because it is likely that a far greater proportion of the sets were used as postage and discarded than were the souvenir sheets.

Stamps of Lebanon are popular among collectors of the Mideast and French Colonies. Furthermore, as a UN Topical, this issue has worldwide appeal, which should increase as the UN gradually gains credibility as an effective institution for dealing with global problems.

Lebanon, a nation of 4.2 million people, has had negligible GDP growth over the last 5 years due to Hezbollah's war with Israel, Syrian domination, and internal strife. Nevertheless, I am confident that it will eventually return to prosperity as the various factions within the region learn how to get along, and Beirut returns to its former preeminence as the "Paris of the Middle East."

Stamp Investment Tip: St. Pierre and Miquelon 1885-86 Surcharges (Scott #1-18)

The Territorial Collectivity of St. Pierre and Miquelon, the only remnant of the former French colonial empire in North America, is comprised of two small groups of islands off the coast of Newfoundland. From a philatelic investment perspective, it is of interest because its stamps are popular in Canada and among collectors of French Colonies - both growing markets. The scarcest stamps of St. Pierre and Miquelon exist within two broad groups: the 19th century surcharges and overprints, and the 1941-42 "France Libre" overprints.

As with all overprints, some of these stamps have been faked at one time or another, so I recommend that stampselectors focus only on those which are worth getting expertized.

The first stamps of the colony were primitive surcharges. I've listed the better ones, along with their printing quantities (when known) and Scott '10 Catalog Values for unused, below:

- 1885 05c on 40c Vermilion on straw (Scott #1; 4,000; $ 140.- )

- 1885 05c on 35c Black on yellow (Scott #4; 1,500; $ 140.-)

- 1885 05c on 75c Carmine on rose (Scott #5; 1,800; $ 375.-)

- 1885 25c on 1fr Bronze Green on straw, surcharge type 'c' (Scott #7; 340; $ 13,000.-)

- 1885 25c on 1fr Bronze Green on straw; surcharge type 'd' (Scott #8; 300; $ 2,500.-)

- 1885 5c on 2c Brown on buff (Scott #9; extremely rare; $ 6,500.-)

- 1885 5c on 4c Claret on lavender (Scott #10; 900; $ 500.-)

- 1886 5c Black (Scott #12; Rare; $ 1,350.-)

- 1886 10c Black (Scott #13; Rare; $ 1,450.-)

- 1886 15c Black (Scott #14; Rare; $ 1,300.-)

- 1891 15c on 35c Black on orange, surcharge type 'e' (Scott #16; 850; $ 675.-)

- 1891 15c on 35c Black on orange, surcharge type 'f' (Scott #17; 850; $ 2,000.-)

- 1891 15c on 40c Red on straw, surcharge type 'e' (Scott #18; 5,000; $ 110.-)

Some of the other better 19th century issues, and the "France Libre" overprints, will be dealt with in future articles.