Catalogo Especializado de Sellos e Historia Postal de la Republica Argentina

By Guillermo Alejandro Jalil and Jose Luis Gottig. In Spanish, 728 pages (two volumes), large hardbound. Published by Guillermo Alejandro Jalil and Jose Luis Gottig, 2018/19. Second edition ISBN: 978-987-778-178-6. Price $95, available from jalilstamps.com.

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Reviewer: Nick Salter

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APRL Locator: [G5350 .A1 J26c 2018]

General Information about Latin America catalogs: Most of the twenty Latin American republics have produced specialized stamp catalogs at some stage. For the Central and South America collector that has relied on simplified listings, the specialized catalogs offer up a huge range of new possibilities, with a significant numbers of varieties to collect that have never made it into the mainstream publications. Before we look at each country individually, it is worth noting that both Scott and Stanley Gibbons have published “semi specialized” listings that cover all Latin American countries and go into a greater level of depth than is found in their simplified catalogs. Scott’s listings are incorporated into their Classic Specialized whereas Gibbons has separate volumes for both Central and South America. These were last published in 2007 and 2008 respectively, with no prospect of an update on the horizon. SG has sold through their existing stock so your only option is the second-hand market, unless the publisher decides to add them to their growing digital collection. Michel has a single volume dedicated to Central America (Mittelamerika 2019 is the latest edition) and a two volume catalog (Sudamerika 2020/2021) covering South America. One of the biggest benefits of a specialized catalog is that they usually contain information on print volumes per issue, an excellent indicator of comparative rarity (and thus price or value). A quick tip: the older Michel catalogs used to include print volumes in their listings and can be picked up second-hand for very little. My copy from 1988 contains print quantities although I’m not sure in which year they were dropped from the catalog. Finally, Yvert has two volumes dedicated to Central America (latest edition 2016/17) and a single volume dedicated to South America (published 2019). However, for the truly specialized listings, we need to look at the individual countries themselves. Availability Unlike the larger publishers that tend to have more frequent publication schedules, Latin American specialized catalogs are usually published very intermittently, often with long gaps between revisions or new editions coming to market. As such, many of these catalogs can no longer be purchased “off the shelf” and you will need to scour online marketplaces, auctions and specialist philatelic book dealers to secure a copy. Where a catalog is only available second hand, I have indicated the latest edition I am aware of, although earlier editions should certainly not be discounted as they will often contain most of the useful information you are after. Catalog values are usually in the local currency. Time and currency exchange rates will have played havoc with these numbers but, alongside print volumes, they still play an important part in helping you to understand which varieties have the higher levels of scarcity and to establish your own feeling for what a fair market value may be. The essential reference work for Argentina is the two volume Catalogo Especializado de Sellos e Historia Postal de la Republica Argentina, often simply referred to as the GJ catalog. This recently published work is beautifully presented in full color and extensively illustrated. Volume 1 covers the early regional issues of Corrientes, Buenos Aires, and Cordoba, followed by Confederation and then Republic issues through until 1999. The second volume picks up in 2000, carrying right through until October 2018. The remaining two thirds of Volume 2 cover the Officials, Government Departmental overprints and Telegraphs. The ‘GJ’ lists a huge number of varieties that go way beyond the more mainstream catalogs. For example, the Scott Classic Specialized lists 19 variants of the popular Rivadavia issues: the GJ catalog lists no less than 290 individually priced varieties with 123 of them illustrated in color.

Other alternatives in Argentina include the (very current) digital 2021 GZ Cefilosa Catalog or a second-hand copy of an old Kneitschel catalog: the 1958 edition, in particular, is recommended.