In 1932, Colombia issued a series of stamps featuring various industries. New designs were introduced in 1935 and 1939, and many of the designs went through various printings through different printing companies.
I don’t have many of the examples noted, but have added images of those I do possess.
During this period, for these “industry type” issues, the following printing companies were used:
| 1932 | Waterlow & Sons, Ltd. Londres | Wikipedia: “Waterlow and Sons Limited was a major worldwide engraver of currency, postage stamps, stocks and bond certificates based in London, Watford and Dunstable in England. The company was founded as a family business in 1810. It was acquired in 1961 by De La Rue.” |
| 1935, 1939, 1949 | American Bank Note Co. | Wikipedia: “The American Bank Note Company was a major worldwide engraver of national currency and postage stamps. Currently it engraves and prints stock and bond certificates. It is based in Fort Lee, New Jersey.” |
| 1935,1936,1938, 1944 | Litografia Nacional Bogota / (also imprinted as “Lit. Nacional Bogota) | Spanish Wikipedia: “The National Printing press Colombia is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Colombia . Its functions are to manage, edit, print, publicize and market the Official Journal and the Journal of Public Procurement Uniqueaccordance with the statutory provisions. Printing should also edit and publish the Gazette of Congress, the Judicial Gazette, the Constitutional Gazette, Annals of the State Council and other publications of the Judicial Branch.” |
| 1944,1945 | Columbian Bank Note Co. | Note the spelling of “Columbian”, I found a few articles on this company, and it appears they were based in the United States. Chicago I think. You would think that it was “Colombian” but, in actuality it is the english spelling. |
We can examine these stamps based on their designs
1c Emerald Mine
This stamp is Scott Design Number A131. There are 2 printings, and an Official Overprint:
| #411 – 1932. Perf 12.5 | Waterlow & Sons | Note: Unlisted Design size varieties of 22×26.5mm, and 22x27mm |
| #441 – 1935. Perf 11, 11.5 | Lit. Nacional Bogota | Printing more crude than the 1932 Waterloo printing. Many design flaws |
| #O1 – 1937. Perf 11 | Lit. Nacional Bogota | Overprinted with “OFICIAL” |
Not listed in the catalogs is that there are varying design sizes for this stamp (and others in the 1932 series printed by Waterloo). I found 2 sizes for the 1c: 22×26.5mm, and 22x27mm. My first example is poorly centered.
The 1935 printing, by Lit. Nacional Bogota presents with 2 perforation varieties (11 and 11.5) as well as various flaws/variations in the lettering.
In addition to the color variation, there are some design flaws/variations as well in this set. For both the Perf 11 and Perf 11.5 varieties.
2c Oil Wells
This stamp comes in two distinct designs. Scott type A132 and type A155
| #412, 1932, Type A132, Perf 12.5 | Waterlow & Sons | Note: Unlisted Design size varieties of 22×26.5mm, and 22x27mm |
| #464, 1938, Type A132, Perf 11 | Litografia Nacional Bogota | |
| #O10, 1937, Type A132, Perf 12.5 | Waterlow & Sons | Overprinted with “OFICIAL” |
| #437, 1935, Type A155, Perf 12, Unwatermarked | American Bank Note Co. | |
| #468, 1939, Type A155, Perf 12, Watermarked | American Bank Note Co. | |
| #398, 1944, Type A155, Perf 11, | Columbian Bank Note Co. | |
| #516, 1944, Type A155, Perf 12.5 | Litografia Nacional Bogota | Litho instead of engraved, darker color |
| #596, 1951, Type A155, Perf 12 Overprinted | American Bank Note Co. | Overprinted: “REVERSION CONCESION MARES” “25 Agosto 1951” |
Again, this first stamp in the series has at least 2 design size variations, same as the 1c Green.
Unfortunately I don’t have an example of the Litografia Nacional Bogota issue of this stamp.
Below is a copy with the OFICIAL overprint.
Design change in 1935 with the American Bank Note Company:
Same design, 1944, printed by the Columbian Bank Note Co.
And finally, all the way out in 1951, the American Bank Note stamp overprinted to publicize the reverson of the Mares oil concession to Columbia
5c Coffee Cultivation
The Coffee Cultivation stamps offer even more varieties to collect. In all there are 3 distinct designs, and one of those designs in 2 colors. These are spread across a number of years, and printing companies. The Scott Types are: A133, A138, and A176, and there are a total of 16 Major Scott numbers with these designs.
| #413, 1932, Type A133, Perf 12.5 | Waterlow & Sons | Note: Unlisted Design size varieties of 26.5×21.5mm, 26.75×21.75mm, and 27x22mm |
| #442, 1936, Type A133, Perf 11, 11.5, 12.5 | Lit. Nacional Bogota | Lots of design flaws, color variations (listed in Michel) for each Perf Variety |
| #O11, 1937, Type A133, Perf 12.5 | Waterlow & Sons | Overprinted with “OFICIAL” |
| #527, 1946, Type A133, Perf 11×11.5, 12.5 | Lit. Nacional Bogota | Overprinted “1 UN CENTAVO”, color variations (listed in Michel) for each perf variety |
| #420, 1934, Type A138, Perf 12 | American Bank Note Co. | |
| #469, 1939, Type A176, Perf 12 | American Bank Note Co. | |
| #499, 1944, Type A176, Perf 11 | Columbian Bank Note Co. | |
| #506-#507, 1944, Type A176, Overprinted (“1c and 2c) | Columbian Bank Not Co. | Overprinted “1 CENTAVO” and “2 CENTAVOS” |
| #520-#522, 1945, Type A176, Overprinted with Portraits | American Bank Note Co. | Overprinted with portraits of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill in 3 different colors (Green, Red, and Blue) |
| #547, 1949, Type A176 BLUE, Perf 12 | American Bank Note Co. | Note the color change to Blue |
| #RA26, 1946, Type A176 (brown), Perf 12 Overprinted with red cross | American Bank Note Co. | Postal Tax Stamp |
| #RA47, 1950, Type A176 (Blue), Perf 12, Overprinted with “SOBRETASA” | American Bank Note Co. | Postal Tax Stamp (Sobretasa means “Surcharge” in English) |
First up, the 1932 Waterloo Issue in 3 sizes:
Next, the Lit. Nacional Bogota of 1936:
The Lit.Nacional printings are covered in various flaws as well. In the image below, I focus just on the top inscription, but many variations exist in the bottom inscriptions as well.
Official Overprint
New Design, 1934, Type A138:
New Design in 1939, Type A176:
Same stamp, 1944, printed by Columbian Bank Note Co.
2 Of the 3 colors of the Portraits Overprint in 1945:
And finally, the same design but in blue:
8c Platinum Mine
This one is a bit easier than the others. It was only printed in 1932 by Waterloo, and then surcharged in 1937 (5c). I only have a copy of the 5c surcharged version.
Scott 455 – Platinum Mining
10c Gold Mining
The final industry stamp is the 10c Gold Mining stamp which comes in 2 designs and a number of varieties and printers.
| #415, 1932, Type A135, Perf 12.5 (Yellow) | Waterlow & Sons | Note: Unlisted Design size varieties of 21.5x27mm, and 22x27mm |
| #465, 1938, Type A135, Perf 10.5, (11.5?) (Yellow) | Lit. Nacional Bogota | Note: Scott states Perf 10.5 and 11 but doesn’t indicate if it applies to this issue. My example is 10.5 |
| #517, 1944, Type A135, Perf 12.5 (Yellow Orange Color) | Litografia Nacional Bogota | Litho instead of Engraved, Color is “Yellow Orange” instead of “Yellow” as the earlier issues are |
| #439, 1935, Type A157, Perf 12, Unwatermarked (Deep Orange color) | American Bank Note Co. | |
| #470, 1939, Type A157, Perf 12, Watermarked (Deep Orange color) | American Bank Note Co. |
I am missing a few examples of the types, but the below images show the ones in my possession.
First is Scott type A135.
And the design change (and color change), Scott type A157
Although these stamps present a challenge at first, they do offer up quite a nice set of varieties.