Mount Agua, Guatemala.
Recorded in Smithsonian Catalog, but no dated eruption other
than Holocene.
Cover illustrated below commemorates first aeroplane flight
between Guatemala and Quezaltenango.
Dated June 29th 1930.
6 cent stamp on left was issued in 1930, but rest were not.
Letter addressed to Jose Gomez.
My sincere thanks to Eric Dyck for the following information:
"Early in 1930 Guatemalan postal officials
requested the Zadik printing firm to enlist artists for this first definitive
air mail issue and submit
designs for approval. Zadik obtained sketches from Alfredo Gálvez
Suárez, a leading Guatemalan
artist, and José Galguera, a Cuban artist then living in Guatemala
City. Then Zadik selected
two designs from each, prepared proofs and submitted them in lithographed
form for
government approval.
"The design of Gálvez showing a Fokker F-VII plane flying over
Agua volcano was accepted.
Across the bottom in English it carried the slogan, 'Guatemala Produces
the Best Coffee in the
World.' A decree was issued ordering the following stamps: 6c rose red,
19c blue, 27c
orange, 36c violet, 45c brown, 49c dark green. Of these, only the 6c actually
appeared and
there is no evidence that any of the others were produced. ... The coffee
propaganda slogan in
English aroused a great deal of criticism. It is quite possible that because
of this, the printing of
the balance of the order was canceled.
The Post Office also ordered 1,000 of a 'Memorandum Postal'
propagandizing the air mail
service and quoting rates. Across the center were printed full-size, slightly
overlapping
illustrations of the six values in colors as ordered. ... The memorandum,
as official mail,
required no postage. It was sent to local officials ... and also was given
out domestically and
abroad without charge, for publicity purposes. Therefore we treat it as
a souvenir, not as
postal stationery. It is known postmarked June 29, 1930, for the inaugural
of air mail sent to
Quetzaltenango."
Guatemala-2, at the time it was published in 1974, listed the value
of the memorandum at
$10-20. Various overprints on both of these issues were issued as well.
More information on volcano can be obtained at Volcano
World
Front
Back
The next stamp was to honor Pedro de Bethancourt, beatified
by Roman Catholic Church.
The stamp shows part of Antigua with Agua in the background.
Overprinted for the World's Fair, issued June 25th, 1964.
Many thanks to Lisa Heiman.
Also issued for Bethancourt were the following stamps in 1965
Showing volcano in upper right hand corner
Stamps courtesy of Lisa Heiman
The next stamp honors José Batres Montúfar and
shows a quetzal in flight over a volcano.
The volcano is almost certainly Agua, since Montúfar's
famous poem is entitled Al volcan de Agua,
which rather amusingly, Google translates as "To the
water volcano".
The stamp was issued September 6th 1946 in quantity 1 million.
It was recess engraved on white unwatermarked wove paper.
Imprint at the base reads F.C.C. TIP. NACIONAL TALLER DE GRABADOS
GUATEMALA. C.A.CHY,
abbreviations at begining and end for designer-engraver team
of Froilán Ceballos C. and Arnoldo Chavarry.
Stamps were issued in sheets of 48 arranged 8 x 6.
(many thanks to Eric Dyck)
The following stamp was issued in 1985 though is misspelled
in Scott as Ahua
Stamp courtesy of Lisa Heiman
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