The Production of
Colombia's First Petroleum Stamps
1938-1951

(Scott 412, C98, C99, C105, 437, O10, 464, 468, 498, 516, 596)

© Peter A. Scholle, 2000

Introduction:
Commercial oil production in Colombia began with the discovery of the Infantas field in 1918. Subsequently, Colombia has typically been one of the four main Latin American petroleum suppliers during the past century. This substantial hydrocarbon production led to Colombia becoming only the second South American (indeed Western Hemisphere) country to issue a petroleum-related stamp in 1932 (Peru had issued one a year earlier). That was followed by two new petrostamp designs as well as multiple revisions and/or overprintings of all three designs during the period from 1933 to 1951

Design 1:
The first Colombian petrostamp was a 2 centavos definitive (Scott 412), designed and engraved in London by Waterlow & Sons. It showed (PHOTO) a somewhat stylized scene of derricks and storage tanks in an oil field. Although the printers' archives have been sold, only a limited number of items related to this issue have surfaced and none, to my knowledge show the exact source of the stamp design. The earliest stage of the engraving process is represented by a die proof (essay) with incomplete frame engraving, small vignette size, black color, and pen-inscribed die number 13270 (PHOTO); it was followed in the production process by a die proof in the final approved design with marginal die numbers (13292 and 8367) and security hole-punching (PHOTO). The approval of this design led to the production of 200-stamp, steel plates from which the final stamp was to be produced by flat-plate printing. Proof printings were made to check for flaws in these plates and an example is shown of an intermediate stage plate proof on which a printing flaw was circled in pen (PHOTO). A unique example of the final-stage test plate proof, produced after all errors were corrected, is also shown (PHOTO). It includes 16 imperforate (and security punched) examples of the stamp in the final (carmine) print color, along with supervisory approvals written in pen stating "wording and lay correct". It also shows inspection dates of 30 November and 15 December of 1931 and provides written printing instructions to produce 4 million stamps by making 20,00 "pulls" from the 200-stamp plate. The final stamp must have been printed relatively soon thereafter because it was released to the public in June, 1932. The flat plate printing is distinguished by having a design size of 22x26.5 mm. These stamps were widely used for both domestic and international mail (PHOTO).

The same flat plate stamp was also printed by Waterlow in dark blue with "Waterlow & Sons Specimen" overprinted in black These items exist in both perforate and imperforate versions and both with and without security hole-punching (PHOTO). They were produced as samples, designed to be sent to potential clients, illustrating the company's engraving and printing skills.

A rotary press printing of Colombia's 1932 petroleum stamp was produced between 1933 and 1937. The rotary-plate stamps are distinguished from flat-plate printings by the vertical dimension of the design portion of the stamp (PHOTO) Ñ the rotary printing is 1 mm longer (22x27.5 mm), as a result of the curvature of the plate. Although new die proofs were not produced, new plate proofs had to be created to check for flaws in reproduction of the stamp die onto the 200-subject rotary steel plates. An example of such a security-punched, imperforate, rotary-plate proof is shown here (PHOTO) with plate flaws circled for retouching and a vertical gutter between individual stamp panes. The creasing and other signs of wear are typical of printer's proofs that were stored for 30 or more years in corporate files.

These Waterlow & Sons petrostamps also exist overprinted, in several varieties, for official government use (PHOTO). The official stamps (Scott O10) were first released in February of 1937.

This Waterlow & Sons petrostamp design was reproduced, yet again, for release on 5 December 1938 (Scott 464). This time, perhaps due to the onset of World War II and disruption of supply lines from Europe, it was no longer a British-printed, elegantly engraved issue, but rather a poor-quality, lithographic version that was produced locally in Colombia with the inscription "Litografia Nacional-Bogota" (PHOTO). The stamp is most commonly seen covers mailed within Colombia, but it can also be found on international correspondence of the period (PHOTO).

Design 2:
Entirely new petrostamps were released on the 1st of August 1932 as part of an airmail series depicting important Colombian export products. The 15-centavos green and violet (Scott C98) and the 60-centavos dark brown and violet (Scott C105) denominations depicted identical scenes of derricks and oil storage tanks (PHOTO). The 15-centavos stamp was reissued on 28 August 1939 in a revised vermilion and black color (Scott C99), as shown in the previous illustration. The earlier green and black stamps remained in use through 1939 and beyond, however (PHOTO). Because I have seen no proofs or essays of this non-engraved issue, it will not be covered further here.

Design 3:
In March of 1935 another carmine to carmine rose 2-centavos definitive stamp (Scott 437) depicting multiple oil wells and storage tanks was issued (PHOTO) on unwatermarked paper and perforated 11 3/4. It is not clear to me why another definitive of a design so similar to that of the 1932 Waterlow stamp was needed, a question that is especially pertinent since both designs continued to be printed for several years. Nevertheless, this new 1935 petrostamp was designed and printed by the American Bank Note Co.(ABNC) and is a fine example of the engraver's art. Fortunately a number of proofs from this issue were preserved in the printer's archives which were liquidated in the late 1970's.

The first item from those files is a print of a large engraved vignette design (PHOTO) that probably was originally produced for a stock certificate or banknote. It was cropped for use on this stamp, eliminating the gusher and derrick on the left side of the design. An engraver's die proof also exists for just the frame design (PHOTO) — it was printed in dark green as were most early-stage ABNC die proofs. The frame and vignette designs were combined in an intermediate-stage dark green die proof (PHOTO) that shows a completed master die number of 73189. The same die was used to produce a final approval-stage large die proof (PHOTO), Unlike previous proofs, it was produced in the anticipated final print color but with the die number (73189) handwritten in pencil. This proof also includes a handwritten "OK", indicating supervisory acceptance of the engraving along with the supervisor's initials and the date 18 September 1934. Additional approval and date stamps are shown on the reverse of the proof. Smaller sunken-die proofs (PHOTO) were also produced for company files and perhaps for distribution to Colombian postal authorities. These were printed in carmine and included the engraved die number (still 73189).

The master die, as usual, was used to produce multi-stamp steel printing plates that, in turn, were used for the final stamp printing. The printed stamps were represented in the ABNC files by sheets of specimen overprinted stamps for each printing plate used (PHOTO). Such specimens exist for plates 9880, 10526-7, 10730-2, 10827-9, 11309, 11851, and 12705. From these plates ABNC produced not only the 1935 version of the stamp on unwatermarked paper, but also a version on paper watermarked multiple "C's" between wavy lines (Scott 468). The revised version, first released on 3 March 1939, differs also in being perforated 12 rather than the 11 3/4 of the 1935 issue. The 1939 stamp is commonly found franking censored wartime international mail (PHOTO).

The ABNC-designed petrostamp, like the Waterlow design, spawned Colombian printings of the same design; indeed, two separate printings by different Colombian companies. The first of these, Scott 498, was was a high-quality, engraved version inscribed "Colombian Bank Note Co." and printed in 1944 on slightly bluish paper (PHOTO). Imperforate trial or proof printings of this stamp exist on yellowish paper (PHOTO); the imperforate copies of this stamp on bluish paper are either proof printings or production errors. This Colombian printing shown used on a 1944 domestic cover from the Tropical Oil Co. (PHOTO).

The second Colombian printing (Scott 516), released in October of 1944, is inscribed "Litografia Nacional-Bogota" — it is a lithographed issue with very poor print quality (PHOTO). Imperforate plate proofs or trial printings were produced in dark olive green (PHOTO), but I know of no other types of proofs for this stamp.

The final appearance of the ABNC-designed petrostamp was in on 11 December 1951 when the 1939 printing type was reissued (Scott 596) bearing an overprint "REVERSION CONCESION MARES 25 Agosto 1951" (PHOTO). The stamp, shown here used on cover (PHOTO), commemorated the reversion of the large Mares petroleum concession in the Magdalena valley to Colombian ownership.

Colombia issued several additional petroleum-related stamps during the second half of the 20th century, but none of those were engraved issues and so we do not have the same sort of "paper trail" of printers' proofs that so clearly demonstrate the process of creation of the stamps discussed above. Thus, the stamps depicted here remain the "classics" of Colombian petrostamp collecting.

Acknowledgments:

My thanks to those who provide information and illustrations of this largely unique material. I hope that if you find errors of fact or omissions, or if you simply want to discuss or trade petro-stamps, you will contact me at: scholle1@nmt.edu

This write-up is adapted from a 1990 article by the author, titled "The 'birth' of a stamp" that appeared in The Petro-Philatelist, v. 11, no. 2 (whole number 43), p. 8-11.

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Last revised: 21 May 2000