1898 Train "Trencito"
Validity August 1, 1898 through March 31, 1903
National Printing Works in Tegucigalpa.
perf 11.5, lithographed. The original die consisted of a block of two rows of three wide. This block was transferred ten times to produce the sheets of 60 (10 rows of six stamps each).
Gum varies from clear to yellowish. The five lower values were also printed on laid paper. The 1c, 2c and 5c vertically laid and the 6c and 10c horizontally laid. Colors of the laid varieties are consistantly paler. They appear washed out.
Printings - various and as late as 1902. Thus many shades of color exist.
There is a 5c on the market printed in a color very close to that of the 6c. It was printed probably after 1902 since it was ignored by counterfeit makers before that time. It appears in international catalogs by 1904 and is included in counterfeits printed after that year. There is no record of it ever being released as a postage stamp in Honduras for postal use and was printed quite differently in larger sheets. The copies were cleared out to stamp dealers in the huge sale of 1908.
The trencito (little train) issues were also overprinted with OFICIAL and are given numbers by a few catalogs. However these were stored in a vault after printing and the regular issue was used instead for official mail. These overprinted stamps were never issued nor used to carry mail. All overprints (the R.R. Officials) were sold directly to stamp dealers. Thus they are not postage stamps let alone remainders.
All remainders of the train issue were auctioned to stamp wholesalers in 1908 along with the
remainders of the Guardiola issue.
Thus mint copies flood the dealer market and have little value. Genuinely used copies are much sought after and difficult to find.
1898 Cancels
Mourning cover mailed from San Marcos de Colon, Ocotepeque August 9, 1901 with OMa postmark and BH71 cancel
Mailed Aug 22, 1902 from PC with I7 postmark and BH71 cancel
Early usage of the the LD postmark. The BH71 cancel is the most common on this issue.
Cover from the silver mine probably used to ship heavy ore samples. An I5 postmark and cancels are all BH71 -a rare cover.
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-Honduras Report by Richard Washburn from The Oxcart, summer 1992.
-Honduras: Locomotive Stamps of 1898 by Brian Moorhouse in the Oxcart of spring, 1978 p 104.
-Honduras: the 1898 Locomotive Issue by N.W. Barrett in Stamp Collecting May 17, 1973 p 409.
-Kohl Briefmarken Handbuch; 11th edition. Volume 5. p. 107. 1933.
-Postage Stamps of Honduras by L. Crouch in Stamp Lover May 1912 pps 226-227.
-Locomotive Stamps of 1898 by Hugh Watchorn in American Philatelist September 1966 p 936.
-Railways of Honduras by Anthony Goodbody from Central American Newsletter Jan 1993 p 221.
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