1907 Medina

Validity: Jan 1907 - February 1911
Kihn Brothers of New York (see history of Kihn Bros in Honduras Report)
perf 14, engraved
white woven paper with yellowish gum

remainders - Yes. Mint remainders were sold directly to stamp dealers before World War 1. This turned mint Medinas into philatelic wallpaper.

counterfeits - Yes, see counterfeits. Imperforates. No Medina imperforate was ever seen or posted in Honduras. Buyer beware.

medina newspaper BH81A cancel on a bisected 6c Medina showing correct international postage for newspapers. There was a stamp shortage in 1910 .

Medina sheet
Medina imperforate wallpaper above are called "proofs."

Although they went on to create the iconic engraving for RCA called His Master's Voice, there were many problems with the Kihn Brothers printing. The color of the 2c, 6c and 20c came in various shades.

Medina perfs

Cancellations on the Medina Issue

The Medina issue has a very diverse history of common cancellations and a great hunting ground for collectors. On the other hand high value used with recognizable cancel are rare. Be careful. Most used Un Peso Orange have counterfeit cancels.

medina common cancels

Less Common Cancels

medina uncommon cancels

Toward the end of their period of validity (late 1909 and 1910), a shortage of the 1c and the 5c values developed. To meet the need the 2c stamp was bisected and used as a one centavo stamp. The domestic rate at this time was 6c and the international rate was 15c.

Medina cover 1 Card mailed from Choluteca in 1908 with BH80 cancel and OSa postmark.


Medina cover bisect BH90 Bisects showing stamp shortages and the rare BH90 cancel local usage from El Porveni to Omoa. See Postal History/Bisects.

Medina Counterfeits

Postmaster general Eusebio Toledo, a man of tarnished reputation, went into the stamp business and offered the Scott stamp company in New York a monopoly on the complete Medina set without perforation and even a color "error" of the 5c, color to be determined by the buyer. The offer was refused but Toledo eventually sold the imperforate stamps to American stamp dealers deciding that black would make a nice color "error."

Medina imperf pairs



Medina imperf used Counterfeit imperforate with illicit BH81 cancel.

FORGED CANCELS ON MEDINAS

BH71F

BH71F This cancel is generally seen on the used, high value Guardiola issues, but shows up also on the occasional Medina issue. The only difference is the size of the font. The counterfeit is 2.5 mm tall as opposed to 3mm. It is best to determine this cancel by direct comparison with a BH71 as shown below.

BH71F image


FORGED COVERS

bogus cover Careful here. The 2c vermillion look fine but the 2c carmine and 2c green were added at a later date to add a bit of counterfeit luster to the cover.

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Medina prices

-Borcsok Collection.
-Honduras 1903-1910 Guardiola and Medina Issues in Congress Books by Roger Schnell. August 2006 pps. 149-163.
-Honduras Falls from Grace in Scott Circular, April 15, 1907 #4.
-Honduras Report by Richard Washburn from The Oxcart, winter 1989.
-Honduras Report by Richard Washburn from The Oxcart, spring 1993.
-Honduras Report by Richard Washburn from The Oxcart, summer 1993.
-Honduras Report by Richard Washburn from The Oxcart, spring 1994.
-Stamp Lover Magazine. "Stamps of Honduras" by L.W. Crouch. July 1912 p33.
-Letter from Hugo Greifort to Irving Green. Undated in Anderson Collection.

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