Cuban Philately of the Republican Period, 1902-1958

by Ernesto Cuesta

Diversity and Richness

The philately of the Republic of Cuba provides a rich and wide spectrum of collecting possibilities that compare very favorably with the richest philatelies of the World and offers the philatelist many avenues to explore and exploit. The republican period starts with the inauguration of the Republic on 20 May 1902 and ends on 1 January 1959 when Fidel Castro assumes power and installs a socialist revolutionary government. During the republican period, Cuba issues a large number of commemorative stamps honoring distinguished Cubans or portraying significant events of its history. Stamps are also issued to commemorate both national and international events, such as the Pan-American Games of 1928 or Lindbergh’s visit to Cuba in the same year; to promote Cuban products such as sugar, tobacco, and coffee; or to promote causes or campaigns of widespread interest such as the arts, sports, Cuban wildlife and flora, the free-trade zone of the port of Matanzas, the retirement fund for postal employees, and health improvement campaigns, such as the campaign against tuberculosis. This is a period of great interest in philately in Cuba as evidenced by the great number of philatelic societies that sprout and the numerous philatelic journals that are published—some of them continuing publication for many years—covering the notable philatelic events of their time and containing substantial articles on various aspects of Cuban philately.

Historical Summary

Upon inauguration of the Republic on May 20, 1902, Mr. M. C. Fosnes, Postmaster General of Cuba during the American Administration, transferred all postal operations of the island to Colonel Fernando Figueredo Socarrás, the first Postmaster General of the Republic of Cuba. An Executive National Decree created a Directorate of Communications within the Department of State to take over the executive and administrative control of the postal and telegraph services of the island. The improvements introduced in the postal services of the island during the U.S. Administration were generally embraced and continued by the new postal authorities, thus basically adopting a copy of the U.S. postal system. All postal treaties in effect with other nations were ratified and continued, and arrangements were made to continue printing postal species for the island in the United States until Cuba could set up its own printing operations.

On 9 December 1902, the Central Railroad inaugurated a direct service between La Habana and Santiago de Cuba, a distance of 869 miles. This railway and all of the branches that connected it to nearby towns along its route were used for the transport, classification, distribution, and delivery of all national and international mail. The use of railway post office cars introduced during the U.S. postal administration was continued. These were truly ambulatory post offices that received and processed correspondence as the train travelled along its route and each one had an individual postal marking identifying its specific route that was applied to the mail it processed. Likewise, the Central Highway, built in the decade of the 1930s at a cost of $111 million U.S. dollars, was a vital means of communication for the entire island and played a key role in the improvement of the mail service, providing access through secondary road branches to all those towns where the railroad did not reach.

On January 16, 1921, the newly founded “Compañía Aérea Cubana” completed an experimental flight between Havana and Camagüey using a “Goliath” airplane. Among the passengers was a postal clerk with a package of mail. Unfortunately, the flight was a commercial failure and can only be regarded an experimental trial for the transport of mail by air. However, the seed was sown and between the years 1928 to 1932 regular airmail services were established within Cuba, eventually reaching Baracoa at the extreme eastern end of the island. This rapid development of air communications in the Island was fostered by its strategic placement in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, making it an essential springboard for flights of the recently born and rapidly growing commercial aviation between the United States and the Caribbean, Central, and South America. To support these flights, airports were soon built in the early thirties in the cities of La Habana, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Morón, Camagüey, Nuevitas, Victoria de las Tunas, Holguín, Santiago, Guantánamo, and Baracoa. Starting in the decade of the thirties, a major portion of the airmail from the Caribbean, Central, and South America to the United States, Canada, Europe, and even Asia, travelled through Cuba due to its pioneering development of air communications and supporting infrastructure.

In the years from 1940 to 1960, new methods of handling mail, nationally and internationally, were developed. By 1960, studies were underway by American and German firms that were designed to lead to the automation of postal services. Unfortunately, the Castro revolution waylaid those plans.

Philatelic Societies and Journals

Philatelic interest in Cuba during the republican period is clearly evidenced from the existence of around 30 philatelic journals edited by a score of philatelic societies and about ten individual philatelists or dealers. In spite of the fact that some of these publications were short-lived, their mere existence is proof that there was a high degree of interest in the philately of our republic fostered a large group of enthusiastic philatelists. The first journal worthy of mention was the “Revista de la Sociedad Filatélica Cubana” (“Journal of the Cuban Philatelic Society”), published by that Society from 1902 to 1906 with a count of almost 40 issues. It was in that journal that Dr. Antonio Barreras, one of the most knowledgeable and prolific students of our philately, published most of his works. The Cuban Philatelic Society was the first important philatelic society in Cuba and its journal not only captured the work of Barreras, but also published the work of several other distinguished philatelists of the time. The most important philatelic journal of the Republican period was “Actividades Filatélicas” (“Philatelic Activities”), published by the Philatelic Club of the Republic of Cuba from 1936 to 1964—a total of 88 issues. That journal gathers a very important collection of articles on Cuban philately produced by the club’s members and details the most important philatelic events of the republic and of the club during almost three decades. The journal also provides a very good overview of international philatelic events during its period of publication.

According to Cuban philatelist Jesús del Valle Rodríguez, by the end of 1958 the Philatelic Club of the Republic of Cuba had a membership of almost 400 people, several of them with specialized collections that had attained gold medals at international philatelic exhibitions. Del Valle estimates that there were probably three times as many independent philatelists or philatelists that were associated to other philatelic societies throughout the island. This interest in our philately is continued to the present time by Cubans in exile through the Cuban Philatelic Society of America which has strived to maintain alive the interest in Cuban philately through its activities and publications and with a membership that fluctuates between 150 and 250 members worldwide. The journal “The Cuban Philatelist”, which has been published by the Society for over 30 years in both Spanish and English, is highly regarded in philatelic circles and is the only journal currently being published that is dedicated in its entirety to Cuban philately, since the journal “Filatelia Cubana” (“Cuban Philately”) that was published by the Cuban Philatelic Federation in Cuba ceased publication in 1995 due to lack of resources.

Dealers

There were two main philatelic dealers during the Republic, both in La Habana. They were the “Casa Filatélica Lily” and the Bookstore and Philately “Venecia” of Ricardo del Campo. Del Campo left Cuba as an exile in the early sixties and continued his philatelic business in Miami until his death last year, leaving it in the hands of his daughter who continues operating it to date. The “Casa Filatélica Lily” is best remembered for the excellent illustrations, or “cachets” as they are known in philately, that it produced for the first day of issue envelopes that it prepared for each new stamp issue of the Republic starting with the one promoting Cuban tobacco and cigars in December 1948 until the business was taken over by the Castro revoulutionary government at the beginning of 1963. Both stores were close to each other in Obispo Street in old Havana and were frequently visited by philatelists in the island.

Distinguished Philatelists

There were several eminent Cuban philatelists during the republican period that merit mention due to their contributions to Cuban philately. One of the first to distiguish himself was the previously mentioned Dr. Antonio Barreras. In the early years of the Republic he published several extensive substantial studies on various aspects of Cuban philately in the journal of the Cuban Philatelic Society—works that set the framework for the serious study of our philately and that motivated several other members of the Society to initiate and maintain an interesting dialog with their own observations in that same important journal. Rafael R. García distinguished himself in the 1930s with his work on Cuban aerophilately, especially his catalog of Cuban first flights—both national and international. Another great aerophilatelist was Dr. Tomás A. Terry, who was one of the main promoters of the First Latin American Postal Rocket Experiment which took place on October 15, 1939. This experiment was not successful in its purpose of proving that postal rockets were a viable means for the transport of correspondence, but it is noteworthy because the Cuban government was the first government in the world to issue an official postage stamp in support of postal rockets. Terry’s book, “The Air Mail in Cuba”, was also a great contribution to the history of Cuban aerophilately.

Dr. Ernesto Bello Hernández played a distinguished role in the battle against tuberculosis in Cuba with anti-tuberculosis campaigns promoted through several private anti-tuberculosis stamps or labels. The first anti-tuberculosis stamps were issued in Cuba in 1928 and new issues followed during the rest of the Republic, all due in great part to the efforts of Dr. Bello. Probably the most important Cuban philatelist of the republican era was Dr. Buenaventura Cruz Planas who formed several important collections of Cuba and other countries meritorious of gold medals at international philatelic exhibitions. Upon his death in the early 1960s, his Cuban collections became the nucleus around which the Cuban Postal Museum was formed under the direction of its founder and long-time director, José Luis Guerra-Aguiar.

Overview of Some Important Stamp Issues of the Republic

At the start of the Republic the new postal administration of the island continued to use the stamps issued in 1899 by the U.S. postal administration for use in Cuba. This stamp issue consisted of five values for regular postage (1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 cents) and one 10-cent stamp for special delivery—all printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. Towards the fall of 1902 the supplies of 1-cent stamps of this issue showing the statue of Christopher Columbus located in the courtyard of the City Hall of Havana were dwindling and it was decided to surcharge some of the 3-cent stamps for use as 1-cent stamps. The 3-cent stamp was chosen for this purpose because the greatest quantity of stamps of this value remained unused since it was the least frequently required value among the postal rates in effect at the time. Once approved, the surcharging was performed in the printing shop of Ruiz y Hermanos in Havana by applying a large red numeral “1” on the center of 200,000 3-cent stamps featuring a reproduction of the statue of “La India” (“The Female Indian”) that is located in the Havana park by the same name. The surcharge carried the word “HABILITADO” across the top; the words “UN CENTAVO” (“One Cent”) on the left side of the numeral “1” reading from the bottom towards the top; and “OCTUBRE 1902” (“October 1902”) on the right side reading in the same direction.

Thus the first stamp issued by the Government of the Republic of Cuba was a provisional surcharged stamp issued as an interim measure while waiting for a new shipment of the already circulating stamps that had been ordered from the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The surcharged stamp was placed on sale on September 30, 1902, and was only on sale for three days, since by October 2 they had been sold out. Fortunately, a few hours after the surcharge stamp was placed on sale, the pending shipment of stamps from the United States arrived and when the surcharged stamps were all sold, the regular 1-cent stamps were again placed on sale.

The second stamp issued by the Republic of Cuba was a 10-cent Special Delivery stamp that corrected a misspelling in the word “inmediata” in the 10 cents Special Delivery stamp issued by the United States together with the regular postage stamps of 1899. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing had engraved the word “immediata” instead of “inmediata”, confusing it with the spelling of the word “immediate” in English. As soon as the mistake was noticed, replacement stamps with the correct spelling were ordered, but they were not ready to be placed in circulation until November 21, 1902, after the Cuban Republic had been inaugurated.

At the end of 1904, when the order of stamps for the coming year of 1905 was placed, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing informed the Cuban Government that it would not be able to continue printing its stamps due to new regulations that limited its activities exclusively to the production of postal species and currency of the United States. As a result, the Cuban Government contracted the American Bank Note Company of New York to continue printing the Cuban stamps. Instructions were given for the transfer of printing dies and plates from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to the American Bank Company and the first order of new stamps for the new nation was placed by the Government of Cuba. These stamps were produced using the same dies that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing used for the 1899 printing of Cuban stamps during the American administration, but minor modifications were made in the engravings to differentiate them from that previous issue. This first stamp issue of the new Republic consisted of only the 1, 2, 5, and 10 cents values, because there still existed sufficient quantities of the 3-cent 1899 stamps for regular postage and of the 10-cent Special Delivery stamp.