First Issues - 1858 to 1860

page 5.1

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This is the fifth display in a series intended to show the first issues of every country. That includes the first stamp and (where issued) the first commemorative, airmail, charity, official and post due. The first two displays were completed in 2007, covering 1840-1849 and 1850-51, followed by a lapse until 2013. All the previous first issues are shown on the reverse of pages 2 and 3, with thumbnails of the earlier displays on the on the reverse of pages 4-7.

South America had a complicated C19. In the case of Argentina, control of the Spanish Viceroy of Rio de la Plata, which included Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, was taken by a Buenos Aires junta in 1810. Paraguay became independent in 1811, Bolivia in 1825 and Uruguay in 1828. Juan Manuel Rosas, the Argentinian dictator, ordered that the state should be named the Argentine Confederation, but several provinces resisted this. Similarly complex events occurred nearby, see Colombia below.

Argentina

Corrientes 21st August 1856 SG-P56 Sc1	[29th April 1858] Buenos Aires commemorative 1958 SG933 Sc-C72	[28th October 1858] Cordoba commemorative 1958 SG933 Sc678

Two Argentinian provinces issued stamps before the Argentinian Confederation itself. Corrientes (21st August 1856), held over from the previous display, and Buenos Aires (29th April 1858) preceded Argentina’s issue on 1st May 1858 and the province of Cordoba followed on 28th October 1858. The Corrientes stamp is accessible but the others are expensive and thus shown in commemoratives from 1958. There is a better representation of the Buenos Aires stamp in the miniature sheet overleaf.

1st May 1858 SG1 Sc1 Argentine Confederation	Commemorative 1892 SG219 Sc90 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America	Airmail 1928 SG558 Sc-C1	Charity 1944 SG730 Sc-B1 Postal Employees’ Benevolent Assoc.	Official 1884 SG-O66 Sc-O1

Argentina’s first stamp is the charming 5 centavos red. The style soon matured to provide an attractive first commemorative and a striking first airmail. The first charity stamp sensibly benefitted the Postal Employees Benevolent Association. No post due has been issued. →

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