Auction Watch

There is a first issue cover from Guatemala (lot 4686) in the upcoming Siegel auction. While I cannot say without question that it is a forgery, I would urge anyone thinking about bidding on the lot to consider the following and not be guided by its Philatelic Foundation certificate.

1. The letter is datelined Guatemala City from a lawyer and is sent to the office (in Guatemala City) that regulated gifts and inheritances left to religious orders clarifying matters related to the bequest of a certain José Guillén. Why would a local letter within Guatemala City have a large numeral "24" cancel from Salamá (over 100 miles away)? Salamá is a remote provincial capital that is not on any major road. There is no reason for the lawyer who wrote this letter to have posted it from Salamá.
2. Why is there no circular date stamp? Postal authorities were required to use a large numeral obliterator to cancel the stamps as well as a circular date stamp to note where and when it was posted. Two other first issue covers are known without circular date stamps and their authenticity is widely questioned.
3. The large numeral "24" cancel is almost certainly legitimate, but it does not tie the stamps to the cover and when you look closely at the perforation holes separating the two stamps, the ink is missing from the holes suggesting the possibility that the two stamps with their authentic cancel were glued to the cover at a later date. If they had been on the cover when it was cancelled, those perforation holes would be black.
4. The letter is addressed on the outside to "Guillermo Marroquín," but on the inside it is addressed to "Señor Provisor Juez de Capellanías." While it is possible that they were one and the same person, normally letters were addressed with the title on the outside. It is odd that the writer felt the confidence to address the letter on the outside to the person's name, but reverted to the more formal title on the inside. I would question whether this letter ever went through the mail and suspect the name and "Guatemala" may have been added later to make it look like a letter carried in the mail.
5. Provenance: The listing notes that this cover is "Ex. Lange and Dr. Nadel." I have never heard of either of these gentlemen and a search of the International Society of Guatemala Collectors prize-winning magazine "El Quetzal" does not show a "Lange" or "Nadal" having belonged to the ISGC. While this, of course, doesn't mean that those two gentlemen may not have owned this cover, it would suggest that neither previous owner would likely have had the expertise to address the cover's authenticity. 

None of this proves that the cover is a fake and I cannot certify that it isn't authentic. It sold at the April 3, 2024 Cherrystone auction for $2,100. That was the first time I had seen it. Realizing that someone is likely to pay a lot of money for this cover, they should at least be aware of the reasons to question its authenticity. 

Dear David,

Thank you for the analysis of the cover; I didn't find the "capellanías"...

Hello All,

Fritz-Walter Lange RPSL exhibited his collection at the Royal Philatelic Society in London on November 30, 2000. His collection was auctioned by AFINSA on October 30, 2001, and included de cover in this chat. The auction catalog is a must for the Guatemala postal history collector. I am not going to say anything in relation to its authenticity. I am not bidding.

Hello all,

Thinking it over, I support the idea that it is a suspicious folded letter and that its authenticity should have more support. For example, X-ray analysis, since this technique can sometimes reveal if there were other stamps under the stamps that were added, because there may be traces of adhesive, or the paper may be slightly wrinkled or altered.

The folded letter was apparently expertised, as it has a small marking (French expert Roger Calves?) in the lower right corner. Guillermo Marroquín was the Judge of Capellanías in mid-1871, according to what I was able to research, but that doesn’t prove anything either, since the folded letter could have been stampless and someone clever might have added the stamps afterward to make a monetary gain. All in all, no real opinion can be given because it’s necessary to examine the paper underneath the two stamps.

Hi everyone,

While it is possible that the entire-letter is genuine, I would choose another one instead if there is an alternative. This is especially important if you're going to exhibit competitively as some judge would pick on covers where stamps are not tied. The expert group action is invariably "get a expert certificate" unless one of them knows that it is a fake cover ie the stamps do not belong.