MODERN PARAGUAYAN POSTAL STATIONERY: THE PREPAID VIEW CARDS, AEROGRAMS AND COVERS OF THE 1990'S (PART II)

Georg Maier

An undetermined number of a possible 250 numbered view cards, edited by Ignacio J. Martínez found circulation in the country during the 1990’s. Apparently, the Paraguayan Post Office made a one-time purchase of all the available stock and proceeded to turn them into stationery. The postcards were surcharged with “FRANQUEO PAGADO / PORTE PAYE” in two lines at top and to the right a boxed was printed which read “Dirección / General de Correos / Paraguay” in three lines.

At bottom left there is a serial number, either A or B followed by the number of the card. Above the serial is the name of printer. At center, in a vertical position appears the name of the editor “Ignacio J. Martínez” in two lines. At top left is the number of the card type followed by a description in any from one to four different languages. Finally, at bottom left it says “Industria Paraguaya / Reproducción Prohibida” in one line but there is no indication who the printer is.

We have examined a total of 97 card of 53 different types. These range from card No. 29 to 249. Since this was a bulk purchase by the Post Office it is doubtful whether all numbers were overprinted nor can it be determined how many different types were turned into stationery cards. The cards are either from series A or B or both. From the total studied 23 cards were from series A and 74 from series B.

The lowest and highest serial number shown were from series B and ranged from No. 4 to 8679. In all cards the printer of the serial No. was Imp. Modelo S.A. Tel. 493438 FAX 449949. Only one card shows a different printer (Imp. Leo, Tel. 498-929), this being on card No. 8482 of series B. About twenty percent of the cards show no printers name.

The used cards available show dates from 1994 to 2002. This suggest that the cards were sold during most of the 1990’s and terminated when the Post Office suffered considerable fire damage on January 11, 2000. Since, registered cards show no additional franking the prepaid rate must have applied to all types of mailing.

Very little is known about these very attractive cards. Even in the Post Office hoone appeared to know anything about them when an acquaintance stopped by in 2005 to acquire about them. The cards can be considered as rare in both mint and used condition. We invite comments from our readers who may be able to shed light on their issuance, distribution and usage.