Georg Maier
In 1986,
Mainsheet (Vol. II, No. 42, April 1986, pp. 46-47) published an article of mine
on the Juan Montalvo five cents letter card (H&G A5). Based on
documentation (Official Registry No. 1064, August 3, 1911) I stated that the
card was issued on August 1911, the day in which the city of Ambato celebrated
the inauguration of a park named after its famous son, Juan Montalvo, erecting
at the same time a statue in his memory. The date was in conflict with the year
shown in the Higgins & Gage Catalogue which was 1907. My argument was based
on the Official Registry, after all, nothing is legal before it is not
published in this public document.
In a
subsequent article in Mainsheet (Vol. 25, No. 97, February 2000, pp. 11-16)
Brian Moorhouse, the editor of the Journal raised the question how this can be
possible if he has a letter card mailed on January 10, 1907. The following
investigation revealed that not only was the date valid but that the letter
card was used consistently and continuously beginning 1907.
 |
| HG A5.- Circulated beginning January 1907.
Legally valid for distribution August 10, 1911 – February 10, 1913 |
In an
attempt to explain this discrepancy we investigated the Official Registry with
respect to the monthly inventory listing of the Ministry of Finance.
There, we
discovered that for the whole year of 1906 until the month of December, the
balance listed a total of 18,465 cards with a nominal value of five cents. This
number remained constant through the year.
In December
the amount changed to 48,465 or on increase of 30,000 cards. Where did these
additional cards come from especially since Ecuador did not issue any 5 c.
cards after 1889?
The most
plausible explanation is that the Juan Montalvo letter card was authorized and
distributed beginning 1907 but the decree was not signed by the President of
the Republic. Even if that were the case it was not published in the Official
Registry which would render the authorization illegal. Suffice it to say that
there is no record that the Juan Montalvo letter card was authorized for
release in the year 1906 or at least no record was found to substantiate its
issuance.
 |
| Unlisted.- Legally valid for distribution
beginning February 10, 1913 |
In my
article, I also suggested that the Montalvo card was valid for postage only
until February 10, 1913 (Official Registry No. 132, February 10, 1913). This,
because a large number of the cards disappeared from government deposits. This
resulted in putting a control frame around the stamp of the card so that the
only cards valid for usage beginning February 10, 1913 had to show the new
black control frame. The usage of all other cards was subject to a fine. In
July 18, 1919, a new red control frame was introduced which is known in two
colors, carmIne and dark red (Official Registry No. 847, July 18, 1919).
To sum up
the story of the Juan Montalvo letter card we have established that it was used
beginning January, 1907, but that its usage was only legalized on August
3, 1911. It was replaced by one with a
black control mark on February 10, 1913 and by one with a red control mark on
July 18, 1919. Subsequently, the remainders were demonetized and used for a
variety of other reasons.
 |
HG A6.-
Legally valid for distribution beginning July 18, 1919
|
It remains to be seen if someone can come up with a
used copy of a card with a black control mark prior to February 10, 1913 and
one with a red control mark prior to July 18, 1919. I shall be the last one to
be surprised.
