Express post service between Guatemala City and Coban
When searching for additions to my collection I see many, many stamps, letters, postal stationery, etc. Sometimes there are things that make you wonder why. One such stamp is our outlier from Guatemala, the yellow-orange 4 ct stamp with the imprint "EXPRESO".
Although this stamp does not show a motorcycle and there is, also in the text, no reference to our subject, it certainly belongs in the motorcycle collection.
President Jorge Ubico instructed the General Director of the Post, Eduardo Perez, to set up an express service between Guatemala City and Coban.
Already before World War II, Guatemala ordered new stamps for this service from Joh. Enschede and Zonen. Unfortunately, delivery was delayed due to the outbreak of war. When the stamps were finally delivered in 1948, the special express service between Guatemala City and Coban had already been discontinued. The stamps ended up in storage. The stamp does show the Harley-Davidson used for the express service.
Most likely it is the 1937 Model 74 Package Truck. The sidecar reads: "Communicaciones Postales - Expreso".
Following the order of President Ubico, by decree on June 20th 1940, the express service was set up. The rate was set at 4 cents.
Here are some impressions of the route:
Because the ordered express stamps could not be delivered, it was decided to overprint the stamp from the National Symbols series with an image of Miguel Garcia Grenados, value 4 ct, from 1929 with the text "EXPRESO". 
Apparently there was still a large stock of this stamp, as an overprint with "AEREO INTERIOR 1933" had already been issued in 1933.
At Tipografia Nacional the overprint "EXPRESO" was applied in red. Dimensions: 12½ by 3 mm. All express mail had to bear this stamp. This also includes the express service from Guatemala City to Coban. The exact start and end dates of both the overprinted stamp and the express service are unknown. The first known date of use of the stamp is December 4th 1940.
The mail transported from Coban to Guatemala City had to be provided with a stamped mark with "oficina de communicaciones * republica de Guatemala" in the outer circle and "Coban A. V." in the inner circle.
From 1942 onwards, all mail had to be provided with a surcharge of 1 cent to finance a new post office in Guatemala City. Below are some letters with the 4 ct overprint "EXPRESO" stamp.
Letter inland, from Coban to Guatemala City. Rate 4 ct express per motorcycle service, plus 1 ct
forced postage for the new post office.
Letter abroad, from Coban via Guatemala City to Kansas City (USA). Rate 4 ct express per motorcycle service,
plus 1 ct forced postage for the new post office. Letter was reviewed by investigator #2249.
Letter abroad, from Coban via Guatemala City to Kansas City (USA). Rate 4 ct express per motorcycle service
plus 1 ct forced postage for the new post office, and 15 ct airmail. Letter was reviewed by investigator #12283.
Do the stamp and letters belong to our motorcycle collection?
The stamp has the imprint "EXPRESO" and during the period in which this stamp had to be used it was general practice for express mail to be transported by motorcycle.
For the letters with the stamp and the Coban postmark it is certain that they belong in the collection, as the order for setting up this service explicitly stipulated that this service had to be maintained with motorcycles.
Before the war, Guatemala had already ordered special delivery stamps from the Fa. John Enschede for the Coban express service to Guatemala City, but these did not arrive until 1948, long after this service had been discontinued. For normal postal use, these stamps were issued with the overprint 10 ct and the cancelation of the 4 ct.
The old EXPRESO stamps that could no longer be used for the express service from Coban to Guatemala City were used for the franking of regular mail. Such letters clearly do not belong to our collection area.
Here is an example of such a letter.
Letter abroad, to Denver (USA). Rate 9 ct.
Date in postmark 12 xxx 1947
Nico Helling
Top - Back to former page - Home |