Classic Latin America started as a blog back in 2016 with a mission to help promote the philately of Central and South America. Specialist dealers in Latin American stamps are few and far between and it was a logical progression to start helping existing collectors build their collections and encourage new collectors along the way.
Although we've sold on eBay for many years, it does have its limitations...not least for Cuba collectors, who are still shunned by eBay's bizarre exclusion policy (but that's another story).
You'll find a good selection of CLA items on HipStamp and eBay but much of the 'better' material gets listed exclusively on this site.
So why ‘Classic’ Latin America? And why cut off at 1940?
There are various philatelic definitions of the word ‘classic’. For the purists it refers only to the very first (often) imperforate stamps. To others it stops at the end of the nineteenth century.
The Michel Klassic catalogues have chosen 1914 as their cut-off date whereas the Scott Classic Specialized and Yvert’s Classiques du Monde both plump for 1940.
I’m with Yvert and Scott and have marked the cut-off at 1940, 100 years after the first postage stamp was issued. After 1940 the designs tend to get less interesting, the varieties fewer and the print quantities increase dramatically.
Then again, you'll still find a few post 1940 issues listed from time to time.
