2021-03-12 Fri

The “Tete-Beche” pair is a peculiar stamp pair in which two stamps joined together with one stamp being inverted in relation to the other. The tete-beche pair is a rare occurrence and has a good collectable value. A Colombian – Tolima 1903 5 tete-beche pair is a classic example of such peculiarity.

The United States of Colombia was founded in 1863. It comprised a federation of nine sovereign states: Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Panama, Santander and Tolima. In 1886 a new constitution was adopted that changed the name of the country to the Republic of Colombia. The states were stripped of most of their sovereign powers and became departments. However, some continued to issue postage stamps until as late as 1904.

In 1903 the department of Tolima issued a series of eight stamps showing its departmental crest which also exist as a tete-beche pair. The stamp is a simple stamp of red on yellowish paper. This stamp comes with the denomination of 5 Peso and depicts the departmental crest.

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