Carles Prats.

Some time ago, on the printed version of Arana, we had a section where the Spanish Philatelic Society members could show to others their favorite pieces. We are recovering that meeting point to allow you to share with all membership those stamps and covers in your collections you love most.

Let me give some words about myself: I am a Spanish civil war stamp dealer, but also a collector. As a collector, I would like to keep till the last one of the pieces I trade with. As a dealer, I must buy and sell to keep the business running. But I found a mid term point merging the need and the will: I specialized collecting the stamps and postal history of a very single town: Vinebre.

The first time I got contact with the Spanish civil war local issues was in Zaragoza in 2002, in Plaza San Francisco flea market. I saw a cover bearing a Vinebre souvenir sheet, with Catalan and Republican flags printed on it. As my hometown is some 20km far from Vinebre, I was very surprised to learn about those issues, and very interested also. I bought that cover and that was my first Spanish civil war piece ever. Eighteen years ago, my collection is kept in nine albums, with hundreds of pieces, including dozens of unlisted, and all issued in Vinebre only. I have more than 200 covers circulated with local stamps from Vinebre to Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. I’ve also written a catalogue about the Vinebre inverted center stamps and I’m preparing another one including all my collection. In my opinion, the Vinebre inverted center stamps are the rarest pieces of all the Republican local stamps issued during the war. I support this statement in my experience both as a collector and as a dealer.

The piece I most love in my collection is no the rarest I have, but the first cover bearing a Vinebre inverted center stamp I purchased. The stamp is listed under Allepuz (number 4a), and the cover was addressed to the French dealer G. Resten, in 11 bis rue Say, Paris 9ème, France. It has a Vinebre postmark dated on July 12, 1937, a blue, hand written cross and registered mail number (116). It also bears a red censor mark from Barcelona Heller RB3.13, and there is a Paris arrival backstamp of July 15, 1937. There are only six covers in my collection with inverted centers with different colors or in se-tenant pairs.

This cover, with some other oddites from my collection, was shown in Torremolinos during the 2017 European Convention for Collectors. I had the pleasure to show it there to the Spanish civil war local issues legends F. Gómez-Guillamón and Julio Allepuz, who also attended the show.

I encourage you to share with us the pieces in your collections you most love, so other Spanish Philatelic Society memers can enjoy what you most enjoy.