Bolivia has always used its own postage stamps, issuing its first in 1867.
An earlier issue in 1863 by a Justiniano Garcia was commissioned by the Bolivian government, but the contract was revoked soon afterwards. These Garcia stamps are sometimes seen for sale but are not particularly common. A few different denominations were made, each in blue and black, of which the blue are rarer.
Early official Bolivian stamps (from 1867 on) often featured the coat-of-arms, and there were many people important to the history and politics and culture of Bolivia commemorated on various issues. Overprints became common for a time as well on Bolivian stamps, with various surcharges on various issues being necessary. Bolivia’s first full-color postage stamp came in 1940, depicting the flags of the countries and areas of the Americas, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Pan-American Union.
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The 1960s saw a blossoming of design and color use on the postage stamps of Bolivia, as in most other countries at the time. As the collectors’ marketplace, and philately in general, continued to grow as well, Bolivia released many special stamps with a variety of subjects, including various souvenir sheets, maxicards, minisheets, and joint issues with other nations.
In addition to these special items, there have been semipostal stamps in Bolivia, postage due stamps, and airmail stamps. Collectors of Bolivian stamps can also shop for unhinged (MNH) stamps, errors, forgeries and reprints, stamp blocks, and other interesting subcategories — check the listings here to see the latest. New additions are included daily.
