With this new volume presented on 18 May 2022 at the HELVETIA 2022 exhibition in Lugano, the internationally renowned "Edition d'Or" book series has reached its 62nd (!) work which, like all its predecessors, is dedicated to a truly exceptional collection. The Argentinian Pablo Reim (b. 1955) is well known to South American philatelists, as his earlier Argentina and Old Brazil exhibits were among the exceptional collections rarely seen. Reim's maternal grandfather came from Stuttgart; Pablo Reim himself lived for a long time as a child in São Paulo, Brazil, so that his interest in Brazilian Dom Pedro issues or the "Bull's Eyes", Brazil's first stamp issue, is easily explained. In 2011 he exhibited his "Corrientes" collection for the first time at Cordoba, Argentina, which immediately won Large Gold and was named "Exhibition Champion". A year later, there was another Gold medal at INDONESIA 2012 in Jakarta. And at this year's LONDON 2022 it was again awarded Large Gold and a special award.
But where is Corrientes? Corrientes was a province of the Argentine Confederation, later of the Argentine Republic. If you take a look at the MICHEL catalogue, the prices given for the stamps available at the post office counters up to 1880 will not seem particularly high. So not a "difficult" collecting area? It is so easy to be deceived, once you look into the depths. For then Corrientes has a lot to offer that attracts a philatelic connoisseur. Breit's trilingual (German/English/Spanish) introduction to the collecting area makes this clear and explains how and why these stamps, so similar to the French CERES stamps, came into being, who had a hand in them, which postage rates and periods applied in each case and how the sheets of stamps were printed. Corrientes had only about 70,000 inhabitants in the mid-1850s. It is understandable that stamped mail is anything but common.
In this collection, Pablo Reim presents the individual stamp issues in chronological order. The Un Real M. C. on blue paper (1856), the provisional issue (3 cents) on blue paper with official pen stroke (1860), the (3 cent) without value on blue paper (1860), also the 2 cent without value on yellow-green paper (1864) and on blue-green (1865) and 2 cent/3 cent without value on yellow paper (1867), followed by the 3 cent without value on deep blue paper (1871) and the 3 cent issues without value on five different coloured papers. The fiscal use of the stamps in 1879/80 and the reprints of 1877/80 are the subject of further consideration and documentation.
At this point at the latest in the 161-page book, it becomes clear to the reader how complex and anything but simple a specialised study of these stamps is. For it is precisely the "specialities" with which the Pablo Reim collection is concerned. For example, an unused block of 8eight of the Un Real of 1856, of which there are only three still in existence today, or the only known tête-bêche pair of the same stamp. Reim succeeded in documenting seven types of the first issue on cover, also various pen-cancellations and postmarks, stamps with gutters between them, rare destinations and the largest multiples on cover. He shows remarkable special features and some major and minor rarities with each of the above issues. It is not uncommon to read of a cover being franked with the largest known multiple in each case, or of only a few letters being known at all from a particular period. Complete printed sheets alternate with partial sheets, as if these were common - but they are not.
To put it briefly: This book should be in the hands of every collector who wants to take a closer look at this collecting area. It offers far more information and illustrative material than any catalogue, even a specialised catalogue. It is an indispensable aid to the better understanding and appreciation of this field of collecting in all its diversity. Perfectly designed and excellently produced - like all the volumes in this book series.
— Wolfgang Maaßen (AIJP)
172 pages, hardbound with dust jacket, in English and German