Balboa

The stamps on this album page are related to Vasco Núñez de Balboa and the Panama Canal. Balboa was a Spanish explorer from 16th Century who crossed what is now Panama to the Pacific Ocean, the first European to see the Pacific from the Americas – then known as the New World.

These stamps were issued in 1914, the year the digging of the canal was completed. They’re part of series, however, associated with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition – a world’s fair in San Francisco, California. This is why there’s also a couple of stamps depicting the Golden Gate in San Francisco – not the bridge since it wasn’t built for another twenty years or so later. By the way, the sailing ship shown in that stamp is the U.S.S. Babcock, a U.S. Navy ship of that time that often passed through the Gate.

The name of the world’s fair includes Panama because it was celebrating the completion of the canal. However, there may have been a theme of connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific more easily as there was a telephone line installed from New York city to the fair in San Francisco for people on the Atlantic coast to hear the sounds of the Pacific coast, and vice versa.

Note

These stamps in unused condition aren’t too expensive. I’ve started buying them. I ordered one for now – along with plenty of others stamps for other pages. I’m trying to complete as many pages I can, starting at the end of this album working backwards. I have almost all of the starts after 1935. I’m missing only a few from 1920 to 1935. Once I complete those pages, the process of completing pages will slow greatly because of how many I’m lacking and because of the cost of those earlier stamps.

Contains 9 spots: own 8 – 6 unused, 2 used.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jun 15, 2024

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Panama–Pacific Expo. - World’s Fair

1.1	✓	397	Vasco Núñez de Balboa	1c (jan 1913) comm., green	Bought thru APS Store
2.1	✓	398	Panama Canal	2c (jan 1913) comm., carmine
2.2	✓	399	Golden Gate	5c (jan 1913) comm., blue
2.3	✓	400	San Francisco Bay	10c (jan 1913) comm., yellow orange	Color is ‘normal orange juice’.
3.1		404	San Francisco Bay	10c (jul 1915) comm., orange
4.1	✓	401	Vasco Núñez de Balboa	1c (dec 1914) comm., green
4.2	✓	402	Panama Canal	2c (jan 1915) comm., carmine
4.3	✗	403	Golden Gate	5c (feb 1915) comm., blue
5.1	✗	400A	San Francisco Bay	10c (apr 1913) comm., red orange	Color is ‘blood-orange juice’.

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.