COVER N. 631 - AUSTRIA

Postmark: Correos Antigua Guatemala 18.08.2025 

Posted on the 18th August; Received on the 1st September 2025

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It has been a while since I last added a new country to my list of postal services present in my collection, but thanks to the friendly help of Lisa, and most of all, the never abating support from my friend The Flying Dutchman, I can tick another box with the addition of Guatemala to the collection.

Muchas Gracias Lisa,  Hartelijk dank, Eric!

Nonetheless I do have a "National Cover" from Guatemala, that I have yet to post here in my "National Covers" section.

Marta, my daughter got it from the Postal Museum at Guatemala city in one of her travels. Still, at the time, there were no postal services to Portugal, so she got me an uncirculated stamped and postmarked cover.

Nowadays, thankfully, postal services have resumed so here is the first Guatemalan cover in my blog:

The cover includes three definitive stamps of the Fine Arts (Textiles) series initiated in 2010, showcasing patterns of the exquisitely elaborated patterns of Guatemalan woven textiles.

The 4 and 5 quetzal stamps are the 2020 reprints of the 15DEC2010 original issues, while the 25 quetzal stamp dates of 14APR2015.

Postmark from Antigua, a World Heritage Site town, in the South of the country.

Located some 40 km away from Guatemala city, La Antigua was the capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala during the Spanish colonisationera, an administrative division of the Spanish empire which included what is now Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Mexican state of Chiapas.