In 1937, the Dominican Republic issued a set of eight airmail stamps honoring Columbus, and celebrating its goodwill flight to all of the countries of the Americas by the planes "Colon", "Nina", "Pinta", and "Santa Maria" (Scott #C24-31). 20,000 sets were issued, and Scott '13 prices the unused set at $28.55.
In all likelihood, most of these stamps were used as postage and discarded, which explains why one doesn't run across them very frequently. They're probably several times scarcer than the U.S. Graf Zeppelin set, and with far better prospects of climbing much higher than their current levels. While it may take some time for a significant stamp collecting population to develop among Dominicans, the upside to investing in Latin American stamps is that there is a tendency among collectors to focus on the region as a whole.
With a population of about 10 million people, the Dominican Republic is considerably better off than its neighbor Haiti, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola. Though long known for sugar production, its economy is now dominated by the service sector. The country has become the Caribbean's largest tourist destination. Over a million Dominicans now live in the U.S., and they send billions in remittances home to their families, amounting to a tenth of the GDP. Annual GDP growth has averaged around 6.5% over the last 6 years, although it has been uneven from year to year, and unevenly distributed. As in much of Latin America , reforms will be necessary to address governmental corruption and the gulf between rich and poor.
I have begun a new blog, " The Stamp Specialist ", featuring my buy lists for stamps which I wish to purchase, including some Dominican stamps. Periodically viewing dealers' buy lists is an excellent way to remained informed about the state of the stamp market.
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