Apam

Stamp Usage ½R 1R 2R 4R 8R Total
Of all not returned 0% 1.24% 0.17% 0.29% 0% 0.45%
Rank 48 21 31 26 34 26
Apam un real.
Fifth period, consignment 15-1866.
Apam District Info
State City pop. District pop. Distance to Mexico City Sub-numbers overprinted? Survival rate
Mexico 1600 20000 78 km. (48 mi.) Yes Above average

A large cache of covers sent from Apam was discovered in 1969 by Celestino Ruiz-Perez. Most were addressed to Antonio de Vertiz in Mexico City, and the find is therefore often referred to as the "de Vertiz find".

Prior to this discovery, stamps from Apam were few and far between. It is now somewhat easier to acquire these stamps, in particular on cover, since 251 covers covering the period from 1856 to 1867 began to come on the market. It is unknown to me how many of them had Eagle stamps. All denominations and all invoice numbers were represented in the find.

The number of stamps off cover was also increased by this find, since some collectors and dealers soaked them off. While this was not very smart from a philatelic standpoint, it probably made good business sense at the time, since covers were not sought after to the same extent as single stamps.

A similar discovery of covers from Soyaniquilpan was made, the so-called Escandon find.

Apam generally overprinted the stamps with its name between two rectangular blocks. A few copies have been found with both Apam and Mexico name.

An unusually high percentage of Apam stamps are found cancelled in Mexico City, as well as some used in Morelia and Fresnillo (in Zacatecas).

Consignment totals
Period Year Month Day ½R 1R 2R 4R 8R
First       0 1000 700 100 0
Third       0 1100 400 200 0
Fourth       0 4000 1500 500 0
Fifth       0 5000 2500 0 0
Total sent       0 11100 5100 800 0
Returned 1866 9 19 0 2157 2244 328 0
Returned 1866 11 12 0 79 42 0 0
Total       0 8864 2814 472 0

A sub-consignment number was overprinted according to regulations. A total of 41 sub-consignments were sent, with 34 different sub-numbers. Two thirds of the stamps were used in Apam and one third in the sub-offices. Otumba received 80% of the 1R stamps and 2 out of 3 2R stamps sent to the sub-offices. They are all scarce to rare today. Only one stamp has been found with an Ozumbilla cancel!

Apam Sub-offices

Apam had 5 sub-offices in the Eagle period:

Calpulalpam, Chignahuapam, Otumba, Ozumbilla and Teotihuacan (San Juan Teotihuacan).