English: Guatemala second issue, 1872 (not 1873, see below) coat of arms, 1 peso orange yellow, mint, perforated 12x12. Medium white wove paper without watermark. Certified by Sismondo.

Lithographed by Edward Matthews, London. Printed in sheets of 100. Issued for outbound mail letters.

• Second half of 1872, Postal Rates:
  • 1/4 Real - Printed matter rate
  • 1/2 real - Single internal rate
  • 1 Real - Double internal rate
  • 2 Reales - Single outbound rate
  • 4 Reales - Double outbound Rate Up to 1 Ounce Weight
  • 1 Peso (8 Reales) - Double Rate from 1 Ounce up to 2 Ounces
  • 4 Reales - Addtional Weight Per Ounce or Fraction Thereof.

Although Guatemala's second regular series is listed in Guatemala-1 as having been issued in 1873, a thorough study of the extant records conducted in 2010 by Cécile Gruson and Jorge Baca shows that it first appeared in 1872. Prior to the publication of Guatemala-1, all of the major philatelic catalogs, including Stanley Gibbons, Scott, Kohl and others, listed the second series as having been issued in 1872. The first volume for the year 1873 of the Guatemalan Government's official gazette (La Gazeta de Guatemala) includes a balance sheet for the postage stamps sold and lists "stamps which arrived from Europe during the prior month of August" (i.e. August of 1872). The second series was printed in London, England and dispatched to Guatemala on July 12, 1872. A total of 10,000 one peso yellow and 20,000 four reales purple stamps were delivered. The balance sheet shows that at the end of 1872 the post office still had 8,000 one peso and 14,000 for reales stamps in stock.

The November 1, 1872 edition of the magazine Le Timbre Poste from Brussels, Belgium reports having received a "poorly-printed" copy of the one peso yellow stamp. That same magazine in its January 1, 1873 edition has a front page illustration of the four reales purple stamp, which corresponds exactly to the second issue. The journal notes that the illustrated four reales stamp came from a cover that also had an 1871 ten cent stamp. The four reales stamp was removed from the cover by a businessman who was a reputable philatelist and who gave it to the editor of Le Timbre Poste. To have been reported in the November, 1872 edition of Le Timbre Poste, the one peso yellow stamp would have had to have arrived in Europe no later than the middle of October, 1872, meaning that it was mailed from Guatemala no later than the middle of September, 1872. At that time the crossing from Guatemala to Europe normally took around 40 days.

The four reales purple stamp was apparently issued later than the one peso yellow. The four reales stamp would have had to have been issued no later than the middle of November in order to be featured in the January 1, 1873 edition of Le Timbre Poste. Our investigation leads us to conclude that the one peso yellow stamp was released at the beginning of September, 1872 and the four reales purple stamp was released in early November.^[1]