Philatelic safari to Burundi
It’s extremely rare, that I manage to explode a single stamp album in one go. But last night I did it with Burundi. Recently I acquired a stock book full of Burundi stamps for peanuts, and yesterday I spend 4 hours putting in new stuff as well as re-arranging. Here’s a small philatelic safari of some new additions to my collection of Burundi stamps.
The first stamps of Burundi were definitive stamps of Ruanda-Urundi overprinted “Royaume du Burundi” (literally Kingdom of Burundi) in black. Here’s the only stamp I have from this set so far:
1962 Burundi. Stamp of Ruanda-Urundi overprinted for Kingdom of Burundi. A total of 24 Ruanda-Urundi stamps were overprinted like this; all are of low catalog value (but apparently so damn hard to find in used condition).
The overprinted stamp series was quickly followed by a set commemorating independence; the topics include national symbols and portraits of King Mwambutsa IV. Before checking Wikipedia, I had no knowledge that the Burundian monarchy had existed from the 15th century up to 1967 Burundian revolution.
1962 Burundi. Independence, 2F, CTO-used. The lower stamp has a notable flyspeck flaw around the ear.
As to be expected, the revolution of 1967 caused a flow of various overprinted stamp series; a total of 51 stamps from previous year were overprinted with “Republique Du Burundi” inscription. Below is once again the only copy I have of these.
1967 Burundi. Royalist stamps were overprinted for the newborn republic. Based on my stamp catalog, these all are of low value and with plenty of variations.
The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) logo entered stamp world in 1969 (at France), but in 1982/3 Burundi issued two sets of wildlife stamps (one with WWF-overprint, one without) that for some reason have one of the highest catalog values I’ve ever stumbled upon for modern stamps.
1982/3 Burundi. The 75F Wildebeest stamp is catalogued at whooping 120€, and the 50F with silver WWF-overprint is of equal catalog value. But in real world (eBay etc) these are sold for much less. For what I've read, only the high value of the set is truly difficult to obtain, the rest (like mine) are somewhat common (and hugely overvalued in catalogs).
From mid 1980’s onwards Burundi has been somewhat conservative stamp issuer, and only about 300 new stamps have surfaced in three decades. Though most of these are of low catalog value, they are scarce to find. Below are my only two examples of modern (”only” 20 years old, 
) Burundi stamps.
1992 Burundi. Mushrooms from definitive stamp series.
Hope You have enjoyed this philatelic safari. Happy collecting!
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hi,
Keijo.. Simple question where do you by your stamps
specially other than the country of living.
From internet dealer or Local Stamp & Coin shops ?
Recently I moved to City. Unfortunately I do not find
local town dealer. And even Country For Collection have
to Order through Philatelic Department.
I like your blog very much… good information
and articles. I am lazy collector after reading your Blog
have started arranging my collection.
I collect India,USA,Canada,UNO ,Pakistan. have some
old World wide stamps. but recently have not added
any.
cheers
Khalak
Hi Khalak,
The Burundi lot I bought from stamp store in Helsinki while on a business trip. But all in all, in Finland stamps shops have very little of foreign stamps besides some Russian & Swedish stamps; and the prices are usually very high. So the Burundi lot was a lucky find.
Most of the time I do my purchases online – either straight from other collectors worldwide, or from online auctions. I have no specific “favorite site/dealers”, but when/if I buy, it’s usually that something attractive comes up with good price (and I have something left of my annual budget
).
Hi, Keijo!
I like your blog, which I have been following for a long time.
See my Burundi blogpost: http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search/label/Burundi
Hi Dorin,
nice stamps… I’ve got some of those stamps too (from the latter print with gold line under country name); hopefully will be able to find the missing stamps/values some day
I aquired 8 Burundi Round stamps with a gold coin in the center of each stamp and the stamps are decorated with gold, the coins are Dated 1962. They are 2f, 4f, 6f, 8f, 12f, 15f, 25f, 40f all marked 50c. Can anybody enlighten me on these stamps.They are very light so I don’t believe they’re Gold.
Thank you for your consideration
Arnie Stensland
Hi Annie,
Likely You have 1965 semipostal stamps to commemorate the independence of 1962; Michel lists these as #175 – 182. The set does have a “sibling set” (issued later of the same year) for airmail use; these stamps have different values/colors and inscription “POSTE AERIENNE”. Both sets have been printed on gold foil paper, and both share precisely the same catalog value (for mint and CTO-used): 12€.
I have a fairly large collection of Burundi. Burundi has been a fun country to collect. I also collect Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa in Africa. All of these are very interesting too. Keep up the good work with the blog!!!
Thanks,
Dean