BOHOL is an island of the central, or Visayan, group.    It is of considerable size, almost as large  in area as Cebu.     It lies between the latter island, and that of Leyte. Its   capital  is Tagbilaran, which in 1898 had a population of 10,108, and the entire island, 269,223.

The Spanish withdrew their garrison from the island in November 1898, and it was not occupied by an American force until more than a year later. During this interval, a native revolutionary government was formed which had undisputed political and military control of the island.

This government issued one postage stamp.    I have never been able to locate a copy, even for examination.   However, a number of years  ago  I obtained  a photograph  of  a strip of three, showing part of the cover to which it was affixed.  Since I have had the print it has been turning dark, and the two left stamps are already blackened out.

The stamp has a single-line frame. I would judge by a comparison with the portion of handwriting on the piece of cover that an attempt was made to photograph the stamps in, actual size. In the center of the stamps are three five-pointed stars, so placed as to form the Katipunan triangle. Above the stars, in two lines of tall, narrow type
is inscribed "SELLO POSTAL / PROVISIONAL." At the bottom of the stamp in letters twice as large as those above is the name of the island, "BOHOL."

The stamp bears no expressed value, and presumably it is a two-centavos, denomination, which was the postal rate on local letters under the Spanish. The strip is tied on  the paper by an elaborate postmark. It is triangular, and the center contains a large Katipunan sun with rays. It is inscribed, "GOBIERNo REGIONAL REVOLUCIONARIO BE BISAYAS, BOHOL." I had a tracing made of the postmark when all the details were still clearly outlined. I corresponded with the late J. M. Bartcls about this stamp. He wrote that he had handled only one copy, and he had no record of the person to whom it had been sold. He said it was printed in black on pink paper.

Somebody sent me a copy of a letter that had been written to a fellow collector by Col. G. S. Goodale, in which he offered to trade copies of the Bohol stamps for British Colonials. The letter is dated 1912, when Goodale was a captain, and was written from Fort Benj.  Harrison, Ind.

Col. Goodale died several years ago. He became interested in Philippine stamps while serving in the islands during the insurrection of 1899-1902. He, together with Gen. H. H. Bandholtz and Col. J. M. T. Partillo, were said to have been the first collectors to attempt to have the Aguinaldo stamps recognized by Scott's catalog. It required thirty-eight years of effort to bring this about. Col. Goodale furnished the original listing for the catalog. It still stands, except for some additions and revisions to the descriptive matter that I supplied later.

In his letter Col. Goodale gives the history of the Bohol stamps that he wished to swap. He wrote that in 1899, he was stationed at the town of Ccbu, Cebu Inland, when he saw copies of the Bohol stamp in the possession of a Filipino named Jaime Vano, who was employed by the Smith-Bell Company, the largest import-export firm then in the islands.
He asked the native where he had obtained the stamps. The man replied that they had come from letters he had received from a brother who resided on Bohol Island.

Col. Goodale explained that although Bohol was held by Filipino insurrectos, and Cebu by Americans, regular trade, travel, and mail between the two islands were carried on by small, blockade-running native boats.
Col. Goodale, who was then a lieutenant, stated he. had asked Jaime Vano if he would try to get him some unused Bohol stamps from his brother. The Vanos were obliging, and Goodale obtained a number of unused copies of the stamp, besides the used ones that had come on letters.

In his letter Col. Goodale mentioned, altogether, eleven Bohol stamps, and said those were all he had, and the only copies he had ever seen. One thing is quite certain, and that is that none of the Goodale stamps was on a cover. Therefore, the strip of three that I referred to came from another, and different, source.

(The Bohol stamp  and postmark shown  are facsimile illustrations copied from the photographed  of the strip of three stamps that  was mentioned in the article).

"dustmites" paid 25.00 bucks for the stamp. I'm entertainting thoughts on doing the same on other values and earn a couple of bucks, enough to buy me a nice classic Mont Blanc pen.