Private issues

Tijuana

Jorge Ibs

Jorge Ibs was born in Germany in 1849. He emigrated to Mazatlán, Sinaloa, where he worked in a casa commercial^{El Heraldo de México, Los Angeles, 6 May 1921}. In 1877 he married Ludmilla Ervendberg, with whom he had two daughters. In 1881 they moved to San José del Cabo where he founded Jorge Ibs & Comany, offering merchandise and supplies to ranchers and miners, as well as lodging and services. In 1886 they moved to San Diego, California, where Ibs lived for 35 years, even as he maintained a house in Tijuana and ran businesses in Tijuana and Ensenada.

Jorge Ibs was one of the principal businessmen involved in the Tijuana tourist trade. Curio shops, selling sombreros, silver jewelry, Mexican flags, postcards and other articles, formed one of Tijuana’s principal businesses. Ibs’ store in Tijuana was at first called George Ibs Curios and Cigar but after 1910 was known as Jorge Ibs, The Big Curio Store. To the main body, the curio shop, was added an ice cream shop, a grocery store and a canteen^{The Evening Tribune, San Diego, 20 October 1917 “Tijuana Is the Tourist Town Most Visited by San Diegans and the Gonzalez Curio Store Is the Greatest Attraction There”}.

The general administration of The Big Curio Store passed into the hands of Ibs' son-in-law, Miguel González Quiroz, when Ibs sold him the land on which the businesses stood. From 1916, Ibs withdrew from the tourist trade and lived permanently in San Diego, California, where he died in April 1921^{El Heraldo de México, Los Angeles, 6 May 1921, "The Death of Don Jorge Ibs in San Diego, California"}..

Incidentally, in 1911, C.R. Anguisola, an employee of the curio shop belonging to Jorge Ibs and Alejandro Savín, had cut a deal with the Magonista commander, Caryl Ap Rhys Pryce, whereby, in return for allowing the shop to stay open, the Liberals received 50 per cent of the profits to be used in their war effort^{Thomas C. Langham, Border Trials: Ricardo Flores Magon and the Mexican Liberals ,El Paso, Tex., Texas Western Press, University of Texas at El Paso, 1981, p.40-41}.

The only known example is this 10c dated 7 September 1914 and signed by Miguel González Quiroz(?).

Miguel González Quiroz was born in Altar, Sonora, in 1885. He married Jorge Ibs’ daughter, Ella, and took over the Big Curio Store from his father-in-law. Over time he expanded the services it offered to tourists and ventured into beer production; new bars, canteens, hotels; and investments in regional banking and transport. In February 1921 he publicly and prematurely announced his retirement due to illnessEl Heraldo de México, Los Angeles, 15 February 1921, "Mr. Gonzalez Retires From Business" but soon returned. He was the majority shareholder, president, and general manager of the Compañía Comercial de la Baja CaliforniaEl Heraldo de México, Los Angeles, 17 September 1922, "Fusión de Empresas Comerciales", whose main purpose was the purchase and sale of goods of all kinds, the purchase, sale, lease and exploitation of real estate, mining, manufacturing or industrial companies, as well as any other that were proficient to the interests of the society. In 1923 he established the Brewing Company of Mexicali, S.A., with Mexican shareholders headed by González himself, and the invested in several hotels. In 1925, he founded the Compañía Bancaria del Pacífico, S.A., in Mexicali, and with financial success, he and his partners opened a branch in Tijuana in 1926 under the name of Banco del Pacífico, S.A. He died in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, on 8 March 1946.

Ensenada

Jorge Ibarra Sucesores

We know of an issue of four values (5c, 10c, 20c, 50c) dated 9 September 1914^{[images needed]}.