seebeck took advantage of a unique connection he had to central america in that his brother-in-law ernest schernikow was the new york consul for el salvador and honduras. in 1889, seebeck left for a tour of central america with letters of introduction from schernikow to talk with government officials about an idea for a stamp printing arrangement that would benefit all concerned and signed contracts in 1889-1890 with several countries: ecuador, el salvador, guatemala (only for fiscal stamps not postage ones), honduras, and nicaragua. the contracts were for ten years worth of stamp issues, and also included official, telegraph, revenue stamps and postal stationery.