Stamp collecting

“ We cannot encourage 'exchanging foreign stamps,' for we do not see the smallest good resulting from it. This foreign stamp-collecting has been a mania, which is at length dying out. Were the stamps works of art, then the collecting them might be justified. Were they, in short, anything but bits of defaced printing, totally worthless, we would try to say something in their favour. ”

“ They are surprised at the clannishness of stamp collectors, and their lifelong devotion to their hobby. They are thunderstruck at the enormous prices paid for rare stamps, and at the fortunes that are spent and made in stamp collecting. ”

“ And right in the middle of the porter's chest the collectors spied the twopenny-halfpenny Fantippo red! Then both of the stamp collectors offered to buy the stamp. And as each was anxious to have it for his collection, before long they were offering high prices for it, bidding against one another.
King Koko got to hear of this and he called up one of these stamp collectors and asked him why men should offer high prices for one old used stamp. And the white man explained to him this new craze for stamp collecting that was sweeping over the civilized world. ”

“ No rule in stamp-collecting is more rigid than that not to buy rare stamps of any one except of responsible dealers, unless you are an expert, and are acquainted with both the counterfeits and the genuine stamps. ”

“ In spite of the ridicule which has been heaped upon the collector of stamps, the interest in stamp-collecting is as great to-day as it was a dozen years ago, and from Prince Edward Island to Australia will be found stamp "merchants," as they delight to call themselves, stamp papers, and stamp agencies, to supply the continually increasing demands of young and old collectors. ”

“ The inscriptions on the specimens teach us these matters.
Fifthly, stamp-collecting assists us to gain a real knowledge of history. Ask any collector when Columbus discovered America? Who was Prince Henry the Navigator? Over what country did King Amadeus reign? What form of government is possessed by Paraguay? His answers will be far more intelligent than those given by a non-collector.
But the foregoing are not the only matters which our stamps teach us. What is the difference between an engraving and a lithograph, between cream-laid paper and wove paper, between magenta and cerise? ”

“ It cannot be satisfactorily accounted for as a passing fancy or fashion. It has too long stood the test of years to be so easily explained away. Fancies and fashions come and go, but stamp collecting flourishes from decade to decade. Princes and peers, merchants and members of Parliament, solicitors and barristers, schoolboys and octogenarians, all follow this postal Pied Piper of Hamelin,
"Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,"
all bent upon the pursuit of this pleasure-yielding hobby. ”

“ Those who have tried it attest the fact that few things more completely wean the attention, for the time being, from the vexations and worries of the day than the collection and arrangement of postage stamps. In fact, stamp collecting has an ever-recurring freshness all its own, a [16] scope for research that is never likely to be exhausted, a literature varied and abundant, and a close and interesting relation to the history and progress of nations and peoples that insensibly widens the trend of human sympathies and human knowledge. ”

“ It is true it may be contended that all collectors do not go thus deeply into stamp collecting as a study; nevertheless the tendency sets so strongly in the direction of combining study with the pleasure of collecting, that the man who nowadays neglects to study his stamps is apt to fall markedly behind in the competition that is ever stimulating the stamp collector in his pleasant and friendly rivalry with his fellows. ”

“ To-day it is the fashion to look back with regret on those lost opportunities, and to nurse the belief that such opportunities are never likely to return. But experience shows that in every decade of stamp collecting the common stamp of to-day may be the rarity of to-morrow. In many a series of stamps some one of the lot from some cause or another gets scarce, and the price appreciates from year to year till the original price paid for the stamp in pence is represented by pounds. ”

“ And perchance many a tired worker in search of a hobby may be persuaded that of all the relaxations that are open to him none is more attractive or more satisfying than stamp collecting.
Its literature is more abundant than that devoted to any other hobby. Its votaries are to be found in every city and town of the civilised world. Governments and statesmen recognise, unsolicited, the claims of stamp collecting—the power, the influence, and the wealth that it commands. ”

“ This form of collecting was "hobbyhorsical" in the extreme; it recognised no other objects than the attainment of numbers, or the production of a new form of wall-paper, using the old stamps as the tesseræ of a mosaic. At these times collecting was probably considered a test of the bona fides of philanthropic appellants, for we trace to the earliest decade of stamp issuing the popular notion that the accumulated treasure of a million of old stamps will provide an "open sesame" for an orphan into a home, or that in old age one may find a haven of rest in an asylum. ”

“ Not a few countries are every year rescued from absolute bankruptcy by the generosity with which collectors buy up their postal issues; and many other countries would have to levy a very much heavier [19] burden of taxation from their peoples if stamp collecting were to go out of fashion.
So widespread indeed is our hobby that a well-known collector might travel round the world and rely upon a cordial welcome at the hands of fellow-collectors at every stopping-place en route. ”

“ Every boy and girl—and, we might add, man and woman—should collect stamps. Our reasons for making this statement are many.
First, stamp-collecting is a highly fascinating pursuit, which helps to while away countless pleasant hours. On this score alone it is worth following.
Secondly, it encourages methodical habits. We examine our stamps carefully, we discriminate between the good and the bad specimens, we keep a watch for minor varieties, we marshal our treasures in correct order, and so on. ”

“ The dealer, who had probably never seen an unsevered block of eight of the five-shillings "anchor" of 1882, obliged him readily, which he could well afford to do, as he passed on the stamps the same week to a collector for £75.
These things do happen, but in the "legitimate" stamp-collecting they are necessarily of rarer occurrence in these days of popular newspapers, over-educating in certain directions, or at least pandering to the common desire for a royal road to easy wealth. ”

“ Shrewd business men are those who frequently invest large sums in stamps. The amounts spent annually by some wealthy collectors range from £1,000 to £10,000. One well-known Parisian collector, whose life has been largely devoted to his philatelic treasures, and who employs two secretaries to look after his collection, has, it is estimated, spent at least £200,000 on his stamps since 1870.
If investment were the Alpha and Omega of stamp collecting, every collector of standing would bemoan lost opportunities. Many a great rarity of to-day could have been had for a few shillings a few years ago. ”

“ Proofs are comparatively easy of access, which, considering their relative scarcity, is surprising. The reason that they were neglected in the middle period of stamp-collecting was probably that the creation of a market for such items had led in some instances to an illegitimate supply by the employés of printing firms entrusted with the storage of Government dies. The misuse of stamp dies is rare now, most self-respecting Governments taking ample precautions not to admit of any improper use of their property. ”

“ The wholesaler sells to the retail dealer at a small advance per thousand. Those stamps the ordinary dealer makes up into packets at a further profit, but still at a comparatively low price. Good copies he picks out for sale in sets and separately. Those have to be catalogued. Therefore, the catalogue price of common stamps bought and sold by the million eventually comes before the general collector at "one penny each," and the man who makes a collection of common stamps of the "one penny each" class can scarcely be expected to realise a fortune out of his stamp collecting. ”

“ While it embraces but two classes, stamps for postal purposes and stamps for revenue purposes, it has divided these two classes into several divisions, each of which has an equal importance, and each of which claims for itself all that can be given to it either of time or money. Jack of all trades, and master of none, can very truly be applied to stamp collecting. One who attempts to collect all kinds of stamps may, by the expenditure of a very large amount of money, succeed in accumulating a very great number of stamps ”

“ In all there are over three hundred countries from which to make a selection. In the early days collectors took all countries, but as country after country followed the lead of England in issuing adhesive stamps for the prepayment of postage, and as series followed series of new designs in each country, the task of covering the whole ground became more and more hopeless, and collector after collector began first to restrict his lines to continents, and then to groups or countries, till now only the wealthy and leisured few attempt to make a collection of the world's postal issues. ”

“ When a collector can afford to spend his money liberally, the best and safest, and cheapest in the long run, will be stamps unused and in the pink of condition. Such stamps generally turn out to be a safe and not unfrequently a splendid investment.
The beginner will find that he can fill up a large proportion of the spaces in his album with comparatively common stamps, and these are much more economically purchased in the form of cheap packets. ”

“ Even the recently issued Pan-American stamps, printed in the most watchful manner by the United States official Bureau of Engraving and Printing, are known with the central portions of the design inverted, and these errors, despite the most searching examination to which each sheet is several times subjected, escaped detection, and were sold to the public. When, however, it is remembered that stamps are now printed by the million, it will be wondered that so few mistakes escape into the hands of collectors. ”

“ Many countries are now making an Official Collection, and there is every probability that some day in the near future most Governments will keep a stamp collection of some sort for reference and exhibition. Under the rules of the Postal Union, every state that enters the Union is entitled to receive, for reference purposes, a copy of every stamp issued by each country in the Postal Union. Hence every Government receives valuable contributions, which should be utilised in the formation of a National or Official Collection. ”

“ In some instances large fortunes are actually invested in stamps, and I was only recently told of a collector who had taken his money out of a very profitable business and put it into stamps, and had netted very much larger profits than he ever realised in his regular business. ”

“ In the stamp business, as in all other branches of commerce, there are wholesale and retail dealers. The wholesaler buys by the thousand stamps that are printed by the million. I refer, of course, to used stamps. In some cases the price paid per thousand is only a few pence for large quantities that run into millions. ”

“ In the case at hand, we find the demand for stamps so deep-seated and secure that it literally stretches from the cradle to the grave. From the business transacted by government agencies and the multitude of dealers in philatelic merchandise, authorities have estimated that five out of every hundred people, both here and abroad, are stamp collectors. Such a computation means, that in the United States alone, well over 5,000,000 people pursue this hobby. ”

“ A world-wide market is open to the vendor of rare stamps; it is convenient of access beyond all other markets for bric-à-brac, because the rarest stamp in the world may be safely transmitted anywhere, within an envelope, through the post. The adaptability of the postage-stamp to effective and convenient arrangement is not of more{214} importance to the collector than the portability of his goods, rare or common, is to the dealer. ”

“ The "mania" in the 'sixties—Some wonderful early collections—The first auction sale—Judge Philbrick and his collection—The Image collection—Lord Crawford's "United States" and "Great Britain"—Other great modern collections—M. la Rénotière's "legions of stamps"—Synopsis of sales of collections.
To fail to emphasise the broadly democratic character of the world of stamp collectors would be to overlook an important aspect of the popularity of this science, or, as it is to the majority, the "hobby" of stamps. ”

“ Up to this day, after over forty years of public service, and notwithstanding the improvements in the production of impressed and embossed stamps, the adhesive stamp remains indispensable to our postal, inland revenue, telegraphic, and parcel-post systems—"Eighteen hundred millions are issued yearly from the office of the Controller of stamps. These range in value from a halfpenny to twenty pounds, covering postage and inland revenue from a halfpenny to two shillings and sixpence; postage proper from five shillings to five pounds ”

“ Individuals, however, are not the only forgers of postage-stamps: Governments, too, in their anxiety to provide so-called "reprints" for sale to dealers and collectors, have not hesitated to supply the necessary dies and plates, replacing those originally used and long since cancelled; and some have sunk so low as to deliberately manufacture counterfeits, and sell them as genuine stamps out of a supposed stock left on hand!
A reprint is an impression from the old original die, plate, or stone, taken after the stamp has become{257} obsolete ”