Stamp collector

“ 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 the child in stamp-collecting the boundless world is small; he will seek to bring into his net stamps from everywhere, postage and fiscal, exhibition labels, trading stamps, and all that has the shape or semblance of what he conceives to be subjects for his collecting. The collector of fuller experience knows that he must make a lesser world of his own. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There are collectors throughout South Africa, in Rhodesia, and even in Uganda. Wherever a postage stamp is issued there may be [18] found a collector waiting for a copy for his album. In no part of the world can an issue of stamps be made that is not at once partially bought up for collectors. If any one of the Antarctic expeditions were to reach the goal of its ambition, and were to celebrate the event there and then by an issue of postage stamps, a collector would be certain to be in attendance, and would probably endeavour to buy up the whole issue on the spot. ”

“ This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on these subjects as far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.
One of the greatest "finds" in the history of stamp collecting has just been made in Kansas City. The letters of an old firm were about to be destroyed when the attention of a stamp-collector was called to them. He immediately bought the entire lot of letters for a small sum. ”

“ The mere vending of postage-stamps would not, I think, convert the collector into the collector-dealer, as by the ingenious and widespread system of stamp-exchanges collectors are obliged to put a price upon their duplicates, and cash is the universal medium of exchange.
In a broad sense the collector-dealer class is composed of collectors who are glad to enjoy their hobby, but are under the necessity, or have the desire, to make their hobby pay for itself, and perhaps yield an addition to their regular income. ”

“ It is well enough that the beginner should first flounder in a sea of stamps, to learn the first rudiments of the study. The specialist needs a general education as a groundwork in stamp-collecting, just as he does in any other pursuit. But it is almost unavoidable that the tendency must come to the advancing collector to reserve his strength in the direction which most attracts him, or for which he enjoys special advantages. ”

“ Some hinges have a gum that will eventually injure the stamp to which they are affixed, changing the color or causing the paper to turn yellow. For fifteen cents a thousand you can get the best hinges from any responsible dealer. You will probably not use over a million during your career as a collector, and the amount you save in purchasing an inferior grade is insignificant, while the proper preservation of your stamps will be materially aided in using those you know are reliable. ”

“ Some copies are still to be found on sale at various post-offices. Parties buying a few should take those stamps only which have a part of the margin attached. When this is done there can be no question as to whether the stamps are water-marked or not.
M. Gibbons.—The rose 1861-1867 U.S. 3c. stamp has no value except by the thousand. The pink 1861 is an extremely rare stamp.
Philatus.
ADVERTISEMENTS. INTERNATIONAL EDITION. Le Grand's Manual for Stamp Collectors A Companion to the Stamp Album.
Prepared for the American collector by Henri Pène du Bois, Esq. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As a general collector he will gather together a general knowledge of stamps in all their peculiar varieties, which can scarcely fail to be immensely useful to him even should he subsequently drift into specialism. Indeed, it is an accepted truism that the man who starts as a general collector invariably makes the best specialist in the end. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The unused stamps show the pristine condition of the varying shades of successive printings; the used ones enable the collector to place those successive shades in their correct sequence, even to show for what purpose special printings were required. The most evidential items in a stamp collection are often the used copies which have been preserved on the entire original envelope, a fact which gives to the stamp used on the envelope a special value not always to be gauged by the catalogue quotation for an ordinary used copy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It was to this simple contrivance of a small label, issued by authority, to indicate the prepayment of postage that the practical success of Hill's plan was greatly due. The little stamps are the royal diplomata which enable us all, at a modest fee, to use His Majesty's mails, a privilege enjoyed by great and small, by rich and poor. So stamp-collectors deem the objects of their interest to have achieved a vast reform in internal and universal communications, giving a powerful impetus to social{75} progress, international commerce, and the world's peace. ”

“ It must seem hard to you stamp collectors that the most beautiful stamps issued—the newspaper and periodical stamps—are not permitted to be sold to the public. One of the chief reasons for this is that the values of these small squares of paper run up to such high figures, viz., $24, $36, $48, and $60, that they would offer a great field in counterfeiters if generally circulated. ”

“ The historical collection: literary and philatelic—The quest for rariora—The "grangerising" of philatelic monographs: its advantages and possibilities—Historic documents—Proposals and essays—Original drawings—Sources of stamp engravings—Proofs and trials—Comparative rarity of some stamps in pairs, &c., or on original envelopes—Coloured postmarks—Portraits, maps, and contemporary records—A lost opportunity.
The scope of the modern collector extends beyond the collection of actually issued stamps. ”

“ I have no doubt that many of the readers of Young People are stamp collectors, and that many more are ready to become stamp collectors if they are started properly. Little difficulty is experienced at the present day in getting a good assortment of stamps, because the great spread of the postal system, and the resulting increase of correspondence, bring the stamps of every foreign country into the business houses of New York. ”

“ 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. ”