THE BACKS OF STAMPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 152, 29 June 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BACKS OF STAMPS.

The backs of stamps are Mcrwtijj as well' as tlie fronts. The 1881 Gnu Britain ,ld may be found with tie wordi ' "Pear's Soap" printed on the back in various colours, and is •worth mnd more than those without this advertise j ment. Other early British stampi m»y J be found with words on the backs, bat j these were said to be experimental. New Zealand, however, put a echene i into operation and stamps of the 1832 ' issue may'be found with advertisements J for pills, coffee, jelly aid soap,' some j of which "were illustrated. The Portuguese issue of 1895 had a prayer in Latin on the back, whilst on ; tlie back of stamps of countries formal \ from the old Russian Empire may bt j found some odd things. ' On stamps first issued by Latvia.maj » be found portions of maps. These were ; German military maps which were used i after the war. After the maps were J used up one ssue was on cigarette , paper and the next on .ruled exercise I paper. In 1920 an issue of Red Cross stamps was made on the back of j Bolshevik notes —(a) blue notes, (b) I green notes, and (c) red, green and j brown notes. : ; 'j In 1915 paper in Mexico became so j scarce through the revolution that tie j Government used the backs of Post < Office forms on which to print stamps, ] so that each stamp shows a portion of | the form. In 1918 Russia issued a stamp with j an inscription on the reverse side, j stating that they might be used «s < money. ' j