STAMP VALUED AT £450

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21860, 13 August 1936, Page 6

STAMP VALUED AT £450

WELLINGTON DEALER’S DISCOVERY REMINDER OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR [THE PRESS Special Service.) WELLINGTON. August 12. An unpretentious piece of paper an inch square, but valued at from £4s°. a copy of an exceedingly rare Livingston, Alabama, “Postmaster” stamp, has been found in Wellington. The owner is Mr G. F. Harrison, a stamp dealer in the city, who intends to send it to the United States for sale. The stamp, which is a crudely produced, imperforated pale blue stamp on white woven paper, was issued in 1861 by the postmaster of Livingston, when Alabama was among the states that had seceded from the Unites States. These stamps sold at 5 cents each, but to-day probably fewer than a dozen copies exist. . . . . Mr Harrison said to-day that he had bought the stamp in an old general collection with no outstanding ’features, and the Livingston stamp, with its unattractive features, had escaped his notice. It was put away with several others having no great and was brought to light only a few days ago, when he came to go througa this little collection of stamps. I suppose it would be 15 years since J bought that collection,” he saio. The central motif of the stamp is a shield with th 6 figure 5 superimposed on it. In panels around thv. sides are the inscriptions Livingston,” “Post Office,” “paid” and cents. Small ornamental figures in the corners complete the design. Because many of the Confederate States post offices did not boast a postmark, it was customary to cancel stamps by writing the necessary details across their faces in manuscript and Mr Harrison’s copy bears inscription in ink, “Livingston, June 10, 1861. Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., London, catalogues the stamp at £450, and th; Scott Stamp and Coin Company, New York, at 2000 dollars. No record or any forgery of the stamp Is contained in standard works on the subject ana there is nothing to suggest that the stamp is not genuine. Because of tne rarity of the stamp, however, its authenticity cannot be fully established until it has been examined by a specialist.