STAMP ADVERTISEMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 101, 2 May 1925, Page 16

STAMP ADVERTISEMENTS

ONCE USED IN NEW ZEALAND.

Many suggestions have been made'and some put into practice for using postage stamps as media for trade advertisements. The idea dates back to the earliest stamps and Mulready envelopes, writes Fred J. Melville in the "Daily Telegraph." The late Mr. Barrett, of Pears' Soap, was very keen'on getting an advertisement on the back of our postage stamps in 1888, and a few trial printings were made, but official sanction was refused. New Zealand farmed out the backs of her stamps to an advertisement contractor in 1893-4, but the experiment was unpopular and unprofitable, and the contract was terminated by mutual 4 co;isenfc. We have now in our stamp booklets ■ advertisements printed on watermarked pap»r se tenant with stamps, but easily separated by the perforations. Italy's new notion is to make' the. stamp and advertisement inseparable unless you have the scissors handy. I doubt it the people of Italy .will tako kindly to having double-size stamps to affis to their letters and act. as advertising agents unpaid.. TJiero are said to be three different advertisements, attached to various denominations, of-" which .1 have seen two, .the "Columbia Grafofono" and the "Machine Singer Percueire," each of which has a familiar sound to English ears, and: needs no translating. .. . ■

I do not- think. this- form of advertising will bo acceptable for long in Italy or elsewhere. It would, bo all very well if the public using- the'stamns gained any advantage from the- addition of advertising matter, as they do in tho case of our booklets. The booklet form of stamp issue is a convenience to (he public, and the extra cost of manufacture in this handy form is met by the advertisement ■'revenue. A ■ more a'dvantagcous^ affair for the public was the happy idea of tho stationers and advertising agents in 1840; they bought the Mulready covers from the Post Office in large quantities at Is 3d per dozen, printed advertisements over a lar^c portion of their area, and then sokl the covers at a considerable reduction. While the Post Office asked Is 3d per dozen, the stationers were able to sell them at a profit for as little as 6d per dozen. Collectors have many different examples of these, of which "it will be sufficient to give details of two to show the methods adopted ! June. 1840 : "The Euvelojio Select '■ Advertiser, No. S'' Circulation 5000. Price. 8d per doz Sept.. 1840 : Webb's Postage Advertiser, No. 2. 9, Custlu street. Liverpool. Circulation 10,000. Price, lid per doz. -. advlg-. 6s per inch of seven lines, and Is 3d per line of seven words. I need hardly point out that under the present regulations of the Post Office no such scheme would be permissible, but in a slightly different form the practice continued for many years. 1 have before roc '.'The. Halfpenny Letter C'o.'s patent envelope, I', a largo double sheet, with an embossed Government penny postage stumpy- with many advertisements and plenty of space for y, long letter: this sold in tho 'eight-ins lut-one-halfpcjiny, ■ went vi'ojjtti'L" r,taini-»nfl_a«'- a.-n*»rmy_ la(>.ir-