FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 21078, 15 April 1932, Page 2

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

♦ [By Philatelist.] Any news, notes, and items of philatelic interest will always bo appreciated. Address care Editor. The tercentenary issue of Antigua came to hand by last mail. It is a very attractive set, the 5s value in particular being one of the prettiest stamps, both as regards design and colour, that has been produced for any British possession for many years. The difference in colour between the 2d and 2v,d is not very marked, and it would not bo surprising if a change of colour were decided upon. The description of the designs as recorded by the Crown Agents for the Colonies in their ‘ Bulletin ’ is as follows:

Half-penny, Id, and i-Jd stamps.— View of English Harbour—“ Old Dockyard ’’—with vignette of His Majesty the King in top right corner. Commemorative dates in top left corner, and at the base, the value tablet (at left), the name of the colony and the words “ Postage and revenue.” Two-penny, 2kl, and 3d Stamps.— View of Government House, St. John’s, with portrait of His Majesty the King at top right. Name of the colony on scroll at top with dates 1032 and 1932 beneath. At the base, the words “ Postage and revenue,” flanked by value tablets.

Sixpence, Is, and 2s Gd Stamps.— Design practically the same as for above three values, but with the central portion showing ‘ Nelson’s Last Visit, 1805.’ Five-shilling Stamp.—‘ Arches of the Centuries.’ Vignette of seventeenthcentury ship, surrounded by framework showing three pairs of columns carrying arches with the dates 1932, 1832, and 1732. Top arch is flanked right and left with seaplanes and has the words “ Postage and revenue ” above. At the base of the columns the date 1632 and the name of the colony. The size of all values will bo the same—viz., 27 mm. x 33 mm., approximately.

The set commemorates that day, 300 years gone, when Sir Thomas Warner planted the British Flag on the shores of the little island. Very similar occasions have been celebrated within recent years by the postal administrations of Bermuda, Barbados, and the Bahamas, but none of the stamps they issued can be considered as fine as this new lot. None of them succeeded, as have the Antiguas, in conveying at one time the scenic beauty that is the British West Indies, and the glamour of romance that was theirs in the days when the “ Jolly lloger ” flow high on Kidd’s mainmast.

Three new stamps from Finland have also come to hand. These form the lied Cross set for 1932, and show for their designs three well-known Helsingfors buildings—viz., the University Library, the Lutheran Evangical Cathedral of St. Nicholas, and the new Parliament House. The Disarmament Conference at Geneva .brings forth nine attractive stamps in its commemoration, six for ordinary postal purposes, and three for Use on air mail matter. The designs are curious, and quite unusual. Five of the values of the postage set depict a dove, olive branch in mouth, perched upon the broken sword of Mars. The remaining value of this set, the one franc, is a long stamp, and shows a winged male figure bearing in one hand an olive branch and in the other a torch. In a sun-like shape, at the top loft corner, is tho motto: “ Post Tcncbras Lux ” (After the darkness, light). Tho colours arc grey and blue, and altogether the stamp is a fine piece of work. The design for the air mail stamps is futurist, and is the same for all three values. It depicts' a modern freight aeroplane, which, according to an official notice, symbolises both peace and the air post. In the top left corner appear the Arms of Genova. The stamps arc in two colours.

Tho 1931 charity issue of the Dutch Indies comprises four values. Each stamp displays a different central design, illustrative of tho colony’s activities;—2c brown (oxen drawing a plough), 5c green (boatmen), 12|c red (ancient craftsmen), 15c blue (native musicians). It is an. attractive set. Air Mail Provisional.—Canada has overprinted her first Q-ccnt air mail with, a surcharge raising the value to 6 cents. I understand that 1,000,000 copies were surcharged. Italy.—Tho Garibaldi issue, which it was originally intended to place on sale on the anniversary of his death on June 2, is to bo released as soon as ready, instead of waiting. The First Day Fashion.—First day covers of commemorative issues may have a special interest in showing the stamp used on the original day of issue, but I do not foresee any special prospects of these modern first-day covers attaining high values. To obtain a copy of the Id black English stamp used on May C, 1840, may well justify tho high prices collectors will pay for tho old classic issues used on the day of their introduction. Tho same remark applies to the 5-cent and 10-cent U.S. 1847. But in those historic times thoro was no contemporary provision for a demand that has arisen many years later. Nowadays, especially in your own country, directly a new stamp is announced, a vast number of deals and collectors lay their plans in advance to secure specimens used on tho first day. It is an interesting development of tho collector’s enthusiasm and the speculator’s aspirations. But when we learn that perhaps as many as 200,000 or 250,000 first-day covers of a new issue are handled from a single U.S. post ofiice, all obviously designed for the philatelic market, and nearly all likely to survive, it should be cioar that tho supply will bo so abundant as to keep the market value down. Indeed, it is quite conceivable that in time to come many such stamps will bo much commoner used on tho first day than at any other time. 1 see nothing against the collecting of such stamps on first-day covers, provided you are content with the interest they afford and arc not anticipating largo “ unearned increments ” in value.

Gibraltar Currencies.—'When stamps were first isued in Gibraltar the Spanish 2-5 peseta gold piece was tho official standard of currency, but tho stamps sent out from England had tho value expressed in ponce. In order to bring them into line with local requirements they were, from July, 1889, overprinted with the values in centimes, and from that time on to 1896 all Gibraltar stamps wore denominated in Spanish currency. In 1898, by an Order in Council, .British sterling was made tho only legal currency for the colony, and from that date all the Queen Victoria, King Edward, and King George stamps have had the values expressed in sterling. ■