STAMP COLLECTING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20320, 31 January 1928, Page 7

STAMP COLLECTING.

NO DECLINE IN THE HOBBY. One would not have been surprised if stamp-collecting as a hobby had been seriously prejudiced by the manv new issues which have been made by Various nations since the war, not purely for postal purposes, but often as an extra source of revenue, to be drawn from th e pockets of stamp These new issue' however, have, it is stated, usually been of such groat topical or arfstic interest that they have actually added to the attractiveness of the hobbv.

Amongst notable recent issues of a special character have been the stamp commem?Ta^' n ? „ Lindbergh flight, issued bv the United States; the senes from Canaua in celebration cf the sixtieth anniversary of Confederation; the Australian stamp issued for the openimr of the new Parliament house at Canberra by the Duke and Duches, of x ork; the Russian issue in memory of the tenth anniversary of the Bolshevist revolution; and the German stamp with a portrait of President Hindenburg in honour of his eightieth birthday. Transjordania toe which has hitherto used over-printed stamps of Palestine, has issued a new series, printed in London, with ;an excellent portrait of the Emir Abdullah (says the London Observer).

With the stabilisation of European currencies it is no longer necessary to issue temporary stamps to accord with Ihe changes in postal rates duo to monetary fluctuations. 'Jhe number of new stamps lias consequently decreased in recent years During the past 12 months the decline n ni been about 25 per cent., in comparison with the figure* for the previous year, the annual output being now in the neighbourhood of 1600, whereas five years ago it was about UOCO. The total number of different kinds of stamps issued since the first British “ penny black ” in 1640 i s estimated at about 50,000.

The number of countries which join the ranks of stamp-issuing States each year is very small. Recent years have added only Northern Mongolia, Algeria. Italian Julialaud, and Northern and Southern Rhodesia. The hobby is therefore not really in any danger from a plethora of new stamps; and each year, in fact. show 9 a very large increase in the number of new collectors. For the older stamn 3 the demand oil both side s °f the Atlantic increases appreciably from year to year, and remarkably hi'Mi prices are being obtained for rare specimens.

Of forthcoming issues the most interesting will be the Belgian serie s for the Olympic Games, with designs symbolic of the various sports ; tho mourning issue from Latvia, in memory of tho late President, a pictorial series from Cuba, celebrating the next Pan-American Congress, the designs including views cf tobacco and sugar p'nntations: and a new series from Kussia, where, owing to the frequent forgery of the previous regular issu£, an entirely new

series is being brought out, showing, as before, but in larger size, the heads of a •’Red soldier, worker, and peasant.” Ail these new assets are expected to be eagerly sought after by the great army of collectors.