PHILATELY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2106, 5 July 1894, Page 33

PHILATELY.

Br Old Stamp.

THE SEIMY SIDE OP PHILATELY.

By W. R. J.

THE "FAKER."

The " faker" is essentially the enemy of the advanced collector and the specialist. In the early struggles of philately he barely managed to exist — there was not then scope enough for his abilities ; and his highest efforts consisted in passing a clipped as an impe.forate copy, or a chemical changeliDg as an error of colour.

The advance of philately and the increase of specialism have, however, opened new fields for his operations, and with varieties of paper, surcharges in all their glorious uncertainties, split stamps, unofficial roulettes and perforations, as well as ckaned copies and postally used fiscals, he now finds countless opportunities of enriching himself, coupled with a very small risk of detection

The " faker " is deeply insulted at being classed with the forger, whom he looks down upon as the black sheep of the community. His boast is that he sells nothiog but genuine stamps, and his nrj-.t object is to obtain such specimens as are capable, by a little manipulation at his hands, of having their market value increased. The genuineness of the groundwork is intended, and often is .-ufficicnb, to disarm suspicion with regard to the frau'Juknb superstructure. The addition of a few nickd by which a historical importance is given to a specimen may often be worth as much as a couple of pounds to the successful manipul itor.

The cla s s of work which tl't " faker" uuOcrtakes nafckes it extrt-mely difficult to detect the false from the geuui.ie. In many cases he has but to copy the crude attempts oi begin- ers, as in imitating the early roulettes. In others a free hand has practically been given him by the cireltßS manner in which the postal departments of several countries have allowed the practice of gurchargiui; to be abu.-cd. Further, the use of obsolete fis>cal stamps lor p'.'&tal yurpoßes has led not only to a loss of revenue to the post office (which is not a matter of much

importance to the collector), but to a large busines3 in cleaning lightly-cancelled specimens. V The "faker's" work may be classed according to the portion of the stamp to which he devotes his attention. The Paper — Many issue 3of stamps otherwife identical are found on tinted and white paper?. The colouring matter may have been in the paper before the printing— as in the case of the New Zealand issue on blue -or may have developed afterwards by what ia generally known as tbe action of the gum. In both cases the " faker's " object is to convert the commoner into the rarer kind, either by tinting the white, or ejecting the colour from the tinted paper. The former of these processes is the easier. Paper that has become blued by the action of the gum can rarely be made to give all the colour up. As a general rule stamps on blue or blued papsr are rarer than the same on white. There are, however, many execeptions, as, for instance, the early Trinidads, and a few of the Tuscans. A stamp suspected of having been "faked" had best be left alone. It should not be purchased if cheap— that alone should be sufficient to condemn it. Neither should ib be bought if dear — even a rare variety is rendered valueless by being tampered with. The application of a wet camels-hair brush to the back of the stamp will often expose the fraud when the paper has been dyed; but aoids should never be used, as they either kill or change the colours of both stamps and paper. Pelure paper can be j imitated by the process known as skinning — that is, removing the extra thickness by rubbing. Ib is alao stated to be possible by pasting the stamp between two pieces of linen and then tearing the linen apart, thu3 dividing the paper. The term pelure is properly applicable only to the unwatermarked paper on which such stamps as the well-kaown sets of New Zealand, Transvaal, and United States of Columbia are printed. Major Evans, in " Stamp 3 and Stamp Collecting," defines it as "a thin, tough paper, eemi-transparcnt, and usually greyish in tint." ♦' Faked " pelures are usually uneven in thickness, and rough on the side from which the extra material has been removed. If the original and mutilated had a watermark traces of this will usually remain. Stamps of the ordinary watermarked issues are frequently met with ou paper almost as thin as tissue paper. This is due to the uneven quality of the sheets on which the impressions are struck. It is incorrect to term this class of paper pelure, as it lacks the distinctive characteristics of the latter.

Press editors occasionally receive funny requests, but the following, received by the editor oi Stanley Gibbons's Monthly Journal from a correspondent in Persia, should take the cake : — "Would you most kindly procure for me a girl stamp collector anywhere in the country, who would like to keep correspondence with me and exchange stamps P I have one or two on the Continent ; I would very much like to have one in England. Trusting you will not fail in procuring me one, — Yours, &c, J J ." Possibly this young man thinks girl collectors are easier as regards price, but I very much doubt it. Some of them are very hard to deal with, but this is entirely a matter for the young man in Persia to decide. He will find out in time.

Another batch of the Tapling collection has been placed on view at the British Museum. This last addition comprises tbe stamps of Great Britain, and to read the details of the stamps exhibited affords a lot of information to collectors that is not obtainable in catalogues. The late Mr TapliDg, as everybody interested knows, went most minutely into every variety of detail, and the study of these exhibits gives infinite pleasure to those who have the advantage of being able to inspect them. Ceylon has set an example which all true collectors will rejoice to hear, but which I fear will not eventuate. A Ceylon paper contains the information that all surcharged stamps are to be destroyed. The following is the extract : — " Mr H. Skeen, of tbe Government Printing Office, and Mr J. G. Weinman, chief clerk of the Audit Office, have been appointed a board by the Government to destroy all surcharged stamps, and will be engaged on the work at once." Ceylon has perhaps been one of the greatest sinners in this respect, the number of their surcharged stamps being legion. There arc times when the surcharging of stamps is unavoidable — such, for instance, as when an office by some means runs short of a particular stamp — but I feel certain the large and increasing supply of surcharged stamps is almost solely due to the craze for them on the part of collectors. However, now that one of the greatest sinners in this respect has set the example of destroying them and discouraging their use, I trust the example will be followed by other countries.

The New York Post Office uses 4,000,000 post cards a month — not many when you say it quickly.

An American collector suggests as the future design for a United States stamp the stars and stripes of the American flag. The bright colours of the fHg on every letter that would travel the country would be a pleasure to the eye and a reviver o! patriotism. The 30c stamp of the States for 1869 is the only stamp bearing this flag, but it is not brought prominently into view in cone equ< nee of the eagle and shield showing too boldly in front of ib. The idea is nob a bad one — indeed the national flag would at all timen be a suitable emblem for the stamps of any cm ltry.

A few weeks since I gave particulars of a siugular charge made against Mr C. H. Mekeel, of St. Louis. Shortly repeated, Mr Mekeel was charged with obtaining high-value Columbian stamps from a certain postmaster, and with sharing the commission between them. The charge was virtually a conspiracy to bribe. The Grand Jury found the indictment true, and sent the case for trial. Judge Shiras heard the case, and gave his decision in favour of Meekel, giving his reason that the wording of the indictment was faulty. It is said the matter will not be allowed to rest here, but possibly the authorities will now drop it, as it is stated that there is no statute in existence to meet the case. To us at a distance the charge seems a most trivial one, and the wonder is that any action was taken at all in the matter.

Our philatelic friend Mr Frank Hellwig, wellknown in Dunedin and Chrißtchurcb, has b en appointed to a. responsible position as an officer of the German Mercantile and Plantation Company of the South Sea Islands of Hamburg. He left Sydney last month for Mioko, the headqu liters of the company at New Britain, in the Malay Archipelago.

Tt will bs seen by advertisement elsewhere in tlm issue that the date of the Ijkjpskin ploughing match has bean postponed till .Friday, 13th inst.

" SWIFT CYCLES " The Coventry Machinists' Co iuvite applications from fhuis of good standing to repiesent them as sole buying agents in the various larse centres in Now Zealand for the sale of their celebrated "Swift" Cycles. The übove firm is the oldest and one of the largest cycle manufacturers in the world. Reply to Coventry, England, with full particulars, English references, &C.