PHILATELY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2181, 19 December 1895, Page 47

PHILATELY.

By Old Stamp. • . • In my lasb I mentioned that two young men had been committed for trial for appropriating defaced stamps which had been used on telegraph forms. Their names were Bernard Watts and A. G. Fabian. The latter had been employed in the Stores department of the Government at Wellington, and the former boarded in the same house with him, and had also been a draler in stamps. They were charged (1) with having on or aboab November 23 stolen 100 postage stamps, the property of the Queen, and (2) with having received the same knowing them to have been stolen. The *t»mps alleged to have been stolen were those attached to cablegrams and telegrams, but had been defaced, though, as the Grown said, they had a market value, as stamp dealers were in the habit of purchasing them. Evidence wag given that the sealed bags containing the transmitted cables of 1891 had bean cut or torn

open, and HI cables were missing. The trial began on Thursday of- last week, and on thft following day accused were discharged, thff jury having brought in a verdict of- "No( guilty." I have not yet had an opportunity ol perusing the evidence given at the trial, co am unable to make any comment upon it. • . * I lately referred to what appeared to ma to be an exaggerated statement as to th« disposal of large numbers of commemoration stamps issued in the Tiausvaal on the occasion of the introduction of penny postage. A correspondent has taken the trouble to send me a catting from tbe Pretoria Weekly Preis ol September 14 of this year. It runs as follows : " Ab showing the intense interest taken in the if sue of a special stamp yesterday in commemoration of the inauguration of the penny postage in the Transvaal, we may meetion that the supply at the local office was swallowed by the public very soon after the office was opened, while we are informed that before 10 o'clock the stock at Johannesburg was similarly ex-, hausted." ' ' " • . • It }b gratifying to note that, so far a« my experience shows, larger interest is being token in philately than heretofore. I have lately had several letters asking information, which has been readily given. lam also glad, that those a&kiag for information have adopted the best method of getting it.— viz , enclosing a" stamp for reply. By this meanß I urn able to give them the information much fuller than if I answert-d them through the medium of this paper. I find, however, that in many instances owners o£ stamps have a very exaggerated idea of their value. Oldness alone does not give a stamp a value. It must, as well as .being old, have been a stamp which was cot largely used — that is, a high face value fctamp. Take, for instance, any of the lower value continental > stamps of 40 years ago. Theie can nearly all be bad at Id or 2<l eech. Even the black Id English unperforated can be got for 3d, and this was in use over 50 years ogo. Another thing that causes owners of stamps to believe they are valuable, is that they do not consider their condition. I have on several occts'odb informed my readers that collectors will not have stamps that are damaged in any way. They must net be torn at all, the pc rf orations must be entire, and they must not' be heavily postmarked. If my readers will bear these few facts in mind it may prevent disappointment in tho end. • . • I have no informafon to give fta to our now is<ue of stamps. As the Government have apparently made up their mind as to the de« sigrs, I suppose th'-y have been or will be put in hand at once. • . • Late exchanges flotly d«ny that theDuka of York intend?, or ever did intend, to sell his collection. I did not believe it at the time 1 gave currency to the report, though I simplj gave it as a fact which all philatelic papen publisbe'3. • . • Some years ago — indeed there are many now— it was noiliing uncommon to meet collec> tors who proudly boahted that they never spent a cent for stamps in their collections. All tha stamps were got through begging them from their friends. This tjype of collector ie fast dying cub, but the reason for this is that the world ban been so thoroughly ransacked for old fctamps thai; there are very few valuable ones left to ba fouud. &• : ' A real philatelist can be told ueually by the manner in which he bandies a loose stamp. If he is accustomed to handliug good stamps and appreciates them, he scarcely touches the specimen at all iv examining it, and when he doe«, no matter how large or clum«y his fingers, bis touch is as light as a feather. • . • The prices of most goods in Stanley Gibbona's new catalogue have still gone up, and many slow onea who had made up their minds that top prices had been reached regret not having purchased before. Ten years hence, perchance less, many stamps will increase in price maybe tenfold. " Iberius " (writing from New York to the Weekly Stamp News) s*ys -.— " The treusu»l demand for the best class 01. United States stamps during the past few years has dieooncerted the calculations of dealers as to the retl value of specimens, and I am not surprised that, keen and live business men that they are, they must alter their prices according to tbe market supply. Collectors will grumble about high prices and steadily advancing figures, but dealers are unable to stop the daily increasing demand." • . • Tomasso Coelho, who introduced himself as a samp collector from Venezuela, has been giving English dealers opportunity for speculation as to the honesty and integrity of the human race. London stamp journals give ac< counts of this gentleman's smooth trickery. He has evidently .taken his sudden departure from England, Jeaving a large army of collectors and dealers to mourn his flight and exchange regrets at the. simple manner iv which they have been '• taken down."