PHILATELY,

Otago Witness, Issue 2215, 13 August 1896, Page 21

PHILATELY,

AUCTIONING STAMPS. A correspondent writes to the Weekly Stamp News some remarks concerning the disposal of stamps by auction. This has recently become a 'very ' favourite method of disposal, as many who wish to get rid of. their stamps believe that this system will. bring them the largest return. Tlib, writer goes on to lay :— " Auction sales received some support from our collectors fast winter, of nhioh nuinbtr some any • No more 6tirap auctions for ma.' We refer to.those who bought stamps described us fine which were all bat fine, and others who sent bids without a limit and had to pay more for stamps thau they would have If bought from a dealer at a private sale. To those collectors who have never bad a peep behind an auction curtain it would be well to note a few facts which cost us c&sh and experience. When you read the reporß of an auction tale, do you know if the stamps were bought or sold at the stated prices ? We know that all stamps leportei as sold or bought at auction were not sold ; if the truth were published we should learn that at many auctions tt*mps are bid in by their owner or the party who cooduots the auction «le. Some persons who furnish stamps to be sold at auction have a sec et limit on eactr lot, so that if any buyer does not bid above, the secret limit the stamp or lot is bid in by or for the owner, which is a deception to the inexperienced auction buyer, as he or she believes that the stamp could have been bought for a certain price, whioh may not hava been one-half of the secret limit. UnleßS you know the party whom you send your bid to, you are running a certain risk of paying more than you ought to. You may send a bid of lOOdol for a stamp whioh you oould buy for 75d0l if no one knew your limit, but if your limit is found out ib will be two to one that someone will see to it that tho stamp is run up to your limit of lOOjol." ■• . * In New York there is an office wh?re money i« advaaoed on gcod stamps. - Tbe Stamp News irreverently calls it a "philatelic pawnshop." ■ ' * . * Spain seeois to be seeking European aid in vain. Tbe latest is that she will cede to Ru'sia the lela de Pinos in return for Russian assistance in tbe Cuban War. This; if it came to pass, would, give Russia a oaliug station senr the Panama Canal, and would oauso the issue of Russian colonial stamps. • . ' The Record s»ys :— " George Henry Giddings, of San .Antonio, Tex., who establishtd the first overland mail route between the eastern States and California, was here the other day. His six-horse coaches nude the jourof y of 2000 mile 3 over the mountains and across the Stake plains, in about 20 days, and during the «ix rears that he operated his contract he had 44 men and 1300 mules and horses killed by the Indians.". * . * Automatic ' machines for the sale of postage stamps have been tried hitherto /in London with somewhat scant success, but a new contrivance, Invented and patented by a Mr-Shapeley, of Bristol,, is. very highly spoken of by all who have tested its capabilities, and is likely, I hear, "to be adopted by the English 'postal authorities. The new machine will supply 1000 stamps without being recharged, and when the thousandth has been delivered to its purchaser the maohine shuts itself up and will accept no more pennies until its keeper oomes along and feeds it with more stamps. Tnis is the strong, point about Mr Sbapeley's maohine, and the one whioh will probably commend it to the po«fc office authorities. ■ • ' ■* . • The new Olympian aeries of stamps for Greece.are a picture gallery of themselves.- As 1 before mentioned, these stamps wera brought , out in commemoration of tbe revival of the old Olympian games. Direotly it was announced 1 that; they were to come out tho S.B.S.S. attacked the proposal, "urjjiDg tbab they were purely speculative, and were in no. way needtd for postal requirements, aud at once put their ban ou them. They were issued first in April, and. were to continue iv use for six months. One of the best .proofs that they are purely speculative is that the profits sirer to be devoted to non-postal ends. r Jhe series is a most interesting one, and tbe probability is that many collectors Ttbo quite agree with the bin placed on them will purchase them as a curiosity. The stamps are of various sizes, mostly of the s'za of the American Columbian series.- There are 12 of them in the set. Tho following briefly describes them :— l l, brown, wrestlers ; 21, rose, do. ; 51, violet, the disc thrower of Myron ; 10 1, grey, do. ; 20 1, brown-red, vase wi ! h Minerva ; 25 1, red, four-horse chariot ; 40 1, vase with Minerva ; 60 1, black, four-horse chariot ; 1 dr, blue, Stadium ab Athens ; 2 dc, brown, the Hermes of Paraxitelea ; 5 dr, green, the victory of Paeonius ; 10 dr, brown, the Acropolis of Athens. ! ' . • The Westminster Review of February 1840 thus dßscfifaes the scene at St. Martin's-le-Grand, London, on the occasion of the first introduction of penny postage in England :— "A night or two aflec the change to a penny we ourselves witnessed the scene ab ibe chief post office. The grea!i hall was nearly filled with spectators, marshalled in a line by the police, to watch the crowds pressing, scuffling, and fighting to get first to the window. The superintending president of the Inland Office was-in all quirters, directing the energy of his } officers whtre the pressure was greitesfe. Fo:1 merly one window sufficed to receive letters ; on this cccasiou six rriudows, with two receivers at each, were bombarded by applicants. As the last quarter of an. hour approached, and the crowd still thickened, a seventh .window was opened. To the credit of the post office nob a Bi'ngle person lost the time, and we learn that on that eveniDg upwards of 3000 letter* h&d been posted at that post office between 5 and 6 o'clock. When the windows cloFed the mob gave one cheer for the fiost ofiice and another for Rowland HiH^