PHILATELY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2253, 6 May 1897, Page 53

PHILATELY.

By Old Stamp

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Akawo.— Either of the parties who advertise at the head of this column purchase used stamps, but unless they are old or of high face value they are worth very little. Tapanui.— The current stamps yqu^ refer to have uo value beyond what ia represented on their face, nor do I think they will have. THE AMATEUR COLLECTOK. Mr Charles J. Phillips, in his column of *'News and Notes" in the Monthly Journal, i •writes :—": — " Nowadays oae hears much about the collector, pure and simple, as distinct from ! the wicked dealer, and the following note from j Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News will no doubt : be rather amusing to some of our friends of j the Philatelic Society of London. Of course I we do not think for a minute that there is any- j body in that society on whom the cap could bs j fitted ; the collector — the pure, fctraighfc-oufc collector of the olden time — is one who abomi- * nates speculation, who speaks loudly against the fabulous profits of dealers, and who selects so-called neglected and unprofitable countries to study in order to retain thac unsullied name of amateur collector — that name dear to him, poor soul! We all know him. The amateur collector of to-day has strayed a bit from the - straight and narrow path. He has commenced to specialise — the world is so large, you know ; he has now become fond of pairs, strips, and blocks ; he is partial to shades ; and he is a trifle weak upon the subject of arranging a page full of the same stamps bufc of alightiy different hues. Altogether the amateur collector is not what he was. He laments ifc himself, and I feel awfully sorry for him. I am afraid that onr amateur collecfcor will die of philatelic plethora, bufc he will dio calling anathemas upon the speculator and upon the dealer, fcr such is human inconsistency ! " . A variety in colour has been issued of the New Zealand letter card. This time it is a light grey.- I am unable to say if it is to be permanent or not at present. It has been on sale for about a week. Another alteration is in the perforations. Instead of the perforations running through each other and off the paper afc both ot the single edges, ifc is now made with a cutve afc each corner, and is now one continuous perforation all round fche card, and with curved corners. The material of fche card is aIBO very much thine er. '• . ' A novel, system of paying postage without the use of the 'more or less troublesome postage stamp. has been adopted recently by the German Government. The postal authorities give out a contrivance called % " Postage Adder," which stamps an official mark on all letters passed through it, and registers the amount of postage due. It works in am ah the same way ,as a. gas meter. Ifc scamps on the letter the date and hour and amount of postage required. The sfc&mping of an envelope takes less than two seconds, or afc the rats of 2000 per hour. The new. apparatus is designed especially" to save labour and time to large firms, or to persons who have a large correspondence. An additional advantage is that it is not necessary to cancel the postmark of the '• Postage Adder " at the post office. • . " In remembrance of the recent marriage of Princes s Helena with the Prince of Naples, together with the recurrence of the 200fch anniversary of the foundation of the dynasty, the State of Montenegro has had & new po&fcage •tamp engraved. It represents fche monastery of Cettinje, which was destroyed by the Turks in 1714. The new stamp will thus have a national and historic character. • . * One day the young Queen of Holland entered fche room where the Cabinet Council was being held, and asked the Prime Minister why the postage stamps continued to bear her likeness as a child. Her Majesty intimated that she withed them to be altered as soon as possible. • . • Speaking on fche " Future of Philately " at the Liverpool Philatelic Society lately, Mr W. C. Taylor let himself go as follows :—": — " We who are stamp collectors know that our hobby is do mere ephemeral craze, and I think it always will bs popular. Methods of collecting may change, stamps may rise or stamps may slump, but as long as there is any inherent interest in the stamps themselves philately as a popular pastime will always keep its place. Philately draws its votaries from all, bufc principally from the ' educated classes, and the educated class is constantly on the increase. It is quite another matter when we come to speak of the future monetary value of individual stamps, for who can tell what stamps will increase in popularity or what stamps will wane, because on this will depend the future market price. The

rarity of a stamp ha.s little to do with the price j | it commands as compared v?ith the demand, i I Even if a stamp is excessively scarce buyers I may be still scarcer, and when fche latter are all | tupplied surplus copies will be a drug in the i market." i • . • Afc a rfcenfc meeting of the Philatelic • Society of Bengal a proposal was discussed to establish one society for the whole 6f;lndia, , into which the various societies now in existence ! may merge. If formed it is proposed to undertake the publication of a high-class monthly journal. • . • The celebrated Friedl Museum in Vienna is likely to be dispersed. Ifc was opened in August 1883. As far as the scientific side of ! philately i* concerned-^ no other museum or ! collection in the world can surpass it. A good ! { many of the items are unique, and can never ' jbe replaced. It contains the almost complete j collection of English proofs, aud the famous original Chalmer's essay, which was submitted to Parliament in 1834. These treasures were originally in the possession of Sir Rowland Hill ; many ot them bear his own marginal notes, and tor this reason alone should be purchased for the British Museum, where they' I would form a fitting addition to the English portion of -the Tapling collection. • . • American journals of^a recent dafce^ record the death, on March 3, of Mr John Keer Tiffany in his fifty-fidh year. He was a collector of the old eehoo?, «.nd there was parhaps no batter informed m*u in America. A wealthy man, he naturally had a beautiful collection. j The commercial value of stamps had no imj portance in his eye 3. He was most thorough I in all he undertook, and his research was ; extensive, i ii ii