PHILATELY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 44

PHILATELY.

By Pelure.

The cablegrams seldom convey any information bearing upon matters philatelic, but last month we had news of some exchanges of territory and interests in the Southern and Western Pacific which will have considerable influence on the philatelic future of " Oceania," as it was called in our early albums. Briefly, Great Britain has retired from Samoa — not that she ever had more than a third interest in endeavouring to maintain order amongst the very disorderly natives of the gi"oup. But, all the same, Samoa always claimed the interest of. collectors of British-Colonial proclivities, for they all hoped that some day the group would become wholly British. This hope has now, however, vanished into the regions of improbability, since Germany has been accorded the British and American share in the two large islands of Savaii and Upolu, while America lias been left in sole possession of the small island of Tutuila. We do nob learn what the Samoans had to say about this arrangement, but doubtless they are more or less satisfied. It is certain, however, that Germany will now establish more than a mere protective guardianship over the islands, and they will consequently become a German colony. This, of course, means writing " Finis " to the issues of Mr Davis, the "local postmaster," and judging from that gentleman's latest efforts in the way of overprints the conclusion comes not a day too soon for the peace of mind of philatelists. It is more than probable that a Ger-man-Colonial series, with "Samoa" in the now familiar liagonal surcharge, will appear, and possibly also the United States will follow suit with a series for Tutuila, in the same fashion as they brought out a special set for the insignificant island of Guam. In return for this withdrawal, Great Britain gets the interest, purely one of '' principal," which Germany claimed to have in Tonga. Here again, unless Great Britain intends to establish a protectorate over the Friendly - Islands, we fail to see what she really gets. - In case, the protectorate is brought about, Tonga- will at last become a part- of British Empire — an event which has long since been anticipated by 'Messrs Stanley '^Gibbons '.(Limited), whose catalogue has for some time included Tonga amongst the British possessions, although neither rhyme nor reason existed to support their action. However, there is one certain advantage gained, for Great Britain gets undisputed possession of . the large islands of Ysa'bcl and Choiseul, with the smaller ■Shortlands and other islands in the Solomon Group. This possession is now a very respectably large one, so far as territory goes, and we may anticipate an issue for the protectorate phortly, which, by the way, includes Santa Cruz and the Banks Groups. Certainly there are few white inhabitants at present, but a judicious issue of stamps will advertise the place sufficiently to draw the attention of capitalists (and others) to this desirable laud of cocoanuts, copra, and can iibals. The only thing that is to be regrcled is that we did not get those valuable islands of New Britain, New Ireland, and the German portion of New Guinea. Then, ah, then ! our Pacific territory would indeed have been a magnificent one. — Australian Philatelist.

In any science,, hobby, or business there must foe technicalities; -but there are very few in philately. Such few as we have, however, must be exceedingly puzzling to the beginner — the out-and-out novice, 1 mean. Suppose we elucidate a few of the more mysterious of these technical terms :

" Mint " : Stamps offered for sale in auctions and otherwise are frequently described as " Mint." The full expression would be " mint condition " A stamp is in " mint condition " when it is substantially in the same state as when it left the " mint," or rather, the postage stamp factory. It is a coin -collector's term adapted to philately. Obviously, the expression can apply only to unused stamps with gum and perforation unimpaired.

'• 0.G.", or "Full Gum": These are variants of the foregoing technicality. " Original Gum," or, for short, " 0.G." indicates a stamp that retains the gum originally applied to it by the manufacturer. If pait of this be lost the expression " part gum " is used.

•■ Unsevcred Pair " is perhaps a term that explains itself. A pair of stamps will sometimes be described with greater particularity as a vertical pair, or a horizontal pair, as the cisc may be.

" First state." " Karly state," " Medium state," or " Late state " : The rarer stamps — the early Mauritius to take a famous example — aie classified in auction catalogues and dealers' announcements according to their period in the order of printing, as revealed by the "state of the plate." A " post-paid " Mauritius described as " Early state " will show a clear, sharp printing, whereas the same stamp with iU design much blurred owing to wear and tear gn the die would be called " Lnte State,' and between these two conditions would come " Medium state."

" Penmarked " is a term I need hardly explain even to the tyro. It refers, of course, to a stamp obliterated by a pen instead of by an ordinary postmarking appliance. The great majority of penmarked stamps are fiscals. "On original" and "Ott giece of orifii-

nal" are also expressions that need little explanation. The importance of preserving ultra-rare stamps, and rarVprovisionals in particular, on the original envelope must be apparent to all. " Entire " is a comprehensive term embracing all postal stationery — envelopes, post cards, reply cards, letter cards, and wrappers — preserved in an entire state. A stamp cut from an " entire " is either a " cut square" or a "cut round," according to the degree of folly practised by the individual philatelist. There are other technical terms in use among philatelists, but the above, I think, exhaxist the list of those which present any difficulty to tne inexperienced collector. Our due New Zealand postage set made its appearance on the Ist December ; but as yet none can be bought unused. I hear of one enthusiastic collector desirous of obtaining the full set, value 5s sd, at earliest possible moment who posted himself two huge parcels of books absolutely unstamped. His disgust was extremely large when he surveyed his coveted post due stamps completely spoiled with the wretched cancelling stamps in use here. NEW ISSUES. Cuba's new issue is not up to expectations, being very poorly executed, seeing the splendid work generally turned out by the American Bank Note Company. Straits Settlements. — "Stamps" is responsible for the statement that a federal issue may shortly do away with the separate issues for the various Malay States, Johore, Sungei, Selongor, etc., etc. Transvaal. — According to Mr Nankivell, a new issue of stamps is projected for the Transvaal, the designers and engravers beina; Messrs Delfos Bros., of Pretoria. The colours will remain the same for each va-lue as at present ; and the designs, which are still in the hands of the engravers, are a bust of President Rrugei* for the values up to and including one shilling, and the arms of the Republic for all the higher values. The Volksraad considers it advisable to have the stamps manufactured in Pretoria since the Government has now its own printing office. The new issue, however, cannot 'be an accomplished fact for a matter of four "or five months yet. I wonder if they will ever be used. Cook Islands have issued a halfpenny value, bird type, colour steel blue. Great Britain. — After the New Year the halfpenny is to be issued in green, and is to be for postage only, so probably the design .vill be changed, as the present halfpenny rends " Pcstasje and Revenue." South Australia. — The colour of the 2^d has been chanj^d to deep blue. '