PHILATELY

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 8 July 1903, Page 65

PHILATELY

By Pelure.

1 believe a great deal of good may be done for philately by encouraging new collectors and those who manifest an intereat in stamps by giving from your duplicates. A little generosity among my readers will mak>3 many new collectors. Besides the pleasure and happiness bestowed by the de■velopment -of a new pursuit, the advantage to philately ua geueral wrll be very great.

A French postal clerk, nas evolved a very simple apparatus for dispensing with the postage &tamp and enabling anyone to get hu letter franked after office hours. The apparatus can be affixed to any pillar box; a coin is dropped into a slot, the corner of the letter is- inserted, and the machine stamps the envelope with the amount paid. All you have to do, then, is to drop tlie letter nuto the pillar bot for collection.

An American has invented an envelope which records of itself any attempt to tamper with its contents. The flap is imbued with some chemical composition, which, when operated upon by a damping process or amy obher means of penetrating to its inolosure, records the transaction by causing the words "Attempt to open !" to appear. It is thought that the inquisitive will think t\\ ice b&fore pursuing 1 their researches in ldK.e of such, an invention.

I am somewhat puzzled at the relation the stampa of Angra, Horta, nd Funchal bear to the Azores. Ido not remember just what explanation was given of these stamps when first issued, but was under the impression they were to supplant those of the Azores. Such seems not to be the case, however. Azores stamps are still used, though not go often as those, of Angra and Horta, and why there should be two or thras cots of stamps under different names and from the same country is my puzzle. Angra, Horta, and Funohal are no* . islands, but the aiames of the principal towns on bhe several islands of tho Azores, and I would like to know just when an Azores stamp or an Augxa stamp should be used, according to propriety, in tins Portuguese group.

Collectors are much, mi^aken in the supposition that '"uncaincelled South American stamps are m&sbly counterfeits." There are \eiy few count-erf eits of South American .stamps, and the imprassiciu that unused stamps are lilosly to be counterfeited becaues they are unused is a schoolboy delusion that prevai's in some localities If one would stop to think, it might occur to them that a cancellation mark could be added very easily to a counterfeit stamp. So, as a matter of faot, most of the :otinterf&it3 appear as cancelled etaoipa, and one must find some better season to reject unused stamps than that they may be counterfeits.

A semi-philatelic- transaction vi hose parallel does not come wrtfhin t'.^e range of our remembrauce is the recent transfer of a home and lot in Yonkers, N.Y , the consideration being a pastage stamp collection of somo 9000 varieties, valued at 2500d01. Stories of similar deals have now and then aippeared' in the philaitelic press, both here and abroad, but confirmatory dc-tails hove usually beeai lackiug. In this instance it s&ems to be well aiibheiitwiated that the ex changp artuallv took p!a/>e ad stated — a plcusaiu liuhoa'iiou o[ the taugibJity if stamp* as a commcrc.al aaiet.

Apropos the wedding of the- eldest sen of S:r Thonu/s Andros de- la Hue, Bart., one of the writers of social gowip gives us some chatty details cs to the personnel of the grea.t firm of postage btamp ;ind p-laying card manufat-turew. The do la Rues; it seems, camo from Guernsey, and it was Thomas, born iv 1793, who laid the foumdations of tho printing: bus.nc^s, wluch was developed into a really great concern by his s.ou-, the late Dr Warren de la Rue, who combined printing with science, und naa Pa^t-PiOMtlent of tl'o Royal Agronomical Society aJid Chemical Society. He died iai 1889, leaving a foitune if over £300,000. Much of thi.s was made, of course, out of postage ptamps, which tl>e firm printed for Great Rritain, India, most of the colonies, and many otbet places. The Bunhili row works are the larc<?st in the work.

Rtamp collators will be nlea.<-ed to learn tha<*" th<* authorities o f the Rrit.iih Museum -will .=hortlv exlubit to the poHie th« who'w of tin* gren'a oo'lwt.ioß of stamps bf>qnea£hr«l to the nation by fclie late Mr Ta,pling. Two of tho four •sppc«illv cpn a tructed cabinets rpimir* 1 d to cfsit.im he colleo'-ion havr\ I note, already been delivered at the Mu-evun An inj?<-n'ous plan has been adopted for the dis-plav and protection of the stamns. Each cabinet contains a number of j=Ldc.*, wliich pull out vertically, in fie Fame way a« books on shelves. Tho frames of thesp slides ar<* nade of mahogany and teak, and each contra* four eh'^eta of *tarrrps— two on earh eide of the slide — piotceted by plate K'.a"=s, which ia fried so as to leave a »ma!l space dp twee n the glass and the surface of the stamps. A visitor ■wishincj to «cc the siamps of any particular country has only to pull out fcke cKd-e labf-lled with hhe name of that country, and l'o can UMpeo* them at his leisnre. Of oourse. the slides cro go fjxrd that rh-ey ran only bp pulled out Fuffiriemt'y for the purpose of inspect i on.— T<ondon correspondent, of the Yorkshire Daily Post.

Tho crk'Ct of fehe speculation so rife five or s.ix years ago, through the desire of speculators U realise on their purch-a^cß, wa= tlif temporary injury of stamp-collect-ing The speculator in the sen=e of one

who is an accumulator of large quantities * of stamps with the idea of selling them at a profit, has passed away. No one has ariscm to take his place. Speculative collectors ueed to furn.sh the dealers with their stock. Dealers cannot afford to buy enough to last them for many years, particularly when it comes to the purchasing of stamps of high value. Speculative collectors, however, on© taking the stamps of one country and another of another, have furnished the dealer with specimens for genuine collectors long after his own stock has become exhausted. It ie likely that many issues of the last few years of the. century will be found to be quite scarce, simply because no one has speculated in them. The conditions at the opening of the twentieth century are most favourable. The outlook is for steady, straight-forwaord eol-. leoting of tho stamps of all countries by collectors interested in collecting pure amd simple. "Oppen'.-= Po;t3ge Stamp Catalogue and Collector's Guide," fourth edition, London, 1564, was revised and corrected by Henry Whyrnper. It was published by William Stevens, whose name ha« long bc-&n familiar to all as tie publishers oi the Family Herald. This little volume of 80 page.3 purports to contain particulars of all estamps issued up to date, and, as it included English essays, United States express and loca-I stamps, as well as a brief description of such forgeries as were then 'known to the late Mr E. L. Pemberton, the presentday collector can gather that a complete collection of tho varieties recognised at that date would not unduly tax the capacity of a single, philatelio album. ''Australasia" , occupies four and a-half pages, and the number of varieties chronicled was: — New South Wa'es 27 South Australia .. 8 New Zealand .. 8 Tasmania .. .. 10 Queensland .. . 7 Victoria .. .. 31 Sandwich Islands 7 West Australia .. 17 Total- 115 Germany. — We have seen the • Service stamps recently issued. The stamp has the framework of the current series, with the lveod of Germania entirely effaced by a shield bearuig the inscription, "Frei Durch Ablosung, Nr. 21," in four lines. The atamps will be in use for one year only, from January 1, 1903, to December 31, 1903, to enable the authorities to establish the actua-1 amount of postage inourred by the Government Departments; the stamps will be difficult to c «vur& in on unused state, owing to the- strict precautions taken to check the exact expenditure. j Service Stamps — 20 pfeu. blue 2 pfen. grey Ii „ or.inge, black 3 „ brown and yellow 5 „ green 40 „ carmine and b' 10 „ rose 50 „ violet and black Afghanis-tan. — The following extract is from the Daily Telegraph of March 21 # : — "The stock of postage sfcampf in Afghanistan liaving been exhausted, the Amir proposes to introduce -a aietv issue, which will be prepared on the lines of the- stamps used in Europe. In default of the stamps a postal seal is now being placed on letters." Cape Colony. — The King Edward series ha*; now been enriched with a 5s value. Antigua.— lt may in f erest my readere to know that the new series of stamps for this island will all have for design a local view, and will not liave a head of King Edward. It it to' be hoped they really will be issued this time, as we are g&tting tired of falde alarrqs. As far baekt as January. 1902, it -was stated, even by tho postal officials, that the stamps were just about to be issued. Seychelles. — It is announced that the King Edward stamps "are upon order in England, and may be issued in a month or two from, this date." The issue will consist of the following values : — (a) 2c, 3c. (b) 6c., 12c, 18c. (c) 15c, 30c, 45c. (d) 75c, li. 50c, 2r 25c. Tt will be- noticed that the 1 rupee value is omitted.