PHILATELY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2647, 7 December 1904, Page 54

PHILATELY.

By Peluee.

Mr Hull at a leoture on stamps, recently delivered in Sydney, said that much of the world's history during the last 60 years could be learned from a good collection. For instance, the introduction of adhesive fltamp 3 found France a Republic. A provisional government had just 'been "established on the ruins of the monarchy which fell with the abdication of Louis Philippe and tht> revolution of 1848. As a consequence, the first postage stamp issued by Franco on New Year's Day, 1849, bore the head of Ceres, emblematio of liberty, and the inscription Repub. Franc. Three years later the celebrated coup d'etat occurred, Charles Louis Napoleon seized the post of power, a-nd as President of the Republio his. head figured on two stomps issued on Augu&t 10, 1852, under the inscription j Repub. Franc. Having strengthened his position by giving the chief offices of state to his own supporters, b.e>ppealed to tho people in the same year, and on December 2 1853, by an almost unanimous vote, the Empire was re-established, and the word "Repub." was changed to "Empire" over the same head. In 1862 Napoleon's victories in Austria were signalised by the addition i of a laurel wreath to his head. In-1870 the j Franco-Prussian war * broke- out, and | Napoleon and his army surrendered after i tho memorable struggle at Sedan on September 4, and on October 11, 1870, the monarchy again' fell, and the Republican 1 then established at Bordeaux, ' -issued 'lithographed copies of the stamp of lo*49i' When peace was < established- these stamps were re-engraved, 'and in 1876" the s calmed-state of" the. country wa«' clearly denoted by allegorical desigjna depicting commerce clasping hands with peace across the globe." "Several changes, of type haye r since been mad V —one, a,female -figure bearing % shield inscribed "the rights .of man," was objected- to by the ladies, "because it omitted any reference to women's -rights, and was superseded by the graceful figure of La Semeuse —the Sower, but all have continued to bear the Republican in"scription. There is news from. Washington that the application of the promoters of next year's big exhibition at Portland, Oregon, to be allowed a set of special commemorative stamps has been refused by the postal department. The officials, it_J9 declared, axe sick of these "World's Fair" issues, and, though a set was granted for-the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, the authorities came to the conclusion that somewhere the line must be drawn, or 1 else (as the "Optimist" writes in the Metropolitan Philatelist) "the commemorative series fad would become ohronio." Sir D. P. Masson, whose knighthood formed one of this year's Birthday Honours, is the "Notable Philatelist" pf the July Philatelic Record. His Kashmir handbook, duly noticed in tho Fortnightly at the time of its publication, is one of the elassios of philatefy, and his collection of Kashmir stamps is without doubt the finest in the world. Some time ago Afghanistan succeeded Kashmir in his affection. Sir D P. Masson is continually on the watch for novelties from Kabul, and is always the first to notify these to the philatelic press. He is a- successful banker, an ardent golfer, a colonel of volunteers, and one of the keenest philatelists in the Anglo-Indian community. I learn from am Australian correspondent that all the Commonwealth stamps are to be printed in future on paper watermarked A over a crown. The ohamgie will not eventuate for fully six or eight months, as tho paper-- has to be prepared at Home. This is the' most startling news re Australian issues I have hadl to chronicle for a long time. These is a small but select family group of portraits in the series issued in Newfoundland during 1898-1901. These comprise the iEour generations of tihe reigning house of Great Britian —Queen Victoria, the- Prince and Princess of Wales (now King and Queen), the Duke and Duchess or York, and little Prica* Edward. The face value of the stamps is 9d, surely a- small sum to pay for steel-engraved ankiiaturea of the highest finish and most lifelike portraiture. The American Roosevelt stamp is nothing more nor less than a political label bearing a fine portrait in half-tone of President Roosevelt. The stamp is nearly as large as a telegraph frank, of greenish black oolourvpriated on thick, spongy paper, rouletted, and bearing only the words at the bottom, "Four Years More for Teddy." Already letters have been sent and received upon which was affixed one of these labels. Of course, if., it has the regular stamp there can be no. objection . if a Roosevelt stamp accompanies it. The next thing we shall hear, however, will be that a Roosevelt stamp alone has carried a letter. If a person had, a, quantity of these * labels in Argentine Republio it is not unlikely that they could be used occasionally for jpostag*. The stamp very strongly resembles -one of the current Argentine stamps. The publishers of an English stamp catalogue say in their preface: —The total number of known varieties of postage stamps issued by all the Governments of the world up to the present time is 19,242; of this number 205 iave been issued in. Gre.at Bri-

tain, and 5711 in the various British colonies and protectorates, leaving 13,326 for the rest of the world. Dividing the totals amongst the continents, Europe issued 4089, Asia 3628, Africa 4005 America (including the West Indies} 6095, and Oceania 1425. A comparison of these figures with those published in March, 1903, will show that 1860 new varieties of stamps have been issued throughout the world in the space of 18 months. Salvador, it appears, still heads the list of stamp-issuing countries with 450 varieties to its — must we say credit? The Russification of Finland is shown in j its stamps. The first issue of the grand j duchy bore the arms in the centre, and the value. Then followed sets with the name "Finland" and "Suomi," its /wedish equivalent. Later issues had "Suomi" at the top, and "Finland" in Russian characters at the right side. In 1890 a .ceres was made by the Emperor of Russia, amalgamating the postal service of Finland with that of Russia, and the Russian type of stamps * with small distinguishing plate marks was issued. The morepatriotio Finns issued on their own account a black mourning label, which thoy plneod beside the Imperial stamp. Of course, this label did not pay any of the*' postage, but it seemed to have Lad a soothing effect on the patriots, who paid about one-tenth of • a penny for each expression of their feelings ! Many , further instances might be given to show how the political history of the past half-century is reflected in its postage stamps, , but enough illustrations have- perhaps been given to prove the educational value of philately from a historical point of view. "Ausser Kur«" means "cancelled," and has been applied to the remainders of the 1881 issue before disposing of them to dealers, so as to render the stamps unfit for postal use. Its philatelic value is, therefore, very small. Stamps thus treated are . neither the one thing nor another, neither used nor unused. NEW ISSUES. Servia : The "Coronation" stamps appeared ! punctually after, all. Specimens of the issue are to hand, as -follows : — 5 paras green, 10 paras rose, 15 paras purple, 25 paras blue, 50 paras brown, 1 dinar buff, 3 dinars green, 5 dinars violet. On the para values there are the effigies of King Peter and of the founder^of the House of Karageorgevitch. The dinairvalues have a small central panel typifying the freedom of Servia. All ! the stamps are of a large oblong size. I Jeypore must now be added to the list [of Native Indian stamp-issuing States. Its first contribution is a modest one — simply three values of i, 1, and 2 annas respectively. These* are lithographed on greyish ■ wove paper, and perforated 14. The sheet consists of only 12 Btamps. Mr W. T. f Wilson has, received a letter from the Post-master-general of the Punjab giving some details of the issue: — "Jaipur has started a set of stamps of its own. • I enclose a i anna, and here is also a 1 anna fed and a- '.2 "annas green. As far as I can see, every stamp "on the sheet is different from every other one. The device is the chariot of the sun, which is the Jaipur emblem."