PHILATELY

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 63

PHILATELY

Br Pelttek.

The Horticultural Hall. Vincent square, Westminster, London, where this year's great International Philatelic Exhibition w ill bs held, is not a very well-known resovt, even to Londoners, because it is comparatively a new structure. It is, 1-owever, an exceedingly handsome and spacious building, and very conveniently «ituate-d. For the purposes of a stamp exhibition the hall is admirably adapted, being lofty and with a ground area of about 140 ft by 75ft. There is ample light through a domed ijlass roof, which can be screened from the sun's 'ays when necessary. There arc two recesses, 50ft by 25ft each, on a slightly raised level, available for dealers' stalls. On the first floor of the main building there is a lecture hall with three other rooms available for exhibits. The building is of fireproof construction, and equipped with all requisite fire appliances.

French dealers may be divided into three, c'a&ses. First, "the princes of the trade.'* "Do not be afraid of them," is good---ad-vice. Next come the smaller fry of dealers with very tiny shops, where the stock and philatelic knowledge are usually small, "and the chances of picking up things a bit hard." The third olass keep no shops, but are found in the outskirts of Ihe city) with a little office in their own fiat. "It requires a little assurance to tramp upstairs and ask if M. Tel ou Tel is at home. Often tlie reply is in the negative, for your Paiisian is most casual in this respect, and he takes a holiday when and where it pleases him. If he is in, you find him in his tiny parlour, and presently you -have his whole stock before you. And you will be unlucky if you depart empty-handed." -He con-ck-dee with a tribute t<i unifoni cordiality of the fraternity of dealers to their iriends th& collectors, which, he declares, -is not the least of .pleasures of etamp-'hunting -in Paris. — Bazaar.

Among the many .notable collections owned by English philatelists, that of tie Earl of Crawford undoubtedly possesses the greatest interest for American collectors, since- it contains what is unquestionably the greatest specialised collection of United States stamps now in existence. Many o[ us have seen tho wonderful collection, now, alas, in process of breaking up, which was formely owned by Mr John N, Luff. This was long considered the acme of specialisation in United States adhesives, but another star has arisen, and Lord Crawford has apparently out-specialised t.' e epecialist in his mounmental labours on tl c stamps of our country.

1 Shculd a philatelist collect for pleasure or for profit? js a question that has agitated the corr?snondents of various philareiic journals during recent jnorjths. Columns and pages must be filled— a difficult matter certainly in the spraiucr znontbs — but apart from its value, we quite fail to cc my advantage in this continual searching for motives and policies. The average stamp collector is a collector because the hobby appeals to him— that is all. The normal man must have a hobby of some sort, for as a general principle it may b& taken for granted that the man without a hobby is a dullard or a lazy-bon-es — or something worse than either. Cue man will take up chess, another gardeniaig, another cricket or tcnr.is, <-md a vast number will also hayo some indoor hobby such jas <itamp-eollectiiig. .Of all the pursuits that can be classed as "collecting hobbies 1 we have always contended that philately ' is °econd to none in interest and fascination, and that is why it .s perennially popular. We do not think that the genuine collector allows Ihe question of money to outweigh the interest he takes in his. stamp?, but at the 3ame time, if he be not an utter fool, he spends his money wisely and v.iih ! a view to a safp* investment. That, as It i seems to us, is the commonsensc of th<i whole business.— Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly.

Whether the portrait on the old Canadian 6d and 10c stamps is really that of Prince Albert, the Consort of Queen Victoria, ; « difficult to decide. The effigy Ithat of a young man of a certainly different appearance than we umally see in por- , traits of the late Queen's husband. He wa32 years of ago at the time of Canada ? first stamp i=suc. but of course his likenos may not have Ken drawn wry life-like. On the other hand, it is stated in Mcscnkau's handbook that this portrait repreI sents Lord Elsin. who, as I road in a ' cyclopedia, from 1846 to 1854 was Govor- ' r.or-gcneral of Canada, and therefore very likely selected to appear on the stampß of hi* period. He v. as then 40 years of age (born in 1811). A curiosity in the way of a stamp fubstitute was Toceive-d at a department m America recently and has found its way ir.to the ealesbook of a dealer. An enveloc? without postage and with a postmark "Fairbanks, Alaska, March 6, 1905," has in the corner "No stamp in local P.O.P.M. Fairbanks, Alaska." Tho accompanying letter stated that they had been out of stamps for some time. The members ol the Birmingham Phila- . telic Society have pleasure in congratulating their honorary president, Sir "W. B. Avery, on the well-deserved honour bestowed upon him by the King at the recent Birthday distribution. There are many distinguished collectors, but very few v/ho possess a more valuable and varied collection. His Bivitish colonials aro arI ranged in 36 massive volumes. wbi\g >

larger number-arc -required"to accommodafo . his general collection. Sir W B. Avery is geniality itself, ever willing to give a display or do anything to further the cause of philately, and to heai him descant on h;6^ many g-ems convinces one that he has gone^ deej> into the study and is heart «nd soul in our hobby

The matter of arranging stamps so as to make them as attractive as possible is important. The collector who uses an illustrated album, with spaces marked out for every stamp, lias to adopt the methods of arrangement already planned for him. The user of the blank album has a wider scope. He may arrange his stamps in many ways, each differing from the rest. A little preliminary thought will soon determine tbe exact geometrical design which will be most fitted to set off the stamps in their most pleasing form. Naturally he mounts in sets.

I understand no new edition oE Gibbons's catalogue will appear before. November at th-e earliest, also that no new edition of the Imperial Album will be issued for a long time to come.

NEW ISSUES. Germany and the Colonies. — The follow- -„ ing extract is front, the _ London Times, (1.9.05):— "1t is stated that the - Germanpostal ' ruthonties \viiL issue new pestage . stamps o» October 1. for correspondence ', bc-(we:>n Germany and Kiaochau. Tho chung-a will chiefly .consist in the value of ' tho "stamps being printed on them in dollar- and cents, so as to briag the denominations of the value more in harmony with the Chiiese system of coinage. Hitherto the value of tha stamps was denoted in. xriirics and pfennig©.. 'X*iie sale of ih-e Old pottage stamps was to ccafeo in JJerlin en .. August 31. *In the colonies, however, it would -.ontinue until September 30. Another interesting item for philatelists is Ibat tlere is ".n contemplation a great innovation with .icg&rd to all tho postage stamps of the German Empire and its colonies. At all events experiments are being made at ~ ■the Imperial printing establishment with the princinji of the stamps on water-mark papers. The eldest Prussian, postage • stamps, those which bore the portrait of Kine; Frederick William IV, had a watermark in the form of a -wreath of oak leaves.' • . But since *hat time, for about half a cen- - tury, wero xot applied to either ; •th* Prussian or the North German -or the • •Imperial postage stamps; but it is considered that such a mark is one of the best means <o prr-vent in'itations and oounter--fc-itir.e." S. Auslralii.— Tho 2s 6d has now ap-. -

I-ear^d with largo "Postage." The values v/).;ch have alreajj been issued in type are- the "Id, 6d, Sd. Is, 2s 6d, ss, and , 20s' ' , " "Western. Australia.— Tie have, received the - bd -value water mzrki«l- V and Crdwn, Kufr > instead of'Jhavinsr "Postage" added- io the label of value, like others of the currentseries, the old type -of. 1885-93 .has been reissued .on the -new watermarked- paper- <

The Norwegian Storthing -conferred the Nobel -P«"ace Prize for thps year on that re- .. markaMe woman. Baroness .Bertha yon Suttner, whose novel, "Lay Down Your Arms," has had a great influence on the Czar. She is an Austrian. and has formed many Austrian and German peace unions.