STAMPS

Southland Times, Issue 21820, 24 September 1932, Page 9

STAMPS

THE COLLECTORS’ COLUMN.

(By

“Star N.Z.”)

The Dipton correspondent mentioned in last week’s notes has now sent me some of his stamps for classification. These are as follows: —Id rose red, view of White Terraces (Stanley Gibbons’ catalogue No. 299). ■ 2d dull violet, view of Pembroke Peak, Milford Sound (S.G’s. catalogue No. 303). These are both watermarked with the doublelined N.Z. and Star and are catalogued at 3d and 6d respectively (unused); 3d deep brown, unwatermarked, perforation 11; depicting the male and female huia birds (S.G’s. catalogue No. 275, priced at 1/- unused). This is not the pale bistre shade which is much lighter in colour. My correspondent tells me that he knows nothing about stamps, but that he intends starting collecting and in the first place will confine himself to New Zealand. Quite a wise decision, because if one is collecting, surely one’s own country is entitled to first choice. New Zealand stamps give quite a wide field to work on. Altogether Stanley Gibbons catalogues over 1000 differen varieties of these, and some of them are very rare. The highest priced is the 6d pale brown Queen Victoria (full face) with perforation 13 issued in 1862 and valued in the ’catalogue referred to at £200; so that there is plenty of scope even for the wealthy philatelist. On the other hand, many stamps, and very interesting stamps too, can be picked up very cheaply, sometimes, indeed, merely for the asking. The main thing to remember is that condition counts for a lot, and the first essential is to get clean copies, mount them neatly and keep them clean. A very ordinary collection, well arranged, and annotated and containing only selected specimens will take the eye much more readily than a much better collection, badly arranged and having a number of album “weeds” amongst it. My correspondent suggests me writing a few notes for a “raw amateur” on how to start, and I shall be pleased to give a few hints in next week’s notes. In answer to his inquiry, I might just explain that “mint” as applied to stamps refers to unused stamps that are in an absolutely fresh and unsoiled condition just as when they first came off the printing machine, and having still upon them the “original gum.” An unused stamp is therefore not necessarily “mint” because it may be without gum, or it may have become soiled in some way. Such specimens are really no better than postmarked copies, if as good. To preserve the condition of stamps they should really be handled with tweezers which can be procured for about 2/-. This is a precaution that many experienced collectors fail to take, but neglect of it is really false economy. One of my Victorian correspondents has written to me recently regarding the O.S. issues of the Australian Commonwealth. Inter alia, he says that there is a pretty strong move in the Commonwealth backed by both the Postmaster-General and the permanent head of the Post Office to abolish O.S. stamps and return to franking stamps. The O.S. system, he continues, has been very much abused in Australia. O.S. stamps of the commemorative issues have been issued almost exclusively to members of Parliament. This is true of the “Canberra,” “Swan” (W. A. Centenary), and “Sturt” commemoratives. M.P’s. get these stamps for nothing (as part of their monthly stamp allowance) and some of them turn round and sell them to dealers for as much as they can get. The stamp collector naturally resents being treated in this way. This state of affairs, he adds, has been going on for a long time, and although there has been plenty of criticism of the system, it has been hushed up.

Whether this will enhance the value of the existing O.S. stamps is hard to say at present. My correspondent inclines to the opinion that the later issues (overprinted 0.5.) should be quite good holding. As is well-known, Stanley Gibbons have steadfastly declared to recognize the stamps perforated O.S. but these are genuine postals, and many of them are quite rare now. The writer has expressed the opinion previously in this column that no specialist in Australian Commonwealth stamps can afford to ignore these pqrforated stamps.

In a recent issue of the Australian Stamp Monthly is printed a guide to colours which may prove very helpful to collectors. Azure, a soft sky-blue; bistre, a smoky yellow-brown; brick, a dull red; Buff, brownish yellow, inclining sometimes to a flesh tone; carmine, the pure cochineal, a bright fullhued red; chestnut, a rich red-brown; cobalt, a delicate grey sky-blue; crimson, a deeper, duller red than carmine; drab, a pale, grey slatey brown; emerald, a vivid light green; heliotrope, a pale lilac with very slight tinge of rose; lake, the deepest red of crimson tone; lilac, a pale violet blue or deep lavender not so warm in tone as heliotrope; magenta, a blush red, almost purple; marone, brownish red or claret colour; mauve, a “purpleviolet dye from aniline”; myrtle, a dark green; olive, brown with touch of yellowish green in it; orange, midway between red and yellow; plum, a dark purple; primrose, very pale yellow of greenish tint; purple, “red and blue blended”; reseda, a dark mignonette green; salmon, a buff pink or pale red; scarlet, a bright red as seen on post office letter boxes; slate, a grey leaden shade; ultramarine, a rich bright blue. Vermilion is a bright little red, a pale variety of scarlet, and violet is a deep blue with a slight tinge of red. A keen eye for colours is almost a necessity if one is to be a successful philatelist, as there are many different shades even in stamps of the same value. Some of the colour cards issued by stamp dealers are, however, almost valueless, and only serve to make “confusion worse confounded” in the mind of the bewildered collector.