CONSPICUOUS STAMPS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 25, 14 September 1911, Page 6

CONSPICUOUS STAMPS.

■ The ciiFE ( ; ''V'„ ’•, *t. "J 1 c‘- ■■ . • \.• > ,- Probably no old stamps are so‘popular o6ibng'collectors, as the Capo “tridtigtilars,’Their ninuhnul- shape and fiiie design and £hgraym } |.irulko them art Mhsjbicuous feature' of !x folloo.ciori. ■iir.rF: J : . Melville, in an article’ -in the: gives the. histpry of the sorites/?,and explains why-''some are much more valuable than others, THatigular stamps were first.issued fit of the fifst {^ue : . vaty \from. £6 to £'lo a piece for and Via for ■tfntiredi • The prices pf-tne different of the, ordinary lut.er isshes ka>y.:very ■ much—from Hf's to: 10s .foV unused, -and Sts to? .10s for used. Id 1861 • there was a shortage of Id and. 4d : stamps, in the colony, and a Ibeal firm' were instructed- to print sbme pending the arriral of others ftoia the English printers, They ptodlicbd a rpiigh imitation! of the fine original design, but a mistake was ipV printing, >by which a block lof , : the /penny ' value was'put among th« blocks, and one of the fourpinny.' blocks among the pennies. Thus in each sheet of red pennies, ‘there was one fourpenny stamp vin f l3d, instead ot blue, the colour of that vklua, and on each sheet of blue for penny stamps, there was one penny in 'blttey'ihsftead- of red. Even the nbrafad foiirpenny values of this Brdp,igap .issue are very scarce, but tbdr errors-ore among the great.' rari-’ ties. . An - unusual red'fourpenny was kfeinir iß9d|fbr ’ £5(%; ' The ; seller hipil apedt £69 on his collection between 1d69 and»,1874; i -.'and'then laid it by, to • Vefiteive £3OOO for 'it twenty-two years . iateK} - ,? That well-known dealer,; Mr Gibbons, obtained a large number of C£pe triangulars in a lucky way. As a boy in 1863 he had: a small stamp: biisihess, • and /used' to display < his 1 Wanes -in ■ his . father’s shop.; , /One day two salltifs offered him a bagful of including many,- of' the emergency is^ud,'for £5. They had 6bV tinned these thousands of stamps for a'shiUing in a raffle at a Capetown. 1 I >zaaf. i'hnugn tlio loy otfe ,- ocl or dl'iaiy tr’i igUJars at ICO a dozen ar.cf -geirCy issues at three shillings a dozen, he ultimately made £SOO on his transaction, w