RARE STAMPS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 48, 29 November 1890, Page 19

RARE STAMPS.

OME OF THE THINGS WHICH EXCITE COLLECTORS.

fHE Stamp Exhibition in Vienna has been drawing a large number of visitors every day. The collection is said to be the most complete that has ever been got together, and the unlearned in such matters are amazed at the divisions and subdivisions that are necessary for proper classification. ‘ Even the rarities must be subdivided,’ says the London StaHi/anTs correspondent, ‘ and any collector worth his salt will prize moie the errors, from their greater likelihood of being unique, than the class of rarities qualified as such by being scarce. ‘ Mr Giwelb showed me, for instance, with as much pride as theoccasion warranted, the "error"of France—astampof2jd, printed in blue instead of black, and with still greater satisfaction the “ error ” of Afghanistan, a stamp with a missing ornament in a corner ; and his voice was raised to a pitch of admiration when he spoke of the rare ’‘error'’ of Lubeck, and still more of the two rare “ errors ” of the Cape of Good Hope, exhibited by Dr. Mailman of Vienna, stamps of Id and 4d respectively, which are blue instead of red, and red instead of blue. Such “ errors’’ fetch a very high price, kept down only by the easiness of creating new values by ■wanton misprinting. ‘ The real rarities need onlv to be explained to find estimation even in the eyes of the layman. Who would not feel interest in the fifty Mulreadys, a collection of first English envelopes, before the time of the attachable stamp, all addressed in 1840 by Mulready himself to a firm in Vienna, from which the treasure passed into the hands of the collector? Who, further, would not give a glance to the alleged proof of a two penny stamp sent by James Chalmers, the printer, to the House of Lords in 1834, without in any wav taking part in the dispute “ Chalmers against Rowlaml Hill," about the first idea of replacing the stamped postage covers by the stamps now in use ? ‘ Great rarities to be seen in the exhibition are also the Austrian newspaper stamps of 1858 with the head of Mercury, two of which are exhibited in the Austrian section, a unique one on plaid paper and an ordinary one ; further, one in the English section, the collectors being convinced that no more than five or six of these stamps are in existence. Greater rarities still are four specimens of British Guiana and New Zealand stamps of 1800, all with the signature of the postmaster, exhibited by Douglas Garth of Chelsea, London, who values one of these stamps (rose in faded colour) at not less than £75 : another one I yellow) at £2O, and so forth. Rare is also the black Canada twelvepenny stamp exhibited by Charles Coleman of Woodville, Kew, for wliich the owner paid £5. ‘ As almost “ unattainable" are considered the two first issues of Sandwich stamps, in the very rich collection of Mr Giwelb, London : and not less prized are two Tasmanian stamps of the first issue, each 4d, declared to be nearly unique, being printed on “ laid paper,” the fortunate owner of which is M. P. Castle of Brighton. Among the rarities mnst also be mentioned a French balloon-card of 1871, a plate of the first New Caledonian stamps with the head of Napoleon HL, remarkable for the difference in the drawing of the Emperor's head in each of the fifty engravings of the plate. * Another, and not the least interesting, class is also richly represented in the exhibition, that of collections remarkable for completeness. The President of the Austrian Committee, Herr Wilhelm Krapp, Vienna, exhibits a set of stamps of Roumania from the very first issue of stamps in that ■country to the present day, which the collectors declare to be most valuable. Herr Ludwig Schartz of Wahiing, near Vienna, has a set of Austrian-stamped envelopes of large size, which, being of the first issue, is valued at 2,000 florins for not more than sixteen pieces, while the modern reproduction of the same set, shown at the same time, is marked to l>e worth only four florins. ‘ There are many other complete collections, for instance, one of Australian stamps worth £1,500 ; a very interesting collection of proof and essays of stamps of all countries, exhibited by the Dobling Stamp Museum : complete plates of the first English black penny stamp; rail sheets from other countries, and a highly valued collection of stamps of all Swiss cantons, remarkable for its completeness ; a sheet ot United States stamps from the value of 2 cents to that of .$6O each, and a variety of other complete sets, from which the philatelistic scholar has much to learn. * To my mind, however, the most curious sets in this class are the “ made-up-plates,” of which there are, as far as I could see, four or five in the exhibition. An original ‘‘ plate ” means a full sheet of stamps as it came out from the hand of the printer. ‘ The stamps are perforated, detached and given ont to the public, which uses them at different times and for different countries. Vears pass by, and then the collector is seized by the ambition of making up the complete plate from stamps already used in exactly the order the sheet had when it came out.

‘ He may have acquired a dozen or two dozen of the stamps he wants, or, let us say, a full plate save two stamp's, which have gone astray : but that is only for him a still greater inducement to’ run after those lost sheep, and he will have neither rest nor quiet until he has discovered their whereabouts and has acquired them at any cost. That he is successful in some cares is practically shown by Mr Giwelb exhibiting such a “make-up” of stamps from Victoria, and by several other dealers or collectors having also this rarity to show. What an amount of patience and endurance is requisite to finish a “ made-up plate ” of stamps ! The beaver and the ant have found their master in the philatelist.’