Stamp Collecting.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVIII, Issue XXI, 24 May 1902, Page 1033

Stamp Collecting.

The following additional King Edward \ IL stamps have been issued in London. ltd purple and yellow green, 2d green and earmine, 3d purple on yellow, 1/ bright carmine and olive green. A new 4d stamp Is also to be issued this month.

The issue of t h eßali amas~ n e w stamps is being delayed. The following King Edward stationery will he in use shortly, envelope 2Jd, registration do. 2d, and post cards id and Id.

It may be of interest for collectors to learn that the 1/ stamp was never ovex-printed “Bechuanaland Protectorate.” The 4d and 6d so surcharged are now reported as obsolete. 4 4 4 Treaty ports in China have hitherto used Hong Kong- stamps, but Chinese stamps are now available fox- granting ocean postage- France has now entered into a contract to carry the mails fox- a lump sum. 4 •*- 4 Brazil has ordered a new set of stamps of all kinds. Since 1894 all Brazilian stamps have been ■locally printed. The new issue is to be printed in London. 4 4 4 Owing to the almost certainty of the Danish West Indies being ultimately transferred to the United States, surcharging has to be resorted to as issues run out, it. not being considered advisable to print any more under the circumstances. 4- 4- 4 New stamps are in preparation for the various Foreign Post Offices (China, Alexandria, Port Said, Morocco, Levant, Cavalie, Dedeagh, Vathy, Zanzibar, Crete, etc.). On the stamps ranging from 1 to sc. the words Bureau Francais will be substituted fox- Republique Francaise and the name of the office will be substituted for Posies. Values 40c. to sfr. will also have similar alterations. 4 4 4 A handy perforation gauge has been patented by a medical man in South Africa. It is called Benham’s perforation gauge, and is a most complete affair, capable of measuring all known perforations of stamps. The Benham 5s also provided with a inillemetre measure for checking . surcharges. The gauge is composed of brass, with the Centre cut out so that various gauges are shown round the two sides and end, y-lxile the other end has the millemetre measure. The inside has around the two pities and ends the larger perforations, Tanging ’from 6 to 11, while the oxtier edges range from 11J to 16. An advantage of this .gauge is that, stamps may be measured without being removed from albums. ~ 4-4-4-The Philippine remainders, which were sold by auction for £5OOO, caused a lot of trouble to the purchaser. The catalogue value of the lot was £600,000, but dealers generally were not in a hurry to speculate, Ten cases of the stamps were stored' at Antwerp and lost in a fire, but there were still 54 cases left at Zurich. Finally the stamps sold in one lot in Paris for between £6OOO and £ 7000.

Some time ago the remainders of the old issue of St. Helena stamps were sent to London fox- sale, but failing to find a purchaser at the reserve put upon them, were afterwards re-

turned to the colony to be gradually worked off. The postmaster has had exceptional opportunities of doing this during the past twelve months, owing to the thousands of Boer prisoners at the island. 4 4 4 At a philatelic exhibition in New York recently the judges decided in favour of an almost entirely clean collection of stamps, each one showing a well-definexl postmark of some city. 4 4-4 Collectors require to watch stamps of Portuguese colonies carefully, as some very deceptive counterfeits of the Crown type sets of various colonies have been issued. The corner figure or ornament, in the little square at the upper right hand side in the counterfeit ..varies noticeably from that of the original. 4 4 4 A petition has been presented to the Queen of Spain by the president of the Cireulo Filatelieo Malriteuse. praying for the issue of special commemorative stamps indicating the assumption of the Crown by the young King. 4 4 4 A new stamp has been issued by Hongkong, 12 cent dark blue, watermarked crown C A, perf, 14. This will take the platy* of the 12-eent pale blue issued 37 years ago. 4 4 4 Cook Island Stamps.—R. T. 8., Thames, asks if these stamps have been issued in Postal Union colours, and whethex- they are obtainable yet. In answer, it may be stated that letters have reached Auckland with the Id (bird issue) in green, thus replacing the blue one, also the Id (Queen Mahea) in rose, replacing- same value in brown, while the 21d has, it is stated, also appeared in blue, but so far a specimen has not yet reached the writer. Other enquiries by R. T8., re Niue and Penrhyu stamps were fully dealt with in last week’s issue of the “Graphic.”