Stamp Collecting.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXX, Issue XVII, 25 April 1903, Page 1183

Stamp Collecting.

The practice of sending pictorial post cards abroad which have not been issued by Government is growing. It is well therefore to remember that private post cards are charged letter rates. • • • The Government of St. Vincent lias destroyed the remainder of the Queen’s head issue, 127,518 in number, of a face value of £2650, to make way for the new King Edward stamps. Had it been a Portuguese colony, tenders would have been invited for the remainders. • • • “Heaven gives almonds to those who have no teeth to crack them,” says the Spanish proverb, and just the same it is sad to think that almonds in the shape of Niue 1/ stamps were on sale for a few days at the Auckland Post Office, but were withdrawn before most stamp collectors here knew they were to be got. Human nature always wants what it cannot get, and collectors now want some of those Niue stamps very much. The reason for the sudden withdrawal from sale of New Zealand shilling stamps surcharged for use in Niue Island has not yet transpired, but it is presumed there was an error in the printing. It is stated that only about 80 were sold in Auckland, and of those 20 were despatched to South Africa. The man who sent them now wishes he had not been in such a hurry, and has cabled to stop the stamps from being sold. • • • It seems somewhat of an anomaly that while stamps with inverted surcharges are catalogued at high prices (as, for instance, the Jd green Niue, 10/), yet inverted water-marks are not taken any notice of. One should be of as much value as the other, as in each case the invert is due to carelessness in

printing. Not for a moment is it to be desired that inverted water-marks should be catalogued, but the real point is whether the upside down surcharge should be considered such a treasure. As a matter of fact, surcharging has now become such a common practice that it is questionable whether the time is not near when there will be a considerable slump in values, and specialists will learn to their sorrow that the surcharge is of no more value in making a variety than the post office obliterating stamp From an artistic point of view, the surcharge is merely a defacement of the stamp, just the . same as the New Zealand dinner-plate cancellation mark, which, unfortunately, is used at the Auckland Post Office. • • • In recent London catalogues the New Zealand sixpence green pictorial issue, colonial print, perforated 11, is quoted at 3/6, used or unused, and the yellowgreen one 15/ unused, and 10/ used. These stamps are likely to still further rise in value, as they were only in issue for a very short period, being replaced by the same type of stamp printed in rose. The sixpence green is easily distinguished from those printed in London owing to the perforation being 11, while the others were 12 to 14. One catalogue quotes the 5/ New Zealand stamp of the same issue, colonial print, at 5/, fiscally used. The sixpence rose stamp, on paper with no water-mark beyond the words “Lisbon Superfine,” is virtually an unwater-marked issue, for of the pane of 120 no less than 96 are without any water-mark, as the letters of the trade mark are only spread over some of the stamps in the fifth, sixth, and seventh rows. An unused sixpence on the Lisbon superfine paper can easily be distinguished, because it has white gum, whereas other printings on no water-mark paper have dull or shiny gum. • • • A correspondent writes from Masterton enquiring the value of certain New Zealand and American stamps, but ua-

fortunately only the face value and date of issue is given. The information furnished is too meagre to enable a satisfactory reply to be given, added to which some of the dates mentioned are wrong, because there was no change in New Zealand in some of the years stated. With New Zealand stamps especially, the perforation and watermark have a good deal to do with the catalogue value. The American stamp referred to is of no particular value. The following quotation may, however, serve as a guide from which to judge the prices: If the intention is to sell, of course a substantial reduction has to be accepted to enable the dealer to make his profit. The values are as follows:—“N.Z. one penny, 1870: There was no fresh issue till 1872. The value of the Id brown, water-mark star, if perforated 10, is 70/ unused, and 8/ used; if 10 to 12J, 20/ unused, 8/ used; 12 to 13, 6/ unused, 2/ used; if no water-mark, perf. 124 to 13, 20/ used; if water-mark N.Z. and perforated 12 J to 13, so scarce as not to be quoted. Although the penny brown of 1872, watermark star, and perf. 10, is quoted in Stanley Gibbons’ catalogue at 70/ unused and 8/ used, still, strange to say, it is offered in Pemberton and Co.’s catalogue for 1903 at 5/ used and 7/9 unused, a marked difference in value that is hard to understand. N.Z. penny, 1875: No issue that date, but in 1874 appeared the new issue with Queen’s profile. The values are—Lilac, Id, perforated 10J, water-mark small star, 2/ unused, 6d used; ditto, blued paper, 7/6 unused, 2/ used; deep lilac, water-mark large star, 15/ used; penny lilac, 1875, small star, perforated 10 to 124, 20/ used; ditto, blued paper, 20/ unused, 16/ used. N.Z. penny, 1876-77-78, are also enquired about, but there were no changes after ’75 (when the large star watermark penny and twopence appeared) until 1882, when the penny rose and twopence lilac came on the scene, and lasted until the pictorial issue of 1898. The correspondent also asks where such stamps are saleable. Of course, for scarce issues, London is the real market, but still there are dealers in the

four centres of New Zealand that ]Ay fair prices, whose addresses may be easily obtained. To publish names of the dealers would be invidious, and, what is worse, from a business point of view, be giving them a free advertisement.