Stamp Collecting.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue VIII, 22 August 1903, Page 560

Stamp Collecting.

The 10 and 20 lepta current stamps of Greece are appearing in fresh varieties of shades. • • • The I lepton stamp of Greece, 1901 issue, on thin paper, has now been found •.inperforated. • • • The New Zealand 2/ stamp current type is chronicled as having appeared on laid paper printed in blue green, and perforated 11. • • • Ceylon has issued a six cents carmine stamp, bearing King Edward's portrait, ft is watermarked C A and perforated 14. • • • The 5 c dull altramarine stamp of Honduras 1896 issue has been found on vertically laid paper, and the 10 cent, dark blue on horizontally laid paper- • • • In the Denmark official stamps there is an error on the sheets of the surcharged 50 aur, also in the 5 anr ordinary, the 1 being omitted before the word “Gildi.” • • • It is now accepted as a faet that the 20 eent orange stamp catalogued for Spain, 1899, does not exist, and was not even prepared for issue. • • • ‘A whole set of the current stamp of Italy, as well as part of the unpaid letter stamps, have been surcharged “Colonia Erifra.” • • • The great stamp collection of the late William A. Smith is to be sold by auction in London. It is estimated that the sale will last eight days, as the collection is in nearly 100 volumes, and estimated to be worth £ 15,000.

The new type of stamp issued for the Dutch Indies has the portrait of the Queen of Holland in a circle, round which are printed the words, “Post Zegel” and Nederland Indie,'’ the value being shown beneath. • • • The Austrian newspaper stamp with the head of Mercury on it was first issued in 1851, and in 1865 reprints were issued. • • • “Every lover of Australian stamps has been disgusted by’ the flood of new and hideous stamps issued in Australia during the past two or three year,” is the way an article in the London “Philatelist” opens. • • • The French stamp with the Sower lady on it has been referred to as perhaps suitable for any country where agriculture is practised, but still better adapted as an advertisement for choice seeds. • • • The collection of the stamps of France and Colonies formed by M. Mareopnet, of Nice, recently sold for the sum of about £2200. It included a superb lot of the older issues. • • • The three cabinets constructed in the Biitish Museum for the Tapling collection of stamps are stated to have cost £3600. a somewhat expensive setting even for the display of £ 100,000 worth of stamps. • • • Some fakes of early issues of Dutch Indies stamps are reported, in the shape of colours chemically changed and perforations manipulated. For instance, a 2 cent King’s Head in yellow is reported, and a perforation of 10 x 101, which never was issued. • • • It is stated that the new General Post Office at Frankfort-on-Oder had. placed under the foundation stone 146,300 of the now obsolete issue of the

'■'Germania” stamps inscribed “Reitchpost.” The face value of these stamps is £2912, and for their preservation they were enclosed in a metal box. • • • The 2 soldi stamp, in orange, of Lombard Venetia, does not exist, excepting in the reprints. The stock of the 3 soldi, black, was not exhausted until August, 1862. It was at this date, therefore, that the green stamps first made their appearance. They were used in Venice only, the Treaty of Villafranea, of July 12th, 1859, having ceded Lombardy to Sardinia. • • • The four eent Danish West Indies stamps were allowed to be used bisected diagonally in February, 1903, to prepaypostage, pending the issue of new 2 eent stamps. The notification, however, specified that such letters must not be dropped into the boxes at post offices, but handed in over the counters, to allow the stamps to be examined. • • • Mr Charles J. Phillips, in Stanley Gibbons’ “Monthly Journal,” writing on “Collecting as an Investment,” advises purchasers to avoid all stamps cancelled or post-marked to order, also to beware of speculation in new issues, for the reason that they are now purchased bydealers in such large quantities that the results that could have been attained a few years ago are not likely to be attained again. • • • Printing stamps for the benefit of collectors does not always prove successful. For instance, the sale of the Harbour Works stamp, issued by- the Argentine Republic in November last, fell so veryflat that the authorities found themselves left with a large stock on their hands. The labels have consequently ■been surcharged “Valido por 5 centavos —servicio interior,” and are being used up for ordinary’ inland postage.