STAMP

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 21, 23 November 1907, Page 27

S TAMP

COLLECTING

A penny New Zealand stamp of the year 1850, dull carmine in colour, realised 22/ by auction in London.

Two new stamps have been designed for Crete. They are rectangular in shape, and the values are 25 lepta (black and blue) and 1 drachma (black and green). The 25 lepta bears the portrait of the present High Commissioner (Alexander Th. A. Zaiinis). On the other stamp appears a representation of the landing of Prinee George of Greece at Suda in 1898. • • • Five values of the new set of for Indo-China are all different designs, and large, upright, rectangular in shape. The values and colours are as follow: 75c, orange and black; If,, carmine and black; 2f, green and black; sf. blue and black; and lOf, violet .and black. The designs are of native men and women. • • • The 1907 issue of stamps has made its appearance in Abyssinih. ' The original labels of 1894 have been overprinted with Ainharic inscription in violet, and the value is in gucrches, with a star at

either side of the figure. The values are: J gairsh, green; 4g., red; 1, blue; 2, brown; 4, claret; 8, lilac; and 16, black. A set of similar values, overprinted “Taxe a Percevoir T,” is also issued as postage due stamps. »• • • The following is the description of the new set of stamps issued in Ecuador: lc., red and black, with portrait of Roca; 2c., blue and black, with portrait of Noboa; 3c., orange and black, with portrait of Robles; 5c., rose and black, with portrait of Urvina; 10c., blue and blaek, with portrait of G. Moreno; 20c., green and black, with portrait of Carrion ; 50c., violet and blaek, with portrait of Espinoza; and 1 sucre, green and black, with portrait of Borrero. Some provisional postal-fiseals have also appeared in Ecuador, being rendered available for postage by carrying an overprint in black, with the date reading “1907 Y 1908.” The meaning of this overprint is that stamps bearing it arc rendered available for use during the veers 1907-8. The demand for the stamps of New South Wales' increased so rapidly that the contract supply of paper was exhausted, with the result that the Government Printer had to procure some forty-five or fifty thousand sheets from Victoria. As the Victorian paper doesn’t “fit” New South Wales stamps the watermarks are scattered all over, and it is the exception rather than the rule to find the complete watermark on any one stamp. In addition, the words “Commonwealth of Australia,” which are to be seen on the margin of the Victorian sheets, appear on the New South Wales stamps —two rows being seen on some sheets and none on others. • • • The Federal Postmaster - General stated recently that whatever might happen be was determined the King’s head must appear on the uniform postage stamps to be issued for the Commonwealth when arrangements are made. The Minister for Home Affairs stated in the Senate the"other ■ ilay,-in answer to a question by Senator l Stewart, a member of the Labour party;* whether the Gohaernmenl 1 intended ’to insist upon it, that he could make 1 no statement until -the report of the Stamp Cofttni'ittce'had ■been dealt with. Senator Stewart pointed out that some of the most tastefully designed Commonwealth stamps were- representations of Australian scenery. • • • A set of large stamps has been issued in Bulgaria to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the accession of Prince Ferdinand. The values are: sst., dark green; 10, brown red; ami 25, blue. • • • The volume of British correspondence is shown by the re|M»rt of the PostmasterGeneral. Nearly five thousand million of postal packets, it states, were delivered in the United Kingdom during the year 1906-7, being an average for each person of just over one hundred and ele ; ven. The details were: Letters, 2,804,400,000; post-cards. 831,400,000; halfpenny packets,' 933,200.000; newspapers. 189,100,000; parcels, 104.820,000. Total, 4,862,920,000. The growth in the popularity of pictorial post-cards apparently reached its climax two years ago, and the rate of increase appears to have returned to the normal.