Stamp Collecting.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 22, 27 May 1908, Page 13

Stamp Collecting.

The Turkish Government has been trying to sell an immense accumulation of stamps, amounting to about seventeen million together with the original plates for reprinting as many more as the purchaser required. Some ten years ago the lot of stamps was actually sold, under certain conditions, to a London wholesale dealer for a little over £2,000, but when this dealer discovered that the "certain conditions” meant him journeying to Constantinople with the £2.000, and to take delivery of the stamps in that city, he refused to go. A large quantity of these seventeen million stamps have since disappeared, and it is now stated that five or six million stamps have been lost in this manner. A firm of London wholesale dealers bought part of the balance, and the remainder was negotiated for by a French speculator for £3XOO. • • * The high price of C 3 10/ was paid in London for the New Zealand Id. doll earwiinv stamp of 1805. • • • A New Zealand one shilling green stamp, date 1862, watermark star, realised .£8 nt auction in London. At the third stamp exhibition of tho Junibr Philatelic Society, England, there Wore nearly one hundred exhibitors Irom different parts of the country and colonies. Tho Prince of Wales sent Ms collections of

Barbados stamps, which is probably the best in the worl I. Other exhibitors included the High Commissioner for New Zealand l , the High Commissioner for Canada, and the Agent (Jeneral for West Australia. Ihe entire collection contained about a quarter of a million stamps, ami its approximate value was £ 70,000. A pair of Barbados stamps of 1878, 5/, with Id. red overprint, sold for £lO in London. • • • A Cl lilac on red stamp has been issued in Gibmiter. It is oblong in shape, with the portrait of King Edward in the centre, and the value printed “ One Pound at the foot.” • • • The valuable “Post Office” Mauritius stamps were very crude in workmanship, having been engraved’ by a watchmaker on the i-land. The stamps were printed one at a time, and 1000 are believed to have been printed in this way. Only about twenty-six copies are known to collectors. In the early seventies the stamps were selling for £4 each. In 1896 a pair realised £l6BO. The Prince of Wales has a tine copy of each of tho stamps. The Id. red one was purchased for £B5O. The 2d. blue one was purchased at public auction for the Prince’s collection, tho price paid being £ 1440 • • • A Cape of Good Hope woodblock 4d. blue, with retouched corner, sold fo. v 10/ by auction in London. • • • For the great rarity, the Id. lilac. ‘ Government. Parcels” postage stamp of Britain. £l6 was realised by Messrs. Ventom, Bull ami Cooper, of tho London Hotel, Surrey-street, Strand, London, on March 17. There were only 240 of these stamps issued, and specimens have fetched £2O in recent years. • • • A strip of three Portuguese India stamps, of 1872, the 40r. blue, unused, and including tho tote Ceche variety, realised £24 at auction in London, and £lO was paid for the provisional of 1881. lir. on 20r. vormillion. • • • The English Philatelic Journal,” referring to the franking machines now in use in Now Zealand, has the following: — “ Such machines should prove of great convenience to business firms, and we should not be surprised to see them come into general use in a few years. The machine has been patented in all countries, ami negotiations are being entered into with most postal administrations. If the machine came into general use it would certainly cause the lower value stamps of some countries to become appreciably scarcer. • • • The oltlest “Postage Due stamps” in the world are the “Te Beta lon Port.” These were issued in 1554-7, andi affixed at Batavia to indicate the postage due on letters from foreign countries. Letters from the Dutch Indies in those days paid 1/ at each end, while for mail overland 3/ had to be paid to Java. The stamps wore printed from small wood blocks, with an ornamental border, bearing a space for the amount due to be filled in. 4 • • Tho Indore Council of Regency wants to sell “ for philatelic purposes only,” so runs the advertisement, the unused stock of Flolkar postage stamps marked “Service ”of the face value of over 1A lacs of rupees. This is due to the Indore Council of Regency having asked for |oMal unification} the proposal h*s been sanctioned by the Government of India, ami on the Ist March next the Deputy PostmasterGeneral, Rsjputnrm, will take over Hoiks r’s postal system.”