The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1884-09-24
The POstal-Stamp Mania.

Hermit" says in one OF his New York
letters to the Troy Times: The announce
ment that $500 has been paid for a can
celed Brattleboro postal stamp calls our
attention to a mania which has gradually
increased until it has reached extraordi.
nary proportions. Some may inquire
what leads people to collect postal
stamps. The only reply is found in
another question: What leads people to
collect anything2 The fact is that a dis
position to make collections of some kind
has always been a feature in our race.
One of the strangest of these collections,
which in this instance became a mania,
is mentioned in the life of Tom Moore.
While travelling through England he met
a man who collected hangmen's ropes,
and who had 200, each ticketed with the
name of the victim. The postal-stamp
mania is of modern date, but it has dur
ing a brief period reached q prodigious
extent.
Formerly payment of postage was
made in money, and the amount was
marked in pen and ink; at present, how
ever, 200 governments Use stamps. In
1910 the latter were adopted in the Brit
ish p~ostoffice, and seven years later u
own government made a similar change.
The example thus set on both sides of the
Atlantic was gradually followed, until
the use of stamps became universal. The
mania for collecting loon began, though
at fist it wa very limited. 1t grew like
all other forms OF mania, until it became
a regular traffic, and was reduced to a
system. The value Of rare stamps is now
generally fixed. and there are collectors
in all parts of the world. The highest
price ever paid for a postage stamp is
$500. The one referred to was issued on
the French island of Reunion. The
original cost of the stamps was fifteen
centimes and thirty centimes (three cents
and six cents), and the immense price is
solely due to their rarity and to the fact
that they are necessary to- a complete col
lection of foreign stamps. There is not
one for sale at present at any price. The
next highest is the Brattleboro stamp,
which is mentioned in the paragraph
above refer:e ed to as having been sold at
5000. This statement is evidently incor-
rect, and perhaps its author has one of
these stamps for sale, and therefore takes
this method to bull the market. The
best quotation that l can obtain for the
Brattleboro stamp is 500, which GER
tainly seems high enough when the
first cost was from six to eighteen and
t~hree-quarters cents. The origin
of the Brattleboro stamp, as I am
informed, is as follows: In
1916 the postmaster OF that place
had some stamps made in order to obvi-
ate the necessity OF using the pen. It
was merely q private convenience, and
the sole Importance of the stamp is due
to the fact that it is the first ever used in
America. The next year stamps were
ordered by the government, and we may
now well wonder how they ever got along
without them.
The demand for stamps is now so gen.
eral that the clerks in houses engaged in
foreign commerce carefully remove them
from all letters, and this affords a large
supply. The foreign correspondence of
the Herald is sufficiently large to form an
item in the trade. The same statement
applies to a greater or less degree to all
the great journals, and in fact as soon as
any Office boy gets hold Of a foreign let
ter he strips off the stamp and carries it
to some dealer. Among the dearest
varieties are the PHILIPPINE and Peruvian
stamps, while, on the other hand, the
Porto Rico stamp is very cheap.
Madeira and British Guiana, however, are
high, and the law of supply and demand
prevails in this as we'll as in all other
commodities. AS. soon as a stamp be-
comes rare the maniac increases his offer,
until fabulous prices are obtained.
There are Il number of stamp dealers. the
most extensive being an establishment in
Broadway.