The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-10-04
Rare Stamps.

The announcement that $500 had
been paid for a Cancelled Brattleboro
postal-stamp calls our attention to a
Iannia which has gradually increased
until it has reached an extent that Is
really extraordinary. Some may in
quire, what leads people to collect post
al-stampsP The only reply. is found
in another question, what leads people
to collect anything? The fac. Is that
disposition to make collections of some
kind has always been feature of our
race. One of the strangest of these
collections, which in one instance. at
least, became q mania, Is mentioned in
the life of Tom Moore. While travel
ing through England he met man
who collected hangmen's ropes. and
who had two hundred, each ticketed
with the name of the victim. The
postal-stamp mania is of modern date,
but it has during brief period reached
such an extent that it is impossible to
foresee any limit to prices.
Formerly payment of postage was
made In money, and was marked with
pen and ink; at present, however, two
hundred Governments use stamps. In
1910 the latter were adopted in the
British postoffice, and seven years later
our own Governments made similar
change. The example thus set on both
sides of the Atlantic was gradually fol-
lowed until the use of stamps has be-
come universal. The mania for COL
lecting them soon began, though at
first it was very limited. 1t grew like
all other forms of mania until it be-
came regular traffic and was reduced
to 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 post
age stamp was $500. The one referred
to was issued on the French island of
Re Union, The original cost of this
stamp vas fifteen centimes and thirty
centines (three cents and six cents),
and the immense advance is solely due
to their rarity and the fact that they are
necessary to complete collection of for
eign stamps. There is not one for sale at
any price. The next highest is the
Brattleboro stamp, which is mentioned
in the paragraph above referred to as
having been sold for three hundred
dollars. This statement is evidently
incorrect, and perhaps its author
has one of these stamps for sale,
and therefore takes this method to bull
the market. The best quotation can
obtain for the Brattleboro stamp is 800,
which certainly seems high enough
when the first cost was from 6 to 1871
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
obviate the necessity of using the pen.
1t was merely private convenience,
| and its sole Importance is due to the
| fact that it is the first stamp ever used
in America. The first New Haven
stamps are also of high value for q
| similar reason. The next year stamps
were ordered by the Government, and
we now wonder how they ever got
| along without them.
The demand for stamps is now so gen.
eral that clerks in houses engaged in
foreign commerce carefully remove
them from all letters, and this affords
| large supply. The foreign cores.
pondence of the Herald is sufficiently
large to form an item in the stamp
trade. The same statement applies to
*
as an office-boy gets hold of foreign
letter he strips the stamp off and carries
it to some dealer. Among the greatest
varieties are the Philippine and Peru
Wan stamps, while, on the other hand,
the Porto Rico stamp is very cheap.
Madeira and British Guinea, however.
are high, and the law of supply and
demand prevails in this as in all
other commodities. As soon as a
stamp becomes rare the maniac
collector increases his bids until
fabulous prices are obtained. There
are a number of stamp-dealers, the
most extensive being the Scott es-
tablishment, in Broadway. Mr.. Scott
is native of London, but he has been
in this country quarter of a century.
He issues an international postage al
bum, which gives samples of a very ex-
tensive range, the price being $3.50.
Some may think this large sum to in
vest in such volume, but there are as
many purchasers as the supply will
| permit. There is an all-sufficient
abundance of common stamps, for
which they pay five cents per hundred,
and sell the same quantity for ten
|
dant, owing to the immense amount of
correspondence with that country.
Hence they are very cheap. and, the
quotation at present is one cont rper
hundred. Scott sells six hundred as
sorted stamps for $40, but as soon as
one gets into the varieties fancy prices
must be expected. Scott has custom
ers who are ready to pay almost any
thing that may be asked for the fancies.
He operates boldly when he sees good
opening. and hence, when the Madeira
stamp was issued he sent orders for all
that could be obtained from the au-
thorities. He also ordered at one time
$5, 900 worth of Porto Rico stamps. One
of his patrons is member of the
princely Vanderbilt family, whose col
lection has already cost $4,000. These
facts show the immense extent which
this specially has reached, and also
those fanciful prices which are the re-
suit of SO W idespread mania. Stamp
collectors are found in all large cities,
and one of the most liberal of this class
is Bostonian, whose collection fully
rivals that Of Vanderbilt. Hurt ford
Post.