The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-05-11
POSTAGE STAMPS.
CURIOUS SEARCHERS IN THE CORR
DORIS OF THE POSTOFFlCE.
A WatchfuI Young Woman on the Look
out for Rare Foreign Stamps Trad
ing Stamps-The Various Col
IeotOrs-How Prices Range.
New York SUM


There is a young woman, said q
Waterman at the New York postoffice,
who spends several hours a daY in the
corridors looking for rare postage stamps.
She never looks for letter, and never ex-
poets one, but she watches those who do
get them, and examines the stamps on all
caStaway envelopes with great care The
stamp must be very rare before she will
accept it, and every time she gets
foreign stamp she cOnsults a small book,
which she takes from her pocket, and at
once decides whether she will keep it or
not She may not get a stamp for days
at time, but she does not seem to be
discouraged. When she gets one she is
as happy as if she had found a gold
mine
Is she the only one who comes here
for that purpose?' inquired the reporter
Bless you. no. there are hundreds of
them, and of every age, from small boys
to gray haired Old men. Most of them
want nothing but foreign stamps for col.
lections, while other cranks are trying to
collect 1000, 900 United States stamps. At
any time you can see these collectors
going about the office carefully picking
up every old envelope and removing the
stamps. These people are all pretty well
dressed and seem to have nothing else to
do but to Iook for stamps
Several of these men who have been at
it for long time have struck up quite a
bushes between themselves in trading
stamps When one of the fell
lows who is trying to collect 900, 900
United States stamps finds a rare foreign
stamp he trades it with one of the col
lectors of foreign stamps for 200 or 300
old United States stamps, and considers
himself wei paid. There are few young
men who collect foreign stamps for the
purpose of selling them to collectors.
Almost every bank or large business
house contains one or more stamp
collectors. said a downtown business
man. Some of them keep what they get,
but greater part make business of coll
lecting them to sell. and have their regu-
lar customers. In houses where they have
a large foreign correspondence the col
leetOr has a good thing of it
a lalge dealer in stamps on Nassau
street said that the number of stamps Of
all kinds which are being sold to col
lectors is greatly on the increase. Several
of his customers have standing orders for
price for, while others watch every lot of
stamps that comes in for something new.
The value of old pos! age-stamps is like
that of rare coins; il depends either upon
their age or the part of the
world they come from. Some
times only few stamps aof an issue are
put out, and these then become high
priced. The value Of old United States
stamps does not run high. The most val
liable is the issue of 1861, which can be
bought for 70 gents q set, while the issue
of 1647 and 1851 cost so cents lot.
Among the high priced foreign stamps is
an oAcial 1-cent stamp issued in British
Guiana in 1860, worth 81; 20-cent stamp
of costa RIGA, issued in 1888, sells at So,
and 10-pesos stamp issued at Bolivar in
1882 can be bought for So. Nearly every
foreign country has rare stamps, for
which collectors pay from 81 to So On
the other hand, a good collection Of
stamps now in use in the different cOun-
tries of the world can be had for little
money. Packages containing 100 vari,
cites of stamps which are quite plentiful
can be Bought from 81 to So