The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-05-12
Postage stamp COLLECTIONS.

The gathering Of collection of all
kinds of postage stamps, both foreign and
domestic, is becoming "craze" with q
great many people, and men are making
the sale of rare stamps for this purpose a
special business. One of the larger, il
not the largest, dealers, In the United
States, is Mr.. E. B. Sterling, of Trenton,
N. j. His extensive catalogue of stamps,
comprising several pages of fine type,
covers stamps from slight advance over
their face value to prices thousand or
more per cent. over that.
The Springfield (Mass.) Republican has
lengthy article on stamp collecting, from
which We extract the following interesting
references to Mr.. Sterling's business:
'It costs SO much now to get even
fair collection of stamps of the world that
many are combining their attention and
money TO the stamps of their own coun-
try. For IL years one dealer has handled
nothing but United States stamps, and his
busin. IS now amounts to $12, 900 year.
This dealer is e. B. Sterling of Trenton,
N. j., who has done more than any othe
person to work up interest In the various
stamp issues of this country. He deals
not only In postage stamps, but In revenue
stamps, private-die proprietary stamps,
old stamped paper, postage currency of
1862 and confederate states stamps, and
issues catalogues in each of these depart
ments. There are many who collect only
revenue stamps, and for them Mr.. Ster-
ling's catalogue describes over 1900 VA
rieties. He tells an odd story of his skill
in detecting counterfeits. He was run
ming through a collection of revenues"
sent him for examination, when he caught
sight of bogus beer stamp. He imme-
diately placed himself In correspondence
with the secret service department and 10
less than week one of the largest brew
ing concerns In the country was under
seizure, the proprietors arrested and con-
victed and a payment of $50, 900 made to
the government. In recognition Of bis
services, the Treasurer Of the United
States sent Mr.. Sterling a check for
$4,000. One of Mr.. Sterling's latest hob
bies is the preparation and publication of
catalogue of over 500 tin-foil labels for
tobacco, which, of course, are only one
form Of proprietary stamps. His private
collections are worth big sum, among
them being the Carpenter collection OF
proof revenue stamps representing u face
value of over $50, 900. His stock in
trade is worth over $4,000 and good
share of his business is with correspond
ents in foreign countries. He doesn' give
himself up entirely to his hobby, for he
has been for some years In the Trenton
banking company. His "office hours" for
| the stamp business are from 1880 z. M,
| till midnight, and he has two clerks. He
| Is native Of Trenton, 35 years old, and
| lives in $40 900 house at the corner of
| Prospect and Bellevue avenues, which has
been raid for from the profits of his
hobby.
"Mr. Sterling began business at a
lucky time. 1t was early in 1874, when
the contract for making and enclosing
the stamped envelopes was taken by the
Plmpton Manufacturing Co. Of Hartford
from George II. Reay, of New York, who
had held the contract for four years. The
Hartford concern had great difficulty 10
getting out the set OF stamps required,
and Experimental for some months. Dur
ing the first year of Mr.. Sterling's bust
ness no less than seven varieties of dies of
the denomination of one cent, two cents
and three cents were issued on white,
amber, cream and orange paper, and one
collection In this city has 80 distinct speci-
mems OF dies and paper Of this 1874 issue,
while the different sizes OF envelopes car
ry the number up to 90. OF course very
few Of some of these envelopes were print
ed, and Mr.. Sterling's energy at buying
up all he could get at the time has kept
the prices OF the 1874 stamps quite low
and thus made il possible for almost
every collector to study from his own col
lection this most interesting period. The
department postage stamps came at the
same time, being issued I'LL 1879, when
the ranking privilege was restored"