Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-16
THE STAMP STAMPEDE.
Four Hundred Philatelic Savants
Haste to New York.
From the NeaD FORK Journal.

From the Nelp York Journal.
Four hundred people from all parts of
the Union, who collect postage stamps
from all parts of the world, will meet in
convention this week at No. 81 East
Fourth street, this city. They will COM
pare their collections Of postage stamps
and will devise measures to COLLECT more
curious stamps than any which have yet
been obtained. They will also form a
Philatelic Society, whose particular OBJ
jest will be to enable collectors to obtain
foreign stamps at cost.
There are 100000 collectors OF stamps
in the United States. A majority Of them
are school children, but if any one goes
into the store on Broadway which Is de-
voted entirely to the sale of curious
postage stamps and old coins he will see
old men and men of middle age eagerly
looking over collections of stamps to OBJ
tain some rare stamp which they have not,
and be will see them throw down on the
Coupler a handful Of silver for some faded
old stamp which was used forty years ago
to post letter In New Zealand.
The store has one little postage stamp
which was issued forty years ago in Bal
timore and for which 1t asks $500, simply
because the stamp is rare. A collector
will pay more for this little stamp than he
would pay for trotting horse or for a
Cooks excursion ticket to Europe. Yet
some collector may buy the stamp on
speculation, keep 1t a short time, and
then sell it at a higher price.
One collector in England has vast
and curious collection of stamps which
he values at 100000. The late Mr.. Scott,
OF New York, who spent his life in gather
ing coins and stamps. left collection Of
or which - Uolno6 a con
900. At the Broadway store the postage
stamps of more than 300 countries are
kept on sale. and the stock embraces more
than 10. 900 different kinds Of stamps.
1t is curious how many different coun-
tries have postage stamps. Twenty prov
inces in India have special postage
stamps of their own, besides the stamps
OF the British government. All the is
lands In the Pacific and Indian oceans
have postage stamps. They are used in
the Fiji Islands and the Sandwich Is
Islands, the Friendly Islands. New Ca
ledonia, Van Dleman's Land and New
Zealand. The Fill cannibal goes to a
post office in cocoanut grove, BUYS q
postage stamp and stamps 1t on his letter
with a war club. The Maori, of New
Zealand, buys his postage stamps
and stamps his voluminous mail with
them.
In New York city there are 5000 col
lectors of postage stamps, OF whom sixty
or more have large and valuable collec-
tions, and are members Of the Philatelic
Society. The hobby OF collecting stamps
is said to be more general throughout the
country now than it ever was before.
Very high prices are paid for rare stamps,
and they are eagerly sought for by the
collectors. Both Cancelled and uncan-
celed stamps are collected.
The stamps are usually pasted in al.
buns, and some of these albums, full OF
rare and curious stamps, are valued al
50, 600 and SO, 600. The stamps from Orien-
tai countries, such as Turkey. Persia
Siam, Japan and China, are highly valued
by collectors.