The Washington critic., 1890-02-06
CANCELLED STAMPS IN DEMAND.
Here Is New York Dealer Who
Buys Them Up by the Million.
NEW York rribune1


Buys Them Up by the Million.
New York Tribune.l
Has any one 1,000,0O stamps or 5O0.-
900 or 100000? The man who has long
been wanted by people who have saved
up stamps and who have jealously
guarded them for years has been found.
He actually buys Cancelled stamps by
the million or the hundred thousand.
This cheerful news is given for the bene-
fit of those who have cried out for in
formation from time to time. But the
man who buys them does not expect to
see them redeemed, nor is he trying to
relieve the suffering of those who have
carefully boarded the little green uns,"
the three cent stamp, and the five-cent
stamp, and the stamp of all kinds.
But the seekers of wealth by stampselling
are not likely to acquire great fortunes
in this way. If they have collected
only few thousand, or even 100000,
they would better become discouraged
and give 1t up, for the wholesale market
price of Cancelled postage stamps (unless
for some particular reason they are in
trinsically more valuable) is 800 mil
lion. And that is $40 hundred thou
sand.
"Why do l buy postage stamps ?''
said G. B. Calman of No. 300 Pearl
street to Tribune reporter. "Why, to
sell them, of course"
HWho wants them?"
''If people did not want them cer-
tainly should not buy them"
''Give one instance of a reasonable
demand for them"
"Well, there is big cigarette CON-
pany which has cancelled stamp on a
picture which is given away with every
box of cigarettes. The company uses
millions of them
Another"
"a certain publication gives stamp
book for so many coupons going with
the papers.
What kind of stamps do you buy 2"
"Ali kinds"
"But who wants common green two
cent stamps? They are not rare.
"Well, they are less common in
Western Bulgaria than in New York
City. / buy stamps in all parts of
Europe and bring them to America, and
] ship American stamps to all parts of
| Europe"
How many stamps doyou buy a
year?"
II bought over $4,000, 900 last year.
For fifteen years have averaged about
0,0O0, 900 year.
What becomes of themY"
Think of all the shops where stamps
are sold. A great many people make
!, collections, and the stamps are gathered
for them in this way"
What do yon pay for stampsY :. 81
Zone hundred dollars for million
of any kind. / don't care what they
are, / will take them. But pay a
/ great deal more for rare ones, of course.
| Sometimes people find old stamps which
| have been lying around for years. FIRE.
| quently they are very valuable"
| Suppose you were to get an order
day for $4,000, 900, could you fill it?'
Yes"
Would you buy as many?"
"Yes."
nHow do you handle them 2"
| "Those packing cases there are full
of them. You see, the stamps are as
sorted and put in envelopes and boxed
up for shipment. F."
"Itwould not pay, would it, to count
1000, 600 two-cent stamps? How dc
you manage that p
1--WE can estimate them almost pre-
cisely by'weight."
80 Cancelled stamps really have
market value p
"If they did not, as said before,
should not buy them. Bring round
million or two, in boxes or bales, ant
see for yourself, There are few thing
in these days that are allowed to go +
waste" And he picked up packag
of foreign stamps and gave them to tn
reporter as a nest egg.