Connecticut western news., 1890-01-22
MANY SPURIOUS STAMPS.
A NEFARIOUS INDUSTRY THAT IS
 WIDELY EXTENDED.
Philatelio Collectors Who Are Victim
 ized by Oounterfeits.

Stamps which have been in use little over half century, says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, have been more eagerly collected and by larger number of persons than any other product of hu- man industry.
 The value of collections varies from a dollar or two to tens of thousands of dollars, and there is constant de- mand for stamps of greater or less rarity, and ranging ill price from a few cents to hundreds of dollars.
 So considerable is this demand that the counterfeiters have taken advan- tage of it and hundreds of thousands of stamps are annually placed on the market by unprincipled dealers that never were issued by the government whose imprint they bear.
 Counterfeit stamps have appeared in nearly every country, and limitations more or less accurate have been placed on the market wherever collectors were to be found. Not few commercials, generally of a poor character, have originated in this country.
 This nefarious industry throve in England and France, while in Spain it became so common as to call for the enactment of special laws to prevent it. Of late years, however, Germany has enjoyed almost monopoly of this business, and 95 per cent of the coun- terfeit postage stamps are manufac- tured in that country
 The Government has seldom been a sufferer in this way, the limitations nearly invariably going into the hands of collectors. The single important exception to this rule is to be found in Spain.
 Several of the South American re- publics were at one time flooded with counterfeit stamps which were used for postage, but the sales owing to the habits of the people and the infre- quency with which they wrote letters, were not sufficient to afford the imita- tors any adequate reward for their ex- pense and trouble, and the issues soon disappeared.
 In Spain, however, the case was different. The Spanish stamps were simple in design and of poor workman ship, and therefore easily duplicated, while the rates were high enough to afford large margin Of profit. Eff teen or twenty years ago commercials were SO common as to cause the Gov ernment to alter it's models yearly, and it was not until the stamps were or dered in London instead of being made in the country in which they were used that the trouble ceased. Since that time counterfeit stamps have seldom or never been placed up- on letters.
 Contrary to the general supposition, the counterfeiter seldom undertakes to initiate the rarest and most expensive varieties. Those would only be bought by collectors who have studied the subject, and detection would be nearly sure to follow an attempted sale. The great mass of stamps sold are bought by boys and girls, who be. gin collections and abandon them in a year or two. From this source the demand is constant, and as almost any thing purporting to be stamp is ac- cepted as genuine, the imitator has g l fine field.
 The fact that many unused stamps are sold at less than their face value is explained by the fact that they are not genuine. In Europe the industry thrives more than in this country or ir England. Nearly every tourist has one or more friends who request that stamps of the different countries visit. ed be sent home, and travellers are familiar with the sheets of stamps that are for sale in nearly every cigar stand or tobacco shop that they enter.
 The great majority of these are imi- tations, and for few of them is more than 10 or Is cents asked. The reason for this is evident. A real collector if asked to give $5 or $10 for stamp would eith"r examine it very care 1 fully himself or submit it to an ex- pert. The cheaper stamps he would pay less attention to, as he would have them in his collection, and those who desired to obtain them would be safely counted upon as destitute of technica knowledge.
 l Therefore, rare stamps are very sell dom counterfeited.> The imitators reg ularly supply the dealers with theil wares, and in many instances set ul stamp bureaus of their own, advertis ing packets containing certain specified specimens at a given price. In many instances the stamps sold in packets are genuine, but more commercials art disposed of in this manner than in any other.