The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-08
STAMP COLLECTORS.
Enthusiasts Who Arc Devoted to
Their Hobby.
A Drlcf Outline OF the History ~ Postage
Stamp Collecting In This Country
An Extensive and Lucrative
business.

The enthusiasm of collectors of rarc
postagc-stampS and the amount of
money spent annually in the purchase
of the little colorcd bits of paper will
cause surprise when ono remembers
That stamps for postage first came into
use in 1910, says the New York Times.
1t seems impossible that the demand for
raro stamps has become so great that
mon arm themselves like explorers and
visit countries infested by highwaymen
toSccurc specimens of the stHmp-mnlkcr's
art To-day there are millions Of dol
lars invested in the business, which ex-
tends all over civilized countries, and Is
kept informed by about forty journals
devoted to the interests of stump col
lcctorS.
That rnro postage stamps nrc literally
hunted for with 9upS WAS verified by |,
collector OF st. Louis, Mo-, who recently
returned from Mexico, whittier he went
for the purpose OF obtaining specimens
OF the postage stamps in use in TINT
country previous to 1872. before thut
date envelopes We're unknown in Mox-
leo, and the postage stamps were pustrd
on the outside of the letter itself, which
of lcttcr and envelope. In order to ST.
cure these stamps 1t is necessary to
get hold of old lettcr-filcs, and. as
only letters of business nature
can bc secured, the flies of old
mcrchant-louscs offer almost the only
means 10 the collector md dealer
OF getting ut the coveted treasure.
Family lcttcrs, are never sold, and, In
deed, 1t is seldom that owners OF bust
ness letters will part with them, SD the
task OF the collector in search of stamps
In McXico ih not an easy one.
Through business connections the
collector Obtaincd access to the letter
files of old firms i'll the City of Mexico,
and some of these he was able to pur-
chase. Hearing of an old house ut
Cncrnnvnc;. that would probably dis
pose of it,, files he decided to go there
with his secretary, Castilian. The
town is about sixty miles southwest of
the City OF Mexico. and the road lies
through II region infested 10y highway
men.
When departing from the City of
Mexico the stamp hunters We're nd
viscd tn leave I'LL their vuluublcs behind
and arm themselves we'll. and they took
tho ndvicc. They travelled part OF the
why by stage and part on horscb ncl,.
They were not molcStcd, for tho road
was ut the time patrollcd hy mounted
police for the entire distance.
Stamp collecting" the collector
says, began almost us soon as
the use Of stamps become gcncr-
al, or about lS47. Great britain
used the first postage stamps in 1870.
DraZil followed in 1916. and the United
States in 1877. Before that postage was
prepaid. us it Is on express packages to-
day. About iS63 the first Journal de-
voted to the literature of Postage
stamps appeared in belgium. 1t was IL
monthly publication, I-c Timbrc Tustc
The first stamp paper started here was
the Philatclic journal of America, in
1Ss5. There nrc at present thirty 10
forty papers published In the interest
OF collectors, and six or seven of these
arc tirst-ratc Journals There arr now
three incorporated companies i'll this
country which; deal In stamps Two of
these are capitalized ut $500 each.
New York has two companies and st.
Louis one.
THE value Of stamps, like every thing
else i'll trade, is regulated by the simple
law of demand and supply. ia wealthy
collector is without Il certain specimen
that specimen has an increased value
whether it bc rare or not Rare stamps
are therefore frequently not us valuable
Us more common ones wanted by rich
collectors But, generally speaking,
stamps which have been in use ONLY u
short time are the most difficult to gct
and the most expensive. There is no
danger of stamps of recent date bccom-
ing as rare as those of former issues
Before Great britain sent stamps to
Mauritius they were printed there i'll
plates, twenty impressions mt n time.
The result was that each of the twenty
was different from the others in some
minor detail. y rich collector is not
satisfied with one Muuritiis, but wants
one OF every variety, and this, of course,
makes them valuable.
"Thc highest price ever paid for n
single stamp at public auction in New
York City WIS S,,26 for stamp issued by
the postmastcrnt l'rattlcboro, Vt. before
the Government issued stamps. a stamp
issued at the New Haven post-oilice sold
in st. Louis three years ago for SOS.
Much higher prices than these have
been paid mt private sale Tor carly issues
of stamps of british Guiana and Muuri-
thus. Colonial governments often run
out Of stamps of certain value, and,
being unable to get them at once from
the mother country, they stamp the de-
sired value on other stamps. For in
stance, French colony may run out of
stamps valued at so confines, and will
print on their o5-centimc stamps So