The St. Johns herald., 1891-06-25
STAMP COLLECTORS.
Enthusiasts Who Are Devoted to
 Their Hobby.
| Brief Outline of the History of Postage Stamp Collecting iu This Country An Extensive and Lucrative
 Business.

|
 money spent annually in the purchase
 of the little colored bits Of paper will
 cause surprise when ono remembers
 that stamps for postage first came into
 Gse in 184O, says the New York Times.
 It seems impossible that the demand for
 rare stamps has become so great that
 men arm themselves like explorers and
 visit countries infested by highwaymen
 tosecure specimens of the stamp-nakers
 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 l devoted to the interests of stamp col
 iectors.
 That rare postage stamps are literally ! hunted for with guns was verified by
 collector of St. Louis, Mo, who recently
 returned from Mexico, whither he went 1 for the purpose of obtaining specimens
 of the postage stamps in use in that country previous to 1872. Before that
 date envelopes were unknown in Mex ico. and the postage stamps were pasted on the outside of the letter itself, which was made to answer the double purpose of letter and envelope. h order to se- cure these stamps it is necessary to ret hold of old letter-iles, and, as only letters of a business nature can be secured, the files of old merchant-houses offer almost the only means to the collector and dealer Of getting at the coveted treasure.
 Family letters are never sold, and, in- deed, it is seldom that owners of busi- ness letters will part with them, so the
 task of the collector in search of stamps .i1 Mexico is not an easy one.
 Through business connections the collector obtained access to the letter
 files of old firms in the City of Mexico, and some of these he was able to rur- chase Hearing of an old house at Cue1navaca that would probably dis pose of its 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 a region infested by highway
 men.
 When departing from the City of Mexico the stamp hunters were ad- viscd to leave all their va!uables behind end arm themselves well, and they took tbe advice. They travelled part of the
 way by stage and part On horseb acl1. They were not molcsted, for the Toadf was at the time patroiled hy mounted police for the entire distance.
 Stamp collecting" the collector says, began almost as soon as the use of stamps become gener- al, or .about 1S47. Great Britain used the first postage stamps in 1S40. Brazil followed in lS45, and the United States in 1S4T. Before that postage was prepaid, as 1t is on express packages tc- i day About 1863 the first journal, de voted to the 'hterature' of postage stamps appeared in Belgium. It was 1 monthly publication, Le Timbre Post2. ] The first stamp paper started here was i the Philatelic Journal of America in | 1885. There are at present thirty to forty papers published in the interest 1 Of collectors, and six or seven Of these | are iirst-rate journals. There are now three incorporated companies in this ! country which deal in stamps. Two Of ! these are capitalized at $50, 600 each. i New York has tHo companies and St. ! Louis one.
 ''The value of stamps, like every thing i else in trade, is regulated by the simple ! law of demand and supply. If Q wealthy ! collector is without a certain specimen that specimen has an increased value, it be rare or not. Rare stamps are therefore frequently not as valuable as more common ones wanted by rich collectors. But. generally speaking, which have been in use only a short time are the most difficult to get and the most expensive. There iS ne danger Of stamps of recent date becon- ing as rare as those of former issucs. Before Great Britain sent stamps tO Mauritius they were printed there in plates, twenty impressions at a time. The result was that each of the twenty was different from the others in some minor detail. < rich collector is moi satisfied with oEc Mauritius, but wants one of every variety, and this, of course, makes them valuable,
 ''The highest price ever paid for 9 single stamp at public auction in New York City was $226 for q stamp issued by the postmaster at Brattlebcro, Vt, before the Government issued stamps. A stamp issued at the New Haven p0st-ofiice sold in St. Louis three years ago for $I9S. Much higher prices than these have been paid at private sale fer early issues of stamps of British Guiana and MauIi- -ius. Colonial governments often run out of stamps Of q certain value, and, being unable to get them at once from Inc mother country, they stamp the de ,ired value on other stamps. For in- stance, 9 French colony may run out otJ stamps valued at 5O centimes, and will 5rint on their 25-centimc stamps '5G. -hUs making new isSue. This will 2rcate demand for this new variety when the supply of regular 50-centilne staEps arrives. ,
 The government officers can there { fore print any lumber of these 'emcC- . y2ncy stamps, hold them until they be- , :ome rare, and then dispose Of them to collectors. These are called 'surchargej' $ on1 t7-a Y,Cc4-,,, 10