The Lamar register., 1892-05-21
RARE POSTAGE STAMPS.
SOME OF THEM WORTH A coon
DEAL OF MONEY.
A Mauritiu. Specimen valued Mt u Thou
sand Doiiars-BIg Prices Paid by
coiIootors-vaiuabie Amer
lean Stamps.

A woll-known stamp dealer tells a
New York Tribune representative;
III you wish to know how widespread
this engaging pursuit has become YOU
have only to consider the fact that
there As at least $500 600 OF iucor-
po. a,ed capita! engaged in the busl-
ness in this country alone and ABOUT
$50 publications devoted TO IL and
several hundred thousand people en-
gagged In IL Germany has not so
many publications or collectors as
Amer!cn but the sub iect IS approached
even moro seriously thore than here.
Their papers arc more historical and
exhaustive than ours. Great Britain
numbers her collectors by tho hundreds
OF thousands too, and France Is no,
far behind.
Boys no longer outpumbcr the
oihers but ciergymen. lawyers doc
tors business men and women engage
In IL heartily. One OF the most car
hcst collectors In this city IS "a clergy
mao who when he attends an auction
sale OF stHmps gets genuinely excited
over the bargains The market for
stamps is 50 lively just now that SOW
cral dealers arc holding auction sales
OF thc.r accumulated stock.
Tue prices paid by collectors for
stamps are Of course regulated by the
scarcity OF tho stamp not by its age.
size beauty or appearance. Probably
the highest, priced stamp In existence
s. tho common looking one penny Of
hauritius issued In 1877. A single
one OF these is valued a. 81. OJO. be-
cause there are only sts or eight OF
them known 10 be 10 existence There
Is probably no genuiuc ono in this
country. bot a. the Geld for forgery is
vide there arc u good many bogus
ones Ia existence In order 20 be
valuable proof Of tho genuine char
acLer ~ iho stamp must DO had. Each
Of these six o. eight rerognlzed Maui
r!tlus stamps has a tayuIated record
Of different owners who have pos
sesscd H. corresponding to tho pcdI-
gree OF blood horse
One thousand dollars Is a good deal
Of money 20 pay for a little bit Of pa
per. and many people cannot be con
vIueed that tho stamp would soil lo-
anything like that ugure There arc
wealthy e1lle-t1rs OF stamps how
ever. just as there are wealthy men
who pay enormous prices for gems
A diamond as big as n walnut has lit
TO more intrinsic value than n mum
Der Of smaller oaes yet IT. rarity puts
m enormous price on II and 80 with
stamps The British Museum Is no:
lsoly to place an exaggerated value
on these things yet nut long ago Mr..
Iopling. an English member OF Par
Iiauent left his collection of stamps
10 tho museum and the government
crarted an Inheritance tax OF ~. OJJ
on the collection reckoning this TO be
: pcr cent oi is value This Is con-
sidcred . bc the second bost collec-
lection In tho wOrld Toe posses
sor Of the best eollectiul Is
generally conceded 20 DO Mr.. Fcrrari
OF Paris II has cost him a great deal
Of money TO make t. bat he does not
seem to mtad that he !s determined
TO have tho best.
Something new Ia postal cards has
been issued by the country Uf SALIVA
dor. Ia Ccltral America In honor OF
the Anniversary OF tho discovery OF
America Itisa pictorial aud goolog-
ical one. On the side where tho ad-
dress Is to DO written appears map
showing the route Of Columbus from
Spain 70 Ssivad6E Adjacent islands
ard parts OF continents are also shown
and tho whole IS printed In light blue
and brown. The stamp too. bears
scene IN tho career OF the great dis
covcrcr. As this Columbian series
viii be limited thoy no doubt will be
extremely valuable at the time OF the
5oJth anniversary OF Columbus land
ing. Ear sighted people might get
them cheap now and leave them to
their children
Another remarkable postage stamp
Is the tiger head OF Afghanistan. and
another more rare the OK head OF
Moldavis- issued in 1854 One Of
these sold not long ago FOR E49.
Many people in this lnnd are not
aware that some stamps OF thor own
country have become pretty valuable
already. especially those issued before
the war. These were all called in
shortly after the war broke out so
that the large quantity os them held
In the Southern states should do the
Conicleraies no good. Some OF these
have been sold for S65 and even $40 J
in this city. Many people do not
know. either that Uncle Sam issues
stamps as great in value as $50. That
Is the highest These big denomina-
tlons are used FOR mailing newspapers
and printed matter in bulk. They are
not delivered TO the purchaser but
when paid for are put on by the pos
tai clerk himself; so that the general
public seldom secs them. They are
pretty stamps almost as big as the
little O-cent 'shinplaster' which used
to be in circulation, and are printed
In Lively colors The SEQ one is pur-
pie and white and has n well engraved
figure of an Indian.
S.vx Sour.