The morning call., 1893-12-10
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

and bought up the larger portion of the
100000 stamps. which is the number sup
posed 10 have been issued.
Opportunities like the above are not fire.
quent. but every issue of provisional
stamps is attended by more or less de-
cideq speculative movement, the most
notable example of this kind being that
connected with the recent provisional
issue OF Hawaii. One dealer 10 this city
Is reported to have made in the neigh bor-
mood OF $1,000 out of these stamps, while a
specula tive dealer who went to the islands
Ior the express purpose of making finan-
clal venture In provisional and other
hawaiian stamps is believed to have
cleaned up several thousand dollars already
from his investment of $4,000.
NOT long ago another local dealer pur-
chased quantity of unused United States
stamps, known as th> Scent pink. from a
rival IN business, and made quite big re-
turn on small investment. He bought
them Tor % cents each. They were un-
priced IN the catalogue, aud his first SELL
Ing price was so cents each, at which
hgure the sales were so numerous that he
advanced 1t to 20 cents, then to 81, and
kept advancing 1t in the face OF the con-
tinuous demand until he now holds them
at So each, and he has but a few remain
ing.
Il is not, of course, definitely known
what stamps will enhance in value. and
their own ideas of what are likely TO rise,
and endeayor to buy up all the specimens
of such stamps. In this city one COLLECTOR
sreculatOr has fixed his faith on the
United States cent of 1S47 and so strong
ly is he imbued with the idea of their
future value that he keeps a standing ad-
vertlsement in two philatelic magaZin es,
offering to purchase any quantity of them.
He already has several hundred of them
laid away.
With dealers the broadest field for spec
ulatlon is IN buying up remanders. These
are stamps LETT over after another issue has
been put into service, and are no lsnger
available for prepaying mail matter. They
are usually sold in lot to some specula-
tive dealer al considerable below their face
value. who then can fix his own price for
such unused specimens. Costa Rica was
the last country to dispose of any consider
able quantity of Temainders, which are
now controlled by New York dealer. 1t
IS not unusual for a dealer to double his
money on an investment of this kind. and
frequently his profits may De 200 per cent.
What ]s undou Dtedly the most elebrated
stroke ever made in stamp-dealing was
the purchase several years ago by Sta nley
Gibbons IN London or several sacks full
of the triangular Cape of Good Hope issue,
Including many of the rarest, which are
to-day worth several pounds each. The
whole lot was obtained for acomparatiyely
small sum from a couple of sailors.
One of the outcomes of this speculative
feature of philately is that many collectors
adorn their albums with pairs, strips,
blocks. and even entire sheets of stamps.
1t is learned from official sources that
the postal authorities of this country con-
template the issuance of new soc, 81, So
and So stamps about the middle of next
year and the withdrawal of the current
SOC and 90c stamp. and as soon as this
knowledge becomes disseminated in phila-
telic circles there Will undoubtedly be a
general movement to hoard the stamps to
become obsolete for speculative purposes.