The morning call., 1894-05-13
STAMPS AT AUCTION.

Each season sees San Francisco more
and more of a philatellc center. Two
years ago there were not more than three
regular stamp dealers in the city. To-day
there are no Jess than eight; two years ago
there was no philalelic publication worthy
the name issued here, to-day there are two
representative papers of the hobby; then
auction sales were unknown. to-day they
are regular features. Two have already been
held this spring and another Will be held
tile coming week.
By far the most important one ever held
here took place on the evenings OF Wednes-
day and Thursday last. under the auspices
of W. Sellschopp. a local dealer. 1t en-
braced TIA lots. and the aggregate amount
realized was nearly $1,000.
The catalogue. descriptive Of the lots,
filled twenty-four pages of pamphlet six
by nine inches. Some 1000 of these were
printed and circulated all over the United
States about two weeks before the date of
the sale and within two weeks bids began
to come in from various cities. In order
to stimulate the bidders at the other mar
gin of the country the stamps were placed
On exhibition at a prominent stamp deal
er's store in New York City during the
week from April IS to 25 The offerings
were described as ''the Stockdale collection
of United States postage, envelope, rev.
enue. match and medicine stamps, also
choice lot OF foreign Stamps"
In the preface the cataloguers stated ::
with this sale we have the pleasure of
putting before the philatelic public the
best collection of United States stamps
ever offered for sale. either privately or
sides the magnl lticent accumulation OF fine
and rare duplicates of very advanced
collector" How correctly this description
fitted the stamps can be judged from the
prices realized ior some of the best lots.
ln the dialogue each stamp was care
fully and minutely described, and the
buyer was gwen the right to return the
stamps if not as listed.
OF late the description Of auction lots
has become a most important matter,
owing to the extreme care collectors now
take tOsecure picked specimens for their
albums. often paying more than the ruling
price for choice varieties. TO be perfect a
stamp must be unused, perfectly centered.
that is, have a uniform margin; have
none of the perforations missing and have
the original gum on the back. A few rep
resentative lots are quoted 10 illustrate
what pains are taken to correctly inform
distant bidders what they are buying:
Lot 5-lool, cent, DToWD,, very nne
margins.
LOl 6-The same, margins on right side
are close and not quite straight, still de-
sirable copy.
Lot 7-1S51, 12 cent, black, unused,
slightly creased and small margins.
Lot 11-1S56. 5 cent, red brown, very
lightly Cancelled. a few perforations gone
on upper right side.
On the first evening of the sale there
were about fifty gentlemen present, but on
the second night. when mostly foreign
stamps were offered, the attendance was
less.
Those at a distance WHO desired to buy
sent their bids to local collectors and deal
ers, including the catalogues. Usually
limit Is given for the purchase of a lot, but
some times, where a collector particularly
desires certain stamp he specifies no
limit. In cases where two persons have
unlimited bids for the same variety some