The morning call., 1894-05-06
SPECULATIVE STAMPS

| Nothing shows more strikingly the vital
! ity of the p-collecting mania than
the facts that 1t survives all the attacks
made upon the purses of it's followers and
suffers no loss In the number of its ad-
| herents despite the many discouragements
! that crop up from time to time for the eel
lector. In truth, the proportion of so-called
| stamp fends is continually increasing.
| Whether there will not come a reaction
depends largely on the future policy of
| many Governments, including some of the
most powerful on the globe, among others
| Great Britain, France and the United
| States.
| Thus far the extraordinary power of
absorption displayed by philatelisrs has
enabled scores of countries to greatly
replenish their treasures, and in some
cases to pay the entire expense of govern
ment from the revenue derived from the
sale of stamps for the albums of col lectors.
Several countries have been notorious
| offenders from the ethical point of view o
| collectors for having issued stamps solely
| as drain on the pockets of the la ter.
| These stamps are cOmprehensiyely and
| strikingly known as Speculative issues"
| and include special issues such as the CON-
! memoratve stamps, which have been so
| largely INDUCED in within the past two
years, the regular annual issues of some
of the Central American republics, better
| known as SeebeckS; provisional stamps.
| made by surcharging or overprln ting a
| new value on an inscription, and the pro-
! life emanations of countries well known
| to have little or u o use for stamps for pos
| .al service.
The thorough manner in which the busi-
ness of dealing in stamps for collectors Is
| now carried on has brought to the notice
| of the postal authorities OF every country
| in the world the extensive field that ex-
| lists for the sale of postal labels which will
| never be put to service, the revenue from
| which will consequently be almost en- ntirsly
profit.
| Every dealer Of any promi inence now has
| his purchasing agent in all the principal
countries. whose duty it is to purchase
| certain quantity of every new issue as
soon a. it can be obtained. One English
firm Is reported to have a representative
| in every stamp-lssulng country, except
| Afghanistan, in both hemispheres. 1t
has been customary to instruct these
| agents to pay particular attention to such
| stamps as are issued only in limited
| quantities The result is frequently that
one or two dealers secure all of certain
| issue and by exhausting the supply at the
postoffice compel the issuance of pro-
visionals. These in turn are often
| cornered and thus varieties are multiplied
| to the spolaiiOn of the collector and the
| profit OF the dealer and the postal depart
ments. and. not seldom. to some schemng
| postal official.
So lagrant has become this practice in
| some of the British colonies that the atten-
| tion Of the British Colonial Office has been
called to II. with the result that Lord
| Ripon has Issued a circular deprecatng
the practice of issuing surcharges owing
to the temptations afforded to posimasters.
| h
make Irregular profits" by dealing with
| stamp collectors and dealers. He goes so
| far as to recommend that "the officer
responsible for keeping up the supply of
stamps" should be fined whenever he
re orts to a surcharge.
! Some dealers, instead of having repre-
sentatives, will send from time to time
sum of S25 to 500 to the local postmaster,
with instructions that whenever new
! stamp or a fresh surcharge is issued to
send at once specimens to that value.
| One dealer in Paris is reputed to keep
sum equivalent to $4,000 placed at diner
ent postoffices throughout the world IN
| this way.
But even where the local Postmaster is
| inclined to discourage speculation In
| stamps his efforts are not always success
ful. Two years ago, the Postmaster of
New Caledonia announced tnat In future
he would sell no more sheets Of stamps
over the counter, and that letters would
| have 20 be handed in with the velue Of the
| stamps required, and the postoffice officials
| would attach the stamps and post the let
ters. Thereupon the agent OF London
| wholesale dealer addressed 800 envelopes
to himself, gave them in with the amount
of postage. and had them duly delivered to
him the next day by the carrier. the stamps
having acquired n further value for collec-
tors by the fact that they were used. He
removed the stamps from the envelopes
and sent them to London, the only result
of the Postmaster's action being consid-
erable increase of work for his force. since
all the other agents, Of course. pursued
| the same tactics
The inducement to the stamp-dealers to
| bring about the issue of surcharged varie-
lies is sufficiently indicated by a single
illustration. A dealer in London received
one day a remittance of 12s Sd about S3)
In halfpenny postage-stamps from per-
son in Fiji who was In debt to him to that
| pho 20, vua oil Of ~.