The morning call., 1894-07-08

In London recently quite a sensation
was caused in stamp circles by the suit
brought by Hitckes. Kirk patrick dS Co..
stamp-deaers, against Mrs. Louisa II.
Hme. The firm had been in the ha bit of
sending the lady defendant valuab le
stamps on approval. 1t was clearly shown
by the testimony taken during the trial
that the crafty dame in most sKilful
manner had substituted stamps of little
value for those of great cost on the sheets
sent her by the plaintiff. A remarkably
bold stand had been taken by Mrs. Hime
and maintained until the chain of evidence
became so strong that her attorney con-
sen ted to verdict for the plaintiff for the
full amount claimed, something over S450
The approval-sheet business is to-day a
large part of the business done in
stamps and substitution is not by any
means an unknown practice among Amer
lean collectors, and is one of the disagree
able evils that every dealer suffers from.
In consequence the case of Mrs. Hime has
been given much attention by the phlatelic
press of the United States and cited as a
warning to her imifators.
Last month a New York stampdealer
made a special trip to Londcn to arrange
for the largest auction sale of stamps ever
held Ii Is expected to take place during
the coming fall and the collection to be Of
fered is reported to be worth at the leas {
CdlcuIdliDu Cf0,UUU. IL Is UclleV6u tndb the
American market is not sufficiently large
to absorb all the high-priced raritIes. The
idea is to hold the sale in London and thus
throw the specimens open to the entire
world of collectors. The stamps will be
placed on exhibition both In this country
and in London.
Philatellsts in France are agitating the
issue of series of stamps in honor of
Joan of Arc. 1t is proposed to have six
t.,pn ut ia pbo of har
short and brilliant career. Writing of the
matter a correspondent says: "Bv pro-
ducing these stamps we would initiate the
United States and the South American re-
publics, who have just celebrated the dis
covery of America by magnificent series
OF stamps. Why not follow these
examples with as lofty purpose as ours
The administration may answer that 1t
cannot incur the responsibility Of the
considerable expense OccaSoned by Spe-
cial issue We therefore propose TO pay
this expense IN advance. Say that 10000
francs is necessary. This is our plan:
"The administration would print 10000
postal cards of 10 centimes. These cards
would have the appearance OF the present
cards, only little picture-very modest
would evoke the recollection of Joan OF
Arc. On the back we would read:
Received from the person named on
the ADDRESS l franc, 10 centmes, for the
subscription to the stamp In honor of
Joan of Are
"A receipt would thus be given to the
subscribers by means of the card SUBJ
scribed, and the 0.000 francs would not be
long in coming. The collectors would be
we'll satisfied with receiving the postal
card with their name on 1t, and would wait
patiently for the new stamps, all ready TO
uay again for them, as soon as they should
appear, whatever might be their face
value, say 1, 2, 10, %, 80 centmes and
franc.
This is not very complicated arrange
ment. A hundred thousand collectors
would want to own one of these postal
cards, and as the issue would be limited to
10000 copies, the price of franc would be
very cheerfully paid; indeed, special
measures would have to be taken to pre-
vent the cards from being made objects Of
speculation.
Full sets OF the United States Colum-
bian stamps are now offered by dealers
for $25. Their face value is SIG a.
With the advance in phila ellie progress
that recent years has witnessed there has
appeared the stamp DOCTOR" who makes
a special business of mending rare dam
aged stamps. The work is done so care
fully that frequently the injury IS i'm per-
ceptible. Stamps thatare almost worthless
are ShuS rendered OF considerable value
At recent auction sale held i'm the
rooms of the New York Philatelic Society
500 stamps realized $4,000, an average price
of $S each. The best prices were as fol-
lows: Three-cent envelope, brown on
white, full letter, the rarest United States
envelope, S102 75; st. Louis Scent, Sal :;
State Department So, $50; scent Tellico
Plains, Con federate local, S1OO,