The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-25
THE COSTLY STAMP FAD.
,oW 1T AFFECTED THE FIRM OF
HILTON, HUGHES & co.

.ha bg house of Hilton, Hughes &
n ,s declared to be the postage stamp
.io Everybody knows with what vi
noe This form of the collecting mania
NV ages. and that many men and much
aral are employed in traffic in old
"A ..ogA stamps; but no such example
come to publicity as this of the
.opdous effects it may have on a
mans business.
"a ~, enploye of the firm of Hilton.
MS & Co, who had occasion to con-
=. or confer with the head partner, Al
IA -. hilton. usually expected to be met
~, the petulant eXclamation:
'ob 90 away Don't bother me now.
ant YOU see I'm busy?"
-, was busy, the chief of this great
I'm But not with balance sheets,
Win contracts, nor estimates, nor in
~ consideration of new ideas in dry
ss selling. The head of one of the
"-+ 5ry goods houses in America, the
9slo,er of thousands of persons, and
nlr whose counters immense sums OF
70, we're daily passed, was busy dur
~ business hours almost exclusively
{b- his collection of postage stamps!
Ni ME- mania for collecting rare specimens
n .H. s+anoDs used al lover the world since
E la infroduction of the postal system htty
80 ago is one that is peculiar on ac-
5 se,,nt of the severity with which 1t at
ool,s those who possess it. There seems
Fec particularly fascinating in the
+ .1o,,isition of a number of differently de-
B nt,na5 scraps of paper, but the devotee
~ tohflately"-as he terms his pursuit
oaI,7s 10 find it even more absorbins
.bon others find in gathering old books
B ~ Nine china or antique lace. Mr.. Hll-
Fl an in pursuing his hobby with such zeai
#tbat he left his business to take care OF
3itsalf was only following the example or
bother "phLatelists," in whose ranks II Is
"A turnris nc to find many of the famous per
"A sonages of to-day Alphone de Rothschil1
ts said to care more for his album OF
#+os+age stamps-declared by judges to be
&Irortb over 500 GOTHAM for his pictures
n ~ hooks worth half a million or more.
Tvan the Car of Russia is afflicted with
the mania.
Mr.. Hilton had been a collector from
& earlv years As a schoolboy he possessed
on album and devoted much time to swap
"A Ming DUPLICATES for other specimens. Then
possession of set of Australian
81 tbree-cornered stamps was tr umph,
while to obtain examples of the coveted
*Central Asian issues was the Chief uesire
h of his life.
A Thirty years ago, to obtain a specimen
of every stamp ever known to have been
issued was difficult but not impossibIs
. task But now new sets are issued some,
where or other in the world every day,
and only TO keep track of these fresh is
sues is by no means easy.
The possibilities for the rich collectors
h are naturally enormous, and a complete
album of every issue to date would con-
4 tain somewhere near half a million va
l. 4 - taA aarre flo
ure.
This was the aim Mr.. Hilton set him
self-to have a complete collection-and
he was listed in the philatelic journals
for there are dozens devoted to the SUP
4 iect here and in Europe) as having the
largest collection in existence. This op-
4 Jet in life was in fair way of becoming
a attained. Mr.. Hilton owns one of the I'm
est collections in existence. He has all
n the rare English black series, the Null
#ready envelopes (the first device ever Is
n sued to insure the delivery of letters
through the maiD. He has the rare early
Argentines and scarce stamps of other
South American states, with unique col
lection Of Cashmeres and Indian native
States
50 absorbed was Mr.. Hilton with his
mania that he engaged a young man
whose sole duty it was to help him in
gathering his collection. AS his assistant
"A was one of the cleVerest experts upon
pmlatey in America, he must have been
PAID a large salary for his service He
was instrumental in obtaining for his en-
Epoyer several of those specimens that
are to the stamp collector as the Elzevfr
caesar is to the bibliomaniac-i e., inn
presslons not only rare but unique The
poasessor of unique stamp is known and
enVed by every other collector, and Mr.
HA1oh collection contains not one but
many such specimens.
When Hilton, Hughes & Company failed
lne stamp secretary, as he was termed,
was dismissed. What has become of the
direction cannot be ascertained, but as
no announcement of the sale of any al
bum of such size and Importance as Mr..
lLloh mas been made, unless it has, which
- hardly likely, been purchased privately
IL sun remains in Mr.. Hilton's possession
NlI. Hllton's collection was insured for
s0W. The stamps were placed in an al
yum specially made for the purpose, in
Tnlch spaces were left for every issue of
al the stamp-using nations, in chronology
vaI order. This album was carefully lock-
gu up every day by Mr.. Hilton before he
e.' mis- office, in a safe quite as elabo~
ldle as that which received the valuables
|U Hilton, Hughes & Co.
~ would be impossible for a collector to
nave bought so literally and frequently as
W.T. Hilton without having been OCCASION
any Vctlmized by that bette noir of phil
a'eilsts' the manufacturer of bogus va
Ieues' The stamp forger has become so
lever IN Initiating rare impressions that
'le leading collectors in the world are in
llnual danger of being imposed upon.
.Mr' hilton wonders, therefore, whether
uis Nautilus, 1874, or his Borneo, with
we rare lettering, supposed to be worth
hundreds of dollars each, were ever any
uvarer these two countries than London,
"here most of the forgeries come.
:, Mr. Hilton speculated some in stamps.
Every collector will remember the re-
i,Idrkaole rise in the value of the Column
ulan series, issued at Washington in the
year Of the Chicago fair. a set of these
stamps was, of course, desired ardently
ny every American collector; but soon
al'er their issue most extraordinary
Use IN their value took place. They were
quoted at SO, IS, and even SO and $40 be-
yood their face value. Then suddenly
lnoy dropped to their former prices, and
some even sold at less than their face
Value
Ine corner" In Columbias was engi-
Heered by Mr.. Hilton. 1t was kept up as
''s as possible, and at one time II look
7' as though he could continue the cor
ler successfully; but he had estimated
'a number of stamps in circulation