Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-08-18
Chicago Tribune.

Chicago Tribune.
Some day some newspaper may start a
column showing the daily fluctuations In
prices paid for stamps. 1t will then be
discovered that the causes which lead to
the rise and fall of the stock market
operate in like manner in the philatelic
saleroom.
King Edwards recent Illness, for ex-
ample, doubled the price Of current Eng
lish stamps, and more than quardrupled
the demand. His speedy recovery brought
prices back to the normal. and almost
entirely stopped the demand. Still for a
few days the sale was so brisk that 1t Is
wonder there are any King Edward
stamps left for sale in Chicago.
Similarly, the Martinique disaster set
every one crazy to possess relics of the
unfortunate island. The widest excite
ment prevailed on the Paris stamp house,
an interested observer likening the scene
to the Chicago exchange during the Letter
wheat corner in 1898, while nearer home
an eastern salesman who happened to be
in Chicago cleared out more than thou
sand at double the price he had asked in
vain the day before Mount Pelee erupted.
Today Martinique stamps, although not
in such great demand now it is seen some
of the island is apparently to remain, can
hardly be obtained at all.
1t is not historic events alone, how
ever, which affect the philatelist, for some
trivial mistake on the part of the printer
will often enormously enhance the price or
stamp In 1s4T, for example, Mauritius
started printing stamps and decided to
place the words post paid" on the border.
BY error the first dies read ''postoffice,
and a few stamps were run off before 1t
was discovered. Then every endeavor
was made to get all that had been issued
and those recovered were Immediately de-
stroyed. For long time it was believed
that none had escaped, but fifty years
later one of each variety, the one penny
orange and two penny blue were offered
to Stanley Gibbons & Co.. the London and
New York philatelic dealers. who bought
them for 49, 600, selling them again within
week at an unknown profit.
These two stamps are the most valua-
BILE in the world, but there are many 9TH
| ers whose value would be less had no mis-
take been made in printing them. The
| 1887 issue of cent envelopes by the Unit
ed States government on amber paper sell
| ordinarily at 1 cent apiece but there are
a few extant with the crossbar of the &c
in postage" broken. One of these was
sold by auction in Chicago last winter for
! SIS. These stamps obtained their value on
| account of unpTeventable accidents. but
many an act of gross earelessness has
been afterwards blessed by the philate-
list
L
! are printed in two colors for the center die
! to become Inverted and thus to create q
| new variety for the collectors album. In
the Pan-American issues the l cent,
| cent and cent stamps were all thus
| carelessly printed. Today, while the
stamps properly printed fetch but face
value or less. specimens with inverted
! centers SELF respectively at $40, SEQ, and
$50 each.
Had King Edward died last month
stamps with his head on them would only
have been issued for half year and the
increase in their price was due 10 the
fear that no more of them would bt
struck But there are manv other causes
which lead to high values. The first issue
of stamps in New Brunswick, Canada
was made in 1861, when p. NJ. Cornell was
| postmaster. Instead of following the Gus
tomary practice and putting Queen Vic
torias head on the cent issue, he sought
to perpetuate his own memory by substi-
.tuting his own features for those of his
sovereign. The stamps were duly issued
placed on the market, and few sold
Then the people realized what he had done
and rose in patriotic wrath. For a short
while they save that postmaster all the
unpleasant reminders they could; sur
rounding his house they kept him close
prisoner ard in fear Of his life, till he re-