The sun., 1904-12-04

here 2 Ctl' am IdN'iiieiaNii w Nv
stamp business That vo' don ma II. "Ioe'
others said a well known stamp uea''''
sand this l.. caused by ;he likelihood at
any minute OF the day OF being able 70
make several hundred dollars. or several
thousand, a. the case may be- by 'h' IN
vestment of = few dollars
you are Likely 10 happen npoii pif
pick-up in the Inost unexpected place and
at the most unlocked for time In lsS'
a travelling salesman named Hook. who
did a little stamp business on til" ne
fell by the merest luck into one ol the finest
e,arnp bonanzas in the history OF stamp
collecting
Hook was in Raltimor" al the time
end one day while passing along "A street
saw an auction sale Of nld--aStures ana
miscellaneous rubbish in progress at an
old business house Having not hing else
70 do. he stepped inside, Just in time TO see
q roomful-no less-o old papers and docu-
ments offered for sale.
This stuff was packed in old boxes and
barrels. and on some of the papers on top
Of the barrels Hook noticed various revenue
etamps. He thought hs would just take
chance of there being some rare stamps
IN the bunch Of rubhish-and there was
certainly enough of it for almost anything
10 l,e concealed in it-and the whole lot
was finally knocked down 10 him for 500.
After he got the load of stuff to room
tha, he rented temporarily and began
10 look over the contents of the first barrel
he had all the sensations of gold miner
folh,ving MP a rich lead. and right then
and II ,rn he was sure thn travelling sales
man business would know him no more,
There were stamps in that firs, barrel
worth as high a- $500 apiece. These we're
the 500 revenue stamps OF 1858.
~Tbere weren't many Of them. but you
don. have 10 find many stamps like these
20 make big sum. Ii seems that the old
,,s,Ars bore stamps that had been originally
Issued for Til. of lading, mortgages in
voice; !. c.lvovancc~. leases and so on, and
they included every variety Of the earlier
revenue stamps issued by the Government.
Tbi,i,esplainedb by tie fact that in the early
'ons. when the supply Of revenue stamps
feu short. the Government permitted any
kind of stamp 70 I've nsed on any sort of
dor,Inen, 80 long rs 1t represented the
recpiired value.
Among these stamps Hook uncovered
were many of the scarce error revenue
iss,ieY which we're used between 1858 and
1913. These stamps were usually in two
colors and were known as the second and
third issues Tho body Of the stamp, as a
rule. was printed in blue. although there
Ueyo ayeral o.her colors. but the portra II
of Washington 10 the centre was always
In black.
.JNe errors we're cnlIsed hv the sheets
hoirr accidentally invnr I'd after receiving
tbesf 5ir1, color with the result that the
oortrai,, vas printed upside down Most
of thaSe revenue issues were quite valuable,
acme IF the inverted ones being worth
from S!a to so apiece, "v"I higher, and
fherc wero hundreds ot these on the old
papsrs.
ar more in getting his find into shape, SOAK
Ina. the stamps of the papers and arrangin z
the o. He had ooo much sought stninps,
inciahing the scarce one, three ana four
cent playing card stamps. not TO say any
thing of inmimerable common stamps for
which there was little premium.
He di INT put his stamps on the market
at once. hut sold them gradually in small
lots so a. not 10 eNci'e suspicion, and sue
oeeted in, getting good prices for every
thing he had. He mus; have cleared he
tween s2j,00 and $4,000 ON hi. original
Rtnah iuvesf'nent. and to-day he II in an
other line Of business, that Of buying and
selling old paiating- and statuary.
II dealer In thi5 ci V not long ago made
wish himself for quite while. And the
curious part of il was that through care
lessuess he almost lost II.
"lte was very busy one saturday morn
jpg. several customers who always made
xvttI purchases heing engaged in looking
over his stock Of stamps, when a nicely
dressed yo,rng woman entered the store
and laid paper box about the 81 ne of 6
cigar box ON the counter and asked the
dealer ii he wished TO buy some old stamps
Ninety nine times on, OF hundred stamps
carried IN boxes are SO much worthless
iunif. and the dealer careieSsly opened the
box, expecting TO see u lot of loose com
mon stampS.
But lnstead, right on top was n sheet o
stamps which were fairly valuable, whil'
underneath them he could zee n numbe
Of other sheets stuck together. As he wa'
impatient to ger hack to his Gust omers
10 whom he was likely 10 make a sal
amounting IN several hundred dollars. tn
dealer took n chance and told the younJ
n woman he would give her $40 for the box
not caring much whether she took IL. Th
u girl gladly accepted the offer, the deale
raid over the sum, pushed the box TO on
side and hurriedly returned TO his Gus
tuIners.
Later in the afternoon he thought n