The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-03-24
. lac crsse Among Collectors For the
P"ssersiop of sample. OF Biuna~rs
Made by Uncle sam'- bureau of En-
craving aud Printing.


craving aud Printing.
About the only freaks Of great value
manufactured by the government are
mlsprinted postage stamps. the. value
Of one Of these sometimes running up
into tile thousands. There is nothing
more dear 10 the collector than these
errors in printing. and. too. there is
nothing which causes tornado Of
trouble quicker in the bureau OF en-
craving and printing. An error is gen
orally costly thing Ia this depart
mcnt. II means that whoever IL re-
spOnsible for the mistake must get out
ana hunt another job. Tie work is too
important 10 permit Of carelessness.
An error produces "a freak stamp. but
IN also produces a vacancy, often more,
In the ranks OF the employees OF the de-
paumcnt. Brt the collector, the phi.
latelist. Is happy. for he gets prize OF
the iirst water.
Any and every thing In the way Of a
stamp which varies hairs breadth
from the correct design Ii freak, and
there Is always a heated race by the
stamp tcnds 90 secure one Of these.
Usually these errors. and they are not
made often. are detected before many
~ the stamps are put In circulation. and
when only a few get out the collectors
are ready to pay fancy prices for one
Of the prizes. Some few collectors Ia
bor under the impression that every
man has his price" and the sum Of
y2O,OOO was offered the head Of the bu-
rcau Il few years ago IL he would have
issued n half dozen sheets Of two cent
errors. Of course no consideration
whatever was given to the proposition,
and the get rich quick phlotelist saw
his plans miscarry.
Some very valuable freak stamps
were iSsucd Ia 1869. when series of
stamps was ISSUED ia colors. The
series comprised denominations from
/ cent 90 90 cents. The H., -, 80 and
30 cents were printed in TWO colors.
ON these the central picture was print
ed inverted. and the error WAS detect
bring from 5000 10 $500 each
The freak two cent pau-Amcriran
series of stamps which turned up in
Buffalo. y. y, in The year Of The Rain
bow City exposition, 1901. are now rat
ed AT 80 each. Only = few Of these got
in circulation before il was discovered
that the railroad train in The center of
the stamp was upside down. II is like
~ tharthouSand5 would have been sold
had not gentleman who had purChaS.
ed ten stamps discovered the error
and forthwith wroic the bureau Of ca
craving and printing notifying the Of
hccr> lie doubtless thought he was
doing good service for the govern
mCnt, aud doubtless he was, but the
stamp collectors dCnOuncc him rs Il
clump OF the ranlicst type. The gen.
tlcmnn gave away several OF the
stamps he had bought While a large
number of the stamps with the invert-
cd train Of ears were sold before The
error was detected. there are only six
of these freaks which can be account.
cd for. the other stamps having per.
haps served their purpose without he
ing discovered as belonging 10 the val
unblc freak family. IL is altogether
reasonable to suppose that the stamps
wcr" affixed to nttcrs aud the en-
vclopcS destroyed If any sheet of or
rOr stamps other than that sent To the
Buffalo office was ever sent out, the
fact has never been known a the bu-
rcau. and IL is not likely that the mar
Kct will ever be- gluttcd with this freak
stump.
During the winter Of 1890 Il sheet Of
the ordinary one cent stamps. with the
word Guam printed across the face,
slipped through with Guam upside
down. These stamps were printed for
the use OF the island. and collectors
have searched far and near for them.
only Il few have been secured 10y the
collectors. and they bring Stiff prices.
The people Of Guam know but little
about the value set on such freaks by
the stamp collectors.
Back in the seventies. when the gov
crnmcnt used its own distinctive Sct
OF stamps for the several drpartmcuts.
IN error was made by the bank note
company which then held the contract
Tor making the stamps The regular
color adopted Ivy the navy department
was blue \ sheet OF the two cent de-
nomination was printed i'm green, aud
the freak has now Il market value Of
about So each. The genuine, IN blue,
Is worth twenty times its face value.
One collector was fortunate enough
10 corner the market by getting pos.
session Of sheet of four cent stamps
OF the columbian series which was
printed 10y mistake in steel blue when
It's right color should have been ultra
marine blue. He got il at its face
value, and when he wants to dispose
Of one hc can readily get So.
There are number of other valu-
able freak stamps. hut the errors "
the bureau of engraving and printing
have bccn remarkably few. consider
Ing the immense number of sheets Of
stamps turned out every year. Each
sheet after being printed passes
through dozen or more hands before
il is ready for the stock vault. aud in
Spectors and counters are always on
the lookout for errors in printing
Kansas city star
Unsafe.
IL understand senator. that you ~
,,nrI ,-,,,r ,,1l,a ono as an nuSnf,