New-York tribune., 1905-12-31
Stamps for Members of Congress and Officials of
Federal Departments.

pont Morgan or John D. Rockefeller among
fnanciers.
/ Some Of these department stamps are ex-
! tremely cheap and others are very expensive. a
complete set of the Interior Department may be
obtained. in unused condition. for SO only
! a small advance over the face value. A sim
i liar set of the State Department costs 5000, and
/ the Justice Department about $50.
one of the rarest of United states stamps is
j the 50 State Department. 1t would naturally be
/ supposed that the $40 would be more valuable.
/ but the So is catalogued al $685. while the $40
/ is listed at $50. the SO at SO and the So at
I $22 so. For some reason a less number Of sheets
] Of the IS denomination were printed than Of the
/ SO and $40.
| Many of the older officials in the depart
! nents viii recoIlect the time when all official
/ mail required postage stamps and how stamp
| collectors swarmed the offices 10 obtain the
| stamps on Saturdays it appeared that half
! the school boys in Washington swooped down
/ upon the department after stamps. and among
/ them were a good many boys with whiskers
i on their upper lips.
/ But the grand rush occurred in 1879. when
4 the use of the department stamps was discon-
/ tinued and the penalty envelopes substituted
/ Everybody wanted the unused remainders left
| on hand. and the stamps possessed no in-
| trnsfc value and could not be used for. postage
| on ordinary mail or any other mail, for that
1 matter after the new order, officials gave the
! stamps away IN unused condition, or. as was
the case with dollar values of the State Depart
| ment sometimes drew a penmark across the
I face of the stamp.
In those good old days" as philateIists are
won't to refer to that period. states" .execu-
| tives" justices, and "navies' were traded
about and sold for q mere song To-day many
/ OF these stamps cost more than full dress
suit and as the number Of collectors increases
and the stamps get into private collections. The
available supply is constantly decreasing and
prices climb higher.
An interesting story IS told Of how a coitecscr
cornered the market s0-cent Justice stamps
This phiIatelist discovered that only COM
parativeIy small number OF the 41cent denoui-
nation we're ever printed. and figured that some
day It would command a high price. Accord
inglv he set about buying at auction and at pTi-
! vate sale every copy Of this stamp that was
offered for sale At that time the current price
for the 90-cent Justice was about s.. After a
Z time collectors and dealers noticed that they
were never able 10 get this stamp auction.
4 that some strange person gobbled them UP. no
matter what ANYBODY else bid The price ad-
vanced and yet the stranger got every copy
offered Then, after this party had gathered
IN many copies Of the stamp and dealers and
collectors had awakened 10 the fact that he
proposed 10 take au offerings regardless OF
price there was tremendous scramble for the
qo-cent Justice. and the price advanced BY leaps
10 $50 To-day when one mentions E-cent
Justice the collector thinks q peaches and
cream.
The only Well authenticated error IN con-
nection with the department stamps occurred
in the printing Of the Navy stamps, which nor
rnalIy were OF ultramarine Just how i oc-
Cured whether by accident or BY design, no
body processes to know; but in some manner a
sheet OF the two-cent denomination was printed
n srssa- ink and zgss tncludsd u ssSo Sonssgns