The Colorado statesman., 1906-02-03
FORTUNES IN WASTE PAPER.
BY C. A. Mast

be amiSS.
In the first place. age plays a very
important part in the value of post
age stamp, but not always. 1t is not
the length of years that have inter
vened since its issue which makes it
valuable, but the amount or number
of certain kind in existence. Some
stamps printed forty years ago are not
worth 10 cents a thousand, simply
because the government used that spe-
cial type for an extended number of
years and they are very plentiful.
Again, on the contrary, some issued
only recently comparatively, are worth
great deal because only few were
printed. Sometimes die Is broken,
necessitating the making OF new
one, and as no human hand can coun-
terfeit so adroitly but what changes
will appear in the finished product diff
ferent from the first, it makes or con-
stitutes different type. Again, for
some reason or other, governments Of
ten change a whole series after being
in use only few months.
Now all this is learned only by
study and time, but all stamp collect
ors soon learn these things. 1t is sur
prising but true. that some of the
brightest stamp dealers are mere boys
as a side issue, often making a living
by it. But this article is written with
especial view to pointing out some of
the many ways in which porters and
others may make few dollars extra
and at the same time be of some use
to stamp collectors.
Those having charge of big blocks
and buildings are often called upon to
clean out offices, to gather up waste
paper and to dispose of the contents
of waste paper baskets. AS a rule no
attention is paid to this rubbish other
than to cart it off and burn it up.
But we Americans are a wasteful,
extravagant people. What an Amer
lean family throws out of the kitchen
window, it is said, would keep
French family. And so it is in every
| department of life. In Germany every
thing is saved Bits of string, bottles,
the corks, the foil around the necks of
wine bottles, even the labels, all is
put to use, and made to pay a reve
nue.! Is 1t any wonder, then. that the
Germans are all postage stamp col
lectors? A short time ago in Berlin
an American repaired to bank there
to get a very valuable package. 1t
had been registered and being full of
stocks and bonds the postage was
nearly 50. Several high-priced post
age stamps were cancelled on the out
side. The American ripped open the
envelope and threw it in the waste
basket. The banker, a millionaire,
stopped down and picked up the wrap
per. Pardon me, you do not want
this?" he said. "Oh, no." said the
American, that's no good But to
the thrifty German it was worth 40
cents at least.
So, then, l say do not destroy en-
velopes having stamps on them of a
higher value than 10 cents. OF course
often we see dozen or more of the
common 2-cent red stamps used.
These are of course of no value. But
any stamp of higher denomination
than 10 cents has a distinct value and
is worth saving.
A few years ago a couple of porters
in Louisville, Kentucky, were told to
take down lot of rubbish and burn
it in the furnace. The house was an
old one and had done business with a
St. Louis firm away back in AS. All
the correspondence had been saved by
this firm, and now they were cleaning
house and everything was being
thrown out.
While throwing bundles of letters in
the furnace they stopped for a mo-
ment to look at the green stamps The
design was that of coat of arms with
two bears standing up, one on each
| side. They took one to stamp dealer
in Louisville, who promptly gave them
SIS for it, saying he would take all he
could get at that price. They were On
their guard, and went to another
dealer who gave them SIS for one. BY
| h md
them sold them for $25 to $50 apiece
Oh, if they had only known! In the
next few days dealers came from ST.
Louis, New York and Boston, paying
hundreds of dollars apiece. How many
were burned up no one knows. The
prices to-day for the scent st. Louis
is $3.50; for the 10-cent, 5000; while
the 20-cent value has sold for $4,000
| OF course it was exceptional, but had
these porters known just little of
postage stamps, fortune was in their
hands.
In New York and all large eastern
cities porters are educated up to this
Big mercantile houses, banks, etc,
throw these things away, but the por-
ters and janitors know just what they
are worth to them.
Soon there will be no stamp" is
the prediction of some. Even now
newspapers and periodicals pay by
money. The departments no longer
use their special stamps. And to-day
if any one has 1000 identical pieces of
mail he does not need to buy stamps;
instead. he simply prints on them
paid in money" he pays the money
to the cashier, and the matter goes
through the mails as If stamped.
That's the way they did before stamps
were invented, and now they are get
ting back to first principles because
the amount of business done is so
great. This method saves time and
trouble of buying stamps, affixing and