Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-16

government, however repudiated them and
they passed from the genuine to the fraud
ulent collections.
There is an island off the coast of lower
California occupied by a San Francisco
company, which employs forty or fifty
laborers loading vessels which come there
periodically for fertilizer. The local boss
of the guano company being a stamp col
lector himself, conceived the idea of play
ing trick upon the followers of the fad,
and issued In 1895 two-cent stamp which
had a very large circulation. 1t had a
clever design. In the upper corners We're
crane and a pelican; in the lower corners
lobster and crawfsh In the center
was an irregular circle embracing the date
1885 while around it were the words
"Cltpperton Island Postage, Two Cents"
Curiously enough these stamps were &C
cepted as genuine by dealers and collectors
all over Europe, and even in America. No
body knew, and nobody asked. where Clip
perton island was located. 1t is not even
mentioned in the Gazetteers, because 1t is
not inhabited, al you cannot ind 1t on
the maps because it is so small 1t appears
only upon the navigation charts of the west
coast of North America, and is described
in the pilot books, but that did not make
any difference. Thousands of the stamps
were sold.
The Dazzling King of Sedang.
About ten years ago fne-looking,
swarthy Frenchman arrived at Hongkong
wearing most extraordinary uniform and
He registered at the Hongkong Hotel as
David de Mayrena, King of Sedang." No
body had ever heard of the place and his
majestys explanations as to its location
were accepted without question. He said
that it was north of AMMAN, French pro-
tectorate south of China. The French con-
SUI at Hongkong very naturally took charge
OF his majesty, presented him to his eX-
celiency the governor, and the King OF
Sefang was invited to dine at the govern
"a
in scarlet jacket handsomely embroidered
with gold braid a loose linen shirt, a pair
of white zouave trousers, with broad stripes
of gold braid down the seams. and ma
genta sash, through which was stuck a
long curved sword with jeweled handle
and scabbard of gold handsomely chased.
Upon his head he wore an enormous turban
of gold ga uZe, and, being man of fine pres
ence made one of the most imposing living
pictures that was ever seen in HonSkong.
Having established himself firmly there,
he took the French steamer for Marseille,
bearing credentials from the French consul
at Hongkong, who described him to be the
ruler of a large and prosperous population
in the interior of AMMAN. Upon his ar
rival in Paris he was received with con-
siderable ceremony; was entertained at the
expense =eftsthe governrlent; was a guest
at the Elysee Palace, and what was sup
posed to be the royal standard of Sedang'
fioated from the flagstaff on the roef Of the
house of the president Of France.
His majesty received a great deal of at
tention from the commercial interests of
Paris. He sold at high rates concessions
for various enterprises, for, cutting cabinet
woods and other mahogany timber; for
gathering rubber; for exploring his country
in search of copper and other minerals, and
made arrangements for the construction of
railway from his capital 20 the coast
Among other things he had series of post
age stamps prepared and printed which
We're sold in large quantities to his profit
Then he disappeared.
Everybody supposed that he had sailed for
his home in Sedang, and several gentlemen
VINO had paid him handsomely for conces-
sons followed him to that country, but
were never bic to find him. They went to
Bangkok. the capital of Slam, to Saigon, the
capital of the French colony of Cochin
China and to various other ports in that
part OF the world, but nobody there had
ever heard OF David de Mayrena, King of
impOstor. The concessionaires returned to
Paris with considerable experience but
empty purses. and tried to renew their ac-
quaintance with King David, but he had
vanished and no trace of him could be
found His postage stamrs had been selling
for high prices. but after the returning
travellers had related their experience to
the newspaper reporters they suddenly lost
their value and collectors began to remove
them from their books. You can find them
now in large quantities at many of the
stamp shops of Paris and London where
they are sold as interesting counterfeits.
Two or three years later man was ar
rested at Ostend for passing bogus check
and was sent to iail. He was identified as
the King of Sedang by somebody who had
known that potentate in Paris. but his ma
jesty was no longer an object of public Gu
riOsity.
No Fraudulent Intent.
In 1872 a Norwegian sea captain, sailing
between Bergen and Spitzbergen, was in
the habit of carrying letters back and
forth for the accommodation Of merchants
and fishermen and without the slightest in
tention or desire to commit fraud he had
a stamp printed with rude design repre-
senting hunter shooting polar bear. He
required people who wanted him to carry
their letters to buy stamps and stick them
on the envelopes. The Norwegian govern
ment interfered as soon as it learned of his
enterprise and his postage stamps have
since been sold as curiosities. They are in
Scrlbed 'SpidSbergen Il ore"
A firm in Hamburg once issued a series
of stamps engraved "Afrikanisch-Seeen
Post Deutsch- Ost-Afrika." Large num-
bers of them were sold to dealers and col
lectors before the fraud was detected.
A London swindler once issued a full set
of stamps for the imaginary colony of
Benadir. The designs were very artistic.
Some of them bore exquisite medallion
with lions head. others the head of a
tiger and others the head of elephant.
The engraving was equally fine, and SO far
as their appearance the stamps will add
quantities We're sold before the collectors
discovered that there no post offices in
Benadir. which is a small Italian settle
ment in Somaliland. on the east coast of
Africa. opposite the Island of Zanzibar.
There is nothing to prevent anybody from
printing sets of postage stamps and selling
them coming from any. of the PARKWAY
colonies in Asia or Africa. India or China
which people know nothing about and
thousands of dealers and collectors will buy
them off-hand. A man by the name of Allen
Taylor once issued series of stamps for
Prince Edward island. and they were In cir
culation for many years genuine. No
dealer or collector ever suspected they
were frauds until it turned out that they
had been issued a private speculation
without official authority and were worth
less except as curiosties.
News Of Vienna.
Special Correspondence of The Star.
VIENNA, Va. December 15 1906