Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-08-11
JUDlClOUS DESTRUCTION
Fbere Is Profit In Mo-
Moe

Fhcre Is Profit In Ms
! stin MOI" ~. ,.o. q,
- - .er you little secret
i want ~ III postage stamps to
. S'O o oI Maybe it ought not to
cot ovt PIT 1 think it VIII be interest
se' ord ,@d l guess it can't do any harm.
lnuSnly goes to show the cleverncss Of
Some people, and also it will explain
why a certain postage stamp will rise
in price In the catalogues next year.
Back in 1851 there were two types
of he one cent stamp printed In the
United States. Both were from the
same plates. but the difference was
shown in the printing. In one type
there were little scrolls showing plain
ly at the bottom Of the design, but
careless printing on the later stamps
failed to bring this part out. The first
type was the rarer and sells nova
days, as you know. at a pretty good
figure.
We'll, these stamps were superseded
by a perforated species Of the same
design later, and then, at the time OF
the civil war, the whole lot were re-
pudiated by the government and new
stamps made.
"All that were in existence were de-
stroyed but 1t was well known that
few hundred got away. The govern
ment records showed that there were
something like 1900 unaccounted for.
1t was generally believed that they had
been stolen in some way.
THE other day friend Of mine got
hold Of all these stamps in existence.
/ Oh. don't get excited till you hear the
story. But instead of there being only
some / 500 there were nearly 5000, all
In uncut sheets and in perfect condi-
! ton. They were beauties that would
make the eyes of the collector pop out
of his head. They represented for
tune, enough to make a man rich for
life. How did the dealer get hold OF
them? Oh, 1 can't tell you that.
Undoubtedly these represented ev-
cry one Of the unaccounted for stamps
Of this issue. There could be no doubt
of il. He had the situation in bis grasp.
He could sell the sheets for big sums.
But what do you suppose be actually
did? He destroyed them.
Wait He didn't destroy all OF
them, not by any means-only just
enough 1t was this way: With 5000
/ e &1,o 81 In nXictnn0n hA-
sides those in the collections Of this
country. the value OF the stamp would
20 down. You can see that, can't your
But suppose all but thousand were
destroyed and actually proved to be
destroyed. Don't you see the result?
The value of the few remaining would
go up like a rocket, but without the
rockets tendency to come down.
well, that's what this dealer did.
| was present when 1t happened. 1t
seemed like murder to collector and
enthusiast like me, but the wisdom
Of the business was shown. Next day
the man had an offer for one Of the
remaining stamps that was bigger than
he could have got for hundred Of
them if he had saved all of the 5000.
II knew of a similar case a little
while ago too. This time 1t was the
autograph Of man that was found.
The man was famous all over the
world, but few of his autographs had
been saved, and dealers and collectors
everywhere were trying to get one. A
hundred and fifty dollars had been Of
| fered for one of them.
This reached the ears of some de-
scendants Of the great man, and they
bobbed up with more than hundred
letters written by him. The dealer to
whom they brought them grabbed at
the material, but after he had bought
it he burned about half the letters,
name and all. Then he sold the rest
for much more than he could have got
for the full number.
Individuality and uniqueness In any
case always pay. So In collecting
rarities, If there are two, neither is so
rare as though the other one did not
exist. But when you destroy one and
make the remaining one unique-ah,
then you've got something worth
while. New York World.