Milford chronicle., 1906-11-09
JuDIcIoUs DESTRUCTION.
There Is Profit In Making RaritieS
SIN More Rare.


There Is Profit In Making RaritieS
stIIl More Rare.
81 want to tell you Il little secret
said the dealer i'll postage stamps TO
the collector. Maybe it ought not 10
get ont. but think it will be interest
iag. AMI I guess it can't do any harm'
If only goes to show the clevern ass OF
some people. and also it win 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 tue
same plates. but the difference was
shown in the printing. In one type
there were little scrolls showing plain.
ly mt the bottom of the design Dut
careless printing on the later stamps
failed to bring this part out Inc nrSt
TYNE was the rarer and sells noWa-
davs. as you know, at pretty soou
figure. o,,.1
well, these stamps were superseueu
by a perforated species OF the SAINT
design later and then, Mt the time ol
the civil war the whole lot were re-
undated bv the government and new
stamps made,
.AIl that were in existence We're ue,
strovpd. but it was we'll known lh"t
few hundred got away. Ihe govern
mani records showed that there were
something like 1900 unaceounted Ior;
# was generally believed that they hau
D., been stolen in some way.
D "Tbe other day a friend of mine got
2 hold of all these stamps in existence
! on don't get excited till you hear the
e+o,.v Rut instead of there being only
o some 800 there were nearly 6'OOO' an
n In uncut sheets and in perfect cohul-
t ton. They were beauties that Woulu
l. make the eyes of the collector pop ou1
of his head. They represented a lor-
# +une. enough to make man rlcn LOT
J. life How did the dealer get hold Oh
J. tbcm? Oh. I can't tell you that
A. "T-ndoubtedly these represented eV-
c arv one of the unaccounted for stamps
T. Of this Issue. There could be no douot
of if He had the situation in his grasp
ID lie could sell the sheets for big sums
7r Dnt what do you suppose he actually
did? He destroyed them.
III ..Ivoit He didn't destroy all OF
+ho,n not by any mcans-Only just
Or enough It was this way: WIN o'Vu'
sc of the rare stamps in existence De
O. sidos those in the collections OF thl'
w country. the value of the stamp Woul'
oo down. You can see that can't you
" Pnt sunDose all but a thousand Wer
to DESTROYED and actually proved 10 u
es dnstroved. Don't you see the result
The value of the few remaining woul
IN 90 ND like II rocket, but without III
ib- rockets tendency to come down.
ed "Wen. that's what this dealer die
7 was present when it happened.
ig- sanmed like murder to a collector an
enthusiast like me, but the wisdol
of the business was shown. Next da
NC the man had an offer for one of IL
remaining stamps that was bigger tina
n. he could have got for a hundred
& tbpm if he had saved all of the G,OOO.
7as 81 knew of a similar case a lit
R. while ago too. This time 1t was u
ch- autograph of a man that was foun
P The man was famous all over Il
jim world. but few of his autographs hi
lev. been saved, and dealers and collecto
16. everywhere were trying to get one.
min hundred and fifty dollars had been
ted. fered for one of them.
20. This reached the ears of some
F. scendants of the great man, and tn
r; bobbed up with more than a hundr
lest letters written by him. The dealer
tes, whom they brought them grabbed
Jo- the material but after he had bou2
P. if he burned about half the lette
am, name and all. Then he sold the II
mes for much more than he could have
rch- for the full number.
Individuality and uniqueness in
son, case always pay. So in collect
; g. rarities. if there are two, neither is
Jr.. rare as though the other one did
orge exist. But when you destroy one
make the remaining one unique
Bur then you've got something wo
while. New York World.