Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1906-08-25
JuDlcIouS DESTRUCTION.
There IL Front >. linking Raritics
SIN More HHrc.


IL want to tell you a little secret"
said the dealer In postage stamps to
the collector Maybe II ought not 10
get out. but think II will be- interest
ing and guess 1t can't do amy harm.
II only goes To- show the clevern - OF
some people. aud also 1t will explain
why certain postage stamp viii rise
ia price in the catalogues next year.
Back In 1851 there were two types
Of the one cent stamp printed In the
United States. Both were from the
same plates hut the difference was
shown in the printing Ia one type
| there were little scrolls showing plain
~ AT the bottom Of the design, but
careless printing on the later stamps
failed to bring this part out. The first
| type was the rarcr aud sells nova
days. a> you know. nj "a pretty good
figure
We'll. these stamps wcr" superseded
| by a perforated species of the same
design later and then. at the time Of
the civil war. the whole lot were re-
pudatcd 10y the government and new
stamps made
'Al that were In existence were de-
stroyed hut IL was well known that n
few hundred sot away The govern.
mcnt records showed that There we're
something like 1900 unnccountrd for
! II was generally believed that they had
been stolen in some way
The other day Il friend II 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 .:,OH there were nearly 6.n0. 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 a for
I tune. enough 10 make a mun rich for
! life How did the dealer get hold OF
them? oh. cant toll you that
Undoubtedly these represented ev-
cry one Of the unaccountcd FOR stamps
~ this issue There could he no doubt
of il. lie had the situation in his grasp.
He could Sell the sheets for big sums
But what do you suppose he actually
did? lie destroyed them.
Wait He didn't destroy all OF
| them. not hy any means only just
enough II was this way With GoOO
OF the rare stamps in existence. be-
I sides those In the collections OF this
country, the value OF the stamp would
20 down You can see that. cant you?
But suppose all hut thousand were
! destroyed and actually proved 10 be
destroyed Don't you see the result?
The value of tho few remaining would
| 20 III Ike 4 rocket hut without the
/ rockets tendency Ia come down
"Well that's what this dealer did
was present when il happened II
seemed HE murder 10 a collector and
enthusiast Ike 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 n hundred Of
them II h. had saved MI OF the COCO
II knew of a similar case little
while ago too. This time II was the
autograph Of man that was found
| The man was famous all over the
world but few OF his autographs had
been saved, aud dealcrs and collectors
everywhere were trying TO get one. \
hundred aud fifty dollars had been Of
fered for one OF them
This reached the ears of some de-
scendnnis of the great man. and they
hohbed MP with more than a hundred
!ct;er- written hy him The dealer TO
whom they brought them grabbed al
n" material but after he had bought
II he burned about half the letters
name and NIL Then he sold the rest
for much more than he could have got
for thu full number.
Individuality and uniqucness In any
case always pay so In collecting
rarltes i there are two. neither is 50
rare H. though the other one I'D no,
exist But when you destroy one and
make the remaining one unique -ah.
then you've rot something worth
while :" New York World