The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-21

It is related of M Philipp la Rem | etiere that as he was ispecting an art collection on one occasion a large and handsome canvas that occupied great portion of wall space was poin- ted out to him as being the most val- uable pictufe in the salon.
 Ut Is worth all of 1,S00 pounds,
 said his informant.
 Then it is not the most valuable
 picture here," replied Renetiere, and he produced from the depths of a pocket card case tiny piece of pa per which he carefully held up for
 the inspection of his friend. This" he continued. Ifs far more costly than your beautiful painting.
 And pray what is its value" in- quired the incredulus auditor. II prize 1t so highly" answered Renotiere. that if you were at this
 instant to offer me 5000 pounds for l it l would not take 1t"
 And the bit of paper that the speak CT delicately poised on his ringers was merely postage stamp. not one of the elaboratefy engraved and beau tifully colored contrivances with
 which the patrons of the mails are la l miliar. but a crude affair whose typo graphical appearance would not De endorsed by the humblest printer in all Christendom.
 
 highly Is the most precious of all the gems in the realm of philately. It Is a British Guiana one cent issue of | 1856 and only one specimen of this stamp is known to exist. While its owner estimates it's worth at more
 than $15,O00. experts do not agree
 that 1t would bring that figure if
 offered for sale, but say they would
 have no difficulty in disposing of 1t for SlO.OO0 to $l2,000,
 l This very valuable stamp was a
 product cf the infancy of stamps. for fifty years ago this method of post
 age paying was hardly more than in
 its experimental stage. In 1856 Brit | ish Guiana was awaiting a supply of stamps from England, and pending
 its arrival two provisional stamps
 were issued. These were crude affairs and printed from type set up in the office of The Official Gazette. As 1t
 was desired to give an artistic tone | to the stamp the printers stuck In the
 center an old cut representing brig | in full sail at sea. This picture was
 taken from the columns of the paper
 in which it had been used 70 head the shipping advertisements. The stamps printed from this design were or one and four cents denominations, ana
 1t is the former that is so rare. The
 four cents stamp is priced in cata- logueS today at $lZ3 ne slnsie speC-
 imen of the one cent in existence ia
 described as being dark magenta in
 color and slightly rubbed. It is mi
 tialled "E. D, w." and dated April
 1st, the year not being cecipherabic. There is another stamp of British
 Guiana that is great rarity. It was printed in 1850 and is of the two cents
 variety Its use was limited and but
 eleven copies of this queer circular
 stamp are known It Is worth sS'ooo
 copy, although the twelve cents
 stamp of the same design and date
 may be had. according to catalogue.
 for $l50.
 | The Post Office" Mauritius is one of the most valuable stamps It de-
 rives its title from the fact that the
 inscription Post Office" was substitu-
 ted for Post Paid" by the watchma :
 ker who engraved it. Five hundred
 copies of the one penny and an equal
 number of the two penny were prin-
 ted from single dies before the au- l thorities lecame disgusted with the tedious process of producing the stamps one at a time. Less than Itwenty-five of these have been pre-