The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-01-28
Room Papered With Stamps.

hoom Papered with stamps.
1t is at his country home "Morpeth,
that his most unique conception in the
form OF room papered with unused
postage stamps. is 10 be found. China
covered with stamps and rooms papered
with used stamps are not unknown, al
though quite rare. but Mr.. kings II
brary is the only apartment on earth
decorated with stamps good for post
age.
The room is about fifteen feet square
and of usual beight. The stamps extend
10 the ceiling sand form the border even
The work OF transferring the stamps 10
the walls occupied the entire time Of an
expert eleven hours each day for nearly
loo days. Approximately $1,000 stamps
were used. there being forty-eight varie-
ties and many denominations The stamps
were not merely stuck upon the walls IN
blocks or strips with the purpose in
view Of covering up the walls, but ac-
cordng TO plans and designs worked out
by Mr. King were arranged with a view
TO producing an artistic effect.
Imitation Mosaic.
Most beautifui and elaborate designs Of
an imitation mosaic have been produced
by the employment of stamps OF certain
cOlors. which. taken in connection with
the fineness of the designs and the deli
cacy of the shadiugs. has produced re-
suit that is exquisite beyond the power
of words 10 portray.
some idea OF the beauty Of wall
wrought out of bright stamps. each
type Of the highest skill of the engraVeF.
may be obtained by an inspection OF the
frames showing samples OF stamps and
United States paper money in the treas
ury building at Washington. These two
great frames are divided into panels pro-
duced by the arrangement of revenue and
postage stamps fresh from the bureau OF
engraving and printing. At any time of
the day persons may be found before
those frames on the main floor, at the
south entrance. overlooking the White
L 1an vic rom IN a.
miration is voiced in eXclamatiOns COM
missioner of Internal Revenue Nerkes Is
very proud of the frames. which, ne SAYS,
experts have Informed him are worth
$4,000 because of the scarcity of some
OF the proofs Of revenues used on the
panels.
Stamps Used on the Walls
The stamps used BY Mr. King in the
decoration of his library were from the
countries OF Argentine Republic, Samoa.
Bergedorf Lubbock. Hanover Servia,
Cuba Roman States. Philippines, AlSace
and Lorraine and the United Kingdom.
OF the famous stamps of the Roman
States with the crossed keys and tiara,
emblematic of the authority Of the pope
Of Rome. which are of wondrously bril-
liant cOlOring. no less than 1850 copies
Tbe actual face value of the stamps
$4,000 represents only n fraction of the
commercial value of the stamps Many
of them are worth Ten times their face
value having become rare since they
were pasted upon the walls fourteen
years ago. and il is probably perfectly
safe to saw that the stamps on the walls,
II i'm their original condition, with gum
on the backs would be worth at least
So 600. and would sell for that amount
of money today.
Could Turn Them Into Cash.
Even if Mr.. King should weary Of his
costly decorated apartment and desire 10
convert his expensive wall paper into
cash. the stamps could readily be soaked
off and although the loss OF the muci-
lage would seriously cut down their COM
mercial value, yet they would readily
sell for more than they originally cost
him Thus is presented the curious spec
tacle of the most beautifully decorated
room in the world adding yearly 20 the
wealth of its owner by reason of the in
creasing rarity of the paper OF Whlch the
decorations are composed.
This is no more surprising than the
statement of stamp collectors that they
can make a collection Of STAMPS during
the wear 1907 lay ii away and forget 1t,
and i'm 1915 il will have doubled in value,
in fact II is not nfreQuent that stamps
ouadruple IL value in a single year, and
a decline i'm values is almost unheard OF.
A shrewd financier of New York, VINO
had followed stamp collecting as rec
reation since boyhoOd. declares that
stamps are a better investment ana yleld
far more pleasure in their collecting than
diamonds of equal value