Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-10-21
RARE: STAMPS F0l|NC
Philadelphia DiscOve-y Excites
World of Stamp Collectors
Coiiectso, Comprises Many Examples
" Enrly Cn,ted states F,,stngc and
s'rc -GO> eminent Lssues--Other
Famous Stamps

In dusty, dinsy, darI; garrett under
the caves Of the !ttlo ol3 building at
81 Walnut street. Philadelphia. work
men recently brought to light q half
Dozen trunks and boxes, mouId-coveTed
and 'ctting with age. Tire leather and
the wood crumbled, the locks and the
hinges fell apart at the touch.
Exposed, the contents proved to be
hunds'.ds Of bundles and packages OF
lctterD-letters OF all shapes and Sizes
All colots and kinds, Drowned BY time
and sCotcho1 by .he ffre that once paru~
destroyed tie r,acs WNat story, what
secret, what ROMANCE mght Da h,d1an
In the pages Of these !ong-forgottcn let
teIs arranged in the same order and tied
with che sarne iapc with which they were
arranged sn9 tied By :he'r owner 90 10,
so yearp ago!
These old letters. howeyer. stu hold
their story. their secret. ths;- roma1:e,
for .heir srsettNt "aluc lies not in wat
they may con.eal on the inside but in
what they boldly show on the .1tside
Many psrspux, in fact the gr,at major
ity. never would recognize 'hs werth of
such o mass Of apparent trash. out few
there e:e who wauld almost sell their
souls Cor possession OF things like these.
And thsse few. phi!stelists they are cal;.
ed. will tell that the stamps on suoS OLD
letterS. the crude inArtssic little stick
srs which ntoat c: ue not only ns-sr sAv
but never knew existec now are wor Y,
kings ransom, and the rewB Of the
discovery Of even one more OF some cf
the oldas. and rarest varieties IS to phi.
iatel.sts as the discovery Of an FL Dorado
to an army OF luckiass and famislle1 gold
seekerS.
Examination o. q few Of these extra
ordinary letters reveals tho f4ct, writes
George NJ Emery. in the Boston Tran
script, that the entire collection of cor
respondence once occupied the files in the
law office OF one William Morris Mere
dith. that progenitor Of the Philadelphia
Biddes who one time filled the chair
of secretary Of the treasury. who one
time acted as United States district at
torley, who at one time sat with the
Peace Congress which eudeavored to pre-.
vent the Civil War, and who one time
| enjoyed membership in the Geneva Tr-
bunaI which settled the Alabama claims.
| A man OF multitudnous acquaintan Mr..
Meredith received letters from scorer of
| persons in ali parts of the country and
abroad. and, thanks to his precise and
| methodicaI habits, virtually all of his
business letters have been preserved
A WONDERFUL PHILATELIC FIND
Detailed description Of all the rare old
| postage stamps that are to be found in
the Meredith collection is not possible,
| because nr. Samuel Woodhouse, the Gus
| todian. says six months or more will
pass before he will be able to examine
all the letters with the care necessary
| to prove the value of the entire collec-
! ton. Such specimens as he has already
| separated from the immense mass, how
ever, lead him to the conviction that the
| find" will prove to be one of the great
est in recent phlatelic history. a find"
/ which may equal or surpass that of the
| st. Louis postmaster's stamps in Phil
| adelphia some years ago.
Among the more important and valu-
able of the old stamps found by DR..
Woodhouse among the Meredith letters
are at least half a dozen of the hand
somely engraved postmasters Stamps is
sued by Robert II. Morris, postmaster
| of New York, in competition with the
| first regular government issues and the
private posts which operated in many
eastern cities about three-quarters Of a
century ago.
Other rarities in the Meredith collection
are several varieties of the Philadelphia
4
| ing the little oval surmounted by an
| eagle with the words "U. s. P. o. Des-
patch-Pre- Paid One Cent printed in
| blue in the upper left-hand corner, and
| somewhat larger oval without the eagle
but with the same words printed in red
| in the upper right-hand corner. The red
oval is believed to be the cancellation
mark.
| Another rarity is splendidly preserv-
! cd specimen of the tiny Philadelphia car
| rier's adhesive stamp printed in black on
| rose-colored paper with the words "U.
IS. P. o. Paid Cent" inside a square.
| The letter II set in the lower right-hand
corner of the square indicates, in the
| opinion of some experts. the initial of
\ the carrier on whose route this parTtcu-
| lar letter was collected or delivered.
Still another unique letter is one bear
| ing the pOstmark "Kittann'ng, Pa, June
! TO- 1S50)' in the upper left-hand corner.
together with peculiar red hand-stamp
with co,orless in the center and
| crossed 'vitr a black pen-stroke in tn (,
upper right-hand corner. Whether this
hand-stamped is intended to be a
stamp or whether 1t Is merely can
collation. OF some sort. DR.. Woodhousc
cannot explain
! 'N'Ni'iiiT " ILL lNSsp FISScD
| Or the first governmoG: issues Of 1s47
! there arc several excellent specimens
among the Meredith lssters which the
! custodian SO far has sxaninsd. Ono let
ter oss's .lair ot the hvs-cenr Frank
lin issIe % 8m whie snoths. bars a
strip Of three of the 1O-esnt Washington
denomination iEsued in u6i
| How many more such pailAtelic r.r1ties
still No concealed among the Meredith
hles no one now living knows. No ono
VIII Know until D.. Woodhouse haA
searched through every musty bund!s,
| through every cvsty packet And II
what he has already found Is to be con-
edereo as ar Indication, the custodfs n
IS eonrcort there is scarcely any limit
to tina worth Of the entire collection
But the story of tho discovery of tho old
Meredith isrtsrs is merely an incident in
the greater story, the romantic nara
i've OF that farsway time when the des-
patton OF letter vas a hazardous and
Troublesome undertaking. when lhs oar
| rylhS OF mail was a hit-or-m!ss sort or
aHair at hrst entrusted 10 individuals OF
! organizations when tho government post
once department, WITH its immense
system OF rain, automobile and airplane
| delivery "a NO now know II was in IT'S
swadditng clothes
| previous 20 tho In, rod lotion OF The post
masters stamps. which represented tho
earnest ofhf'icih, attempts to sect the
requirements of The letter-writins pub