The herald., 1922-07-13
ANY OLD STAMPS?
Might Not Be Bad Idea to Rum
mage Through the Attic.
Fortunes Have Been Made by Lucky
Possessors Of Envelopes Long
Regarded as Worthless.

A journalist hObnObbing with the
cOgnOScenti gathers that even In
stolid America there are many thrills
in stamp collecting. | got into cOnfab
with some of the big league profess
SIGNALS of stamp collecting, the New
York brokers of big houses that buy
and sell stamps of every value, from
the sort they purchase literally by the
ton and handle with scoop shOvels. to
the raritieS that are handled gingerly
with little tOngs. like precious jewels,
Charles Phelps Gushing writes In Les
lies.
In high vaulted room, walled and
rooted with glazed white tiles, like
cellar grill room or a high-ceilinged
subway StatiOn-thOugh II opened on
to the sidewalk of sunllt side street
in uptown New Iork-One of these
professionals told me stories OF the
adventures of Hawaiian blues" old
anecdotes made timely by the record
price that Ferrary stamps recently
fetched in Paris.
missionaries" the trade calls this
Hawaiian issue, he said, because they
were printed in a day when American
clergymen invaded the Sandwich"
islands TO convert the natives to
Christianity. Every relative or known
correspondent of those evangeliSts,
any one tn whom a letter that bore
one Of those rare stamps might have
been sent, has been traced by profess
siOnal collectors seeking new finds"
"A few years ago. the professional
collector related, I've knew of only ten
copies Of that first issue. Then in an
old schoolhouse in the islands two
more turned up by accident. A visitor
TO that schOolhOuSe noticed under
some peeling whitewash in the corner
an old yellow envelope. He pulled II
out of the plaster and found on it two
blue scraps of paper, each worth a
small fortune"
Another story of Hawaiians, this
time concerned with genuine copies but
not so rare an issue, relates Of bar
gain made from New York by mail
through California agents. A repre-
sentative of one Of the big eastern
stamp agencies, a man Of the type
that baseball would describe as
'semiprO." worked on Los Angeles
newspaper and had stamp collecting
on a commission basis as a side line.
He received word one day to investi-
gate a rumOr that a retired farmer
and his wife possessed letters from a
relative who had been a missionary
to Hawaii in the sos.
On the day that he received the let
ter the agent was too busy to go out
to the place. little bungalow in the
distant suburbs. But the following
afternoon he was able to get away and
mOtOred out in his flivver. Just as he
drew up to the place the front door
opened and three broad smiles greeted
him; the first two on the features Of
the old couple, the third, with some
thing Of malicious triumph in it. on
the face Of a rival collector.
"Too late, Bill" sang out the rival,
We've just closed the deal. Gimme a
lift back to town and I'll tell you all
about It on the way"
1t seems pa hadn't been sure they'd
saved the letters from Uncle Ezra.
but ma remembered where they'd
stored them In the attic.
A week or two later the representa-
tive returned to the bungalow and
handed pa a check. The old gentle
mans face blanched when he saw
what 1t read and he dropped down
limp on to the porch swing and n>lrly
tainted. He and his wife were far
from well to do and that check for
$1,000 meant comfort for them to the
end Of their days.