Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-09
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He bought q complete set Of the sur
charged stamps for eos and two months
later sold them in London for $500. A
10-kronen Austrian stamp overprinted
by the Italians at Trieste recently fetch
ed $3.50 at auction.
When the British captured Bagdad
they seized the stocks OF Turkish stamps
they found there and overprinted them
"Bagdad in British Occupation" In the
Fail of 1917 you could ouy complete
set on the spot for 81. Today they
would fetch maybe 81 500.
The 5-mark stamps Of the regular
Deutsche New Guinea series and the
Marshall 1nseln series subsequently
pressed into service-legacy of the
seizure of kaiser Wilhelrn's land by the
Australian forces--fetch $500 at times
in the stamp market now But this Is q
trifle, compared to the famous over
printed l-mark of Togo. The German
officials threw their stocks of postage
stamps down some disused wells at
Sansan Margu when the British and
French forces burst into Togoland in
October, 1914. But they did not follow
the old pirate chiefs adage of dead
men tell no tales and native bearers
gave away the cache.
Divided by Invaders.
The invaders divided the stamps and
used them in their respective zones of
occupation. The British used the press
of the Catholic Mission at Lone to i'm
print their share, Togo Anglo British
Occupation" A Gallicized version of
the same inscription was printed over
the French share. These overprinted
stamps are now extremely valuable
The prize is the 1-mark stamp, of which
there was only one. This solitary speci-
would probably fetch much more IN the
open market.
The American stamp which seems to
interest philatelists most is the famous
first stamp of New York with Washing
toms portrait. issued in 1645, five years
after the first penny black stamp Of
Great Britain From the COS on, phil
atetists have been studying and argu-
ing about this stamp, of which ii is
believed l42,240 were made The iden-
tity Of the engraver still remains in
question.
Rawdon, Wright, Hatch g. Edison OF
New York were the printers and their
invoice to Postmaster Morris, dated Ju-
ly IL, 1s45, shows a charge of $40 fol-
engraving the steel plate. Presumably
for making the die. But who was the
engraver? The records Of the printers
have ben exhaustively examined with
out yielding clew. but some philate-
fists believe the engraver was the British
artist, William Humphreys. who spent
many years In America before return
ing to England and engraving the cele-
brated triangular Cape Of Good Hope
stamp die Of 1888, the st. Helena OF
1885 and the first New Zealand die
Of 1855.
One finds q shortage Of engravers
all through the early stamp era When
the authorities Of the Republic Of Cor
rientes, now forming part Of the Ar
gentine Federation. decided to have q
stamp issue in 1885, they were held
up because there was no engraver. One
of the of1cials was discussing the situa-
ton one morning on his veranda when
the bakers boy arrived with the daily
supply Of bread. and, overhearing thu
talk. volunteered to do the job. He had
been an engraver's apprentice In Italy
before emigrating to South America
The task was turned over to him. and
he produced Q die which, although
crude, served for al the stamps issued
In Corrientes for the next as years.
Letter to Sweetheart.
Mr. Hough, . gentleman of Alex.
andfia, Va, wrote q letter to his sweet
heart, Jannett H. Brown. care Of Mr.
November %, ie47. The postmaster
had anticipated the issue Of the Arsi
United States Postage stamps by q
circular type-set stamp OF his own in.
vention, reading "Alexandria-Paid
-Postofice. Miss Jannett became Mrs
Hough Sixty years afterwerd hel
daughter found the aforesaid love let.
ter in bundle Of such mementoes. Thil
was In 1907. A stamp collector paic
$4,000 for the envelope. Twenty thous-
and would not buy It today.
The Hawaiian missionaries used little
pieces Of paper, rudely fashioned anc
printed, when writing home to theil
friends and families between 1850 anC
two-cent missionary stamps fetched S..
900 More priced still Is the celebrated
British Guiana one-cent, q duh eoarst
magenta slip of paper with dipped
corners and bearing the impress Of /;
ship and an inscription in blank. i
was issued in February. 1886. to supply
temporary need caused by delay II
the arrival OF consignment Of regular
stamps from England and was printed
in q local newspaper ONCE.
Where several stamps of priced issue
are known to exist. the great collectors
dismiss the idea of getting hold of one
and try 10 and q pair, preferably un.
| used, or a section of q sheet Those
were great days in the life Of ths
renowned Sir William Avery (who pur.
sued stamps as relentlessly as the latt
J. p. Morgan did manuscripts), wher
he got hold Of an unused pair together
Of the 12-penny black stamp OF Canads
IA great rarity. block of foul
triangular penny brick-red Cape Of
Good Hope stamps complete sheet
Of the British Guiana Accent black-on.
blue stamps Of 1852 and, greatest treas.
ure OF all. sheet of seven and ne-hal
Of the famous Double Geneva" 10.
centime stamps.
! Great Stamp Curiosity.
The latter is probably Elropes great
est stamp curiosity. Swiss cantons issuet
| their own stamps prior 70 the frs
issue by the swiss federal adnnipistrs,
| ton in 1880 The green stamps Of thu
cantonal government Of Geneva wer,
designed IN pairs, You used the pai
| for letters from one part Of the cantor
to another, but II you were writing h
somebody in the same commune yol
divided the pair with scissors, cut Of
| strip inscribed Port cantonal 10 cents
and were left with two stamps, eacl
inscribed Port local 5 cents"
The Genevans did not. however, tax
to the new idea. preferring the oil,
method Of payment on delivery, will
the result that Of the 10000 pairs o
green double stamps most were cut III
for local postage. The pairs, being nov
exceedingly scarce. are valued at 81 ,00t
used. A pair divided the wrong way
unused. was sold in 1880 for 81 00C
The Avery strip Is unique.