Evening star., 1933-10-29
BY JAMES WALDO FAwCETT,

BY JAMES WALDO FAwCETT.
Newspaper correspondents calling
upon President Roosevelt during his
recent illness found him working over
his stamp collection in bed.
No definite announcement has been
made with respect to the new regular
series Of stamps expected for the first
Of the year. Collectors, however, are
asking that the issues be released In
small groups and not all at once. If
the entire lot came out on the same
day 1t would swamp the philatelic
agency, but. even more important from
the collectors point OF view, it would
result in first-day covers being a mil
lionaires prerogative. rwenty-four
stamps are indicated. with a face value
of $1o-47-a sum beyond the powers OF
the average amateur philatelist.
The philatelic agency gradually Is
catching up with accumulated orders,
but collectors are requested to grant
the staff breathing SPELL More help
is needed in the agency Office, but
trained assistants are not easily found.
eral Farley has the problem under con-
sideration.
Philatelic agency sales from July
to date have been $187, ,05232, Of which
$63 ,295.8 has been taken in since Oc-
tober /. Acting Supt. Robert c. King
says Everything points to this year
being the heaviest thus far in the his
tory of the office"
The postmaster at Pottsville, Pa, is
reported to have ruled that the Byrd
3-cent stamp Is not valid for ordinary
postal purposes. He, of course, had
certain justification for his stand. The
flrst official announcement said that
the issue would be limited to Little
America use.
Genuine first-day Byrd stamp covers
Cancelled at Washington Monday, Oc-
tober 8, undoubtedly will be of ex-
ceptional value within few years.
Postmaster o. w. Pittman, Miami,
Fla, has given the Associated Press a
Graf Zeppelin story which. for sheer
human interest value, is most appeal
ing. Its central character is Marion
Shafer of Beaumont. Tex, junior
collector. He sent self addressed en-
velOpe bearing two cancelled airmail
stamps and an ordinary Lucent un-
cancelled stamp, explaining that he
would like it returned to him "by COM
mon mail" Il am only a boy" he
said. land can not afford airmail
stamps, so I have placed used ones on
the letter. The postage Is paid by the
11a-cent stamp"
His cover, he knew. would not be car
ried by the Graf, but he wanted the
anyway.
S,,ch q, .rdan+ aptbus;.s+ - mould
seem, should be worth helping. Are
there any Star readers who would care
to send him some duplicate stamps for
his collection?
Philip H. Ward, jr., writing to
Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News, says:
Sales of the new 50-cent Zeppelin
and Of those used in the actual flight
on the Zeppelin a large portion Of the
This amount viii, no doubt, run into
thousands of dollars. 1t is to be re-
gretted that special stamps were not
issued for the Italian flight, which was
much more spectacular"
As to special stamps for the Balbo
enterprise Mr.. Ward must represent
a microscopic minority of collectors.
Not a single request for any such issue
is known to have been received. The
stamps brought out by the Italian gov
ernment certainly we're too expensive
to be of interest to the average phila-
telist.
Sixty extra employees, it is said. were
brought into the Chicago Post Ofhce to
handle first t-day sales and cancellations
when the Century of Progress stamps
became available. The difficulty was
that few Of the special staff knew any
thing about the details Of the philatelic
Iectors' point of view the occasion was
q tragedy-With Q few comic aspects,
Plate numbers for the Koseiusko s.
cent stamps are; 21l7s to 2l17e' meu-
siVe.
the 1928 scent airmail stamp, showing
the beacon light on Sherman Hill In the
Rocky Mountains. Trailing the mail
plane there is series of small marks.
resembling sky writing" The stamp
so distinguished is from the right pane
Of plate l9547.
The commonest commemorative stamp
of the United States is the 2-eent
George Washington Bicentennial, Of
which no less than 4.222 1913, 500 were
printed. The second most common is
the 2-cent Harding Memorial stamp Of
1929, 1850 ,208, 1886 of which were manu-
factured. The rarest is the - Column
bian Exposition stamp Of 1893, only 26,-
$50 Of which were issued.
Germany will issue on November 1 q
series Of semi-postal stamps, in trib-
ute to Richard Wagner, the music
drama genius. There will be nine values
and special 6pf commemorative
postcard. The operas represented in
the set will be: "Tannhauser,
..Hiegender Hollander," "Rheingold. ;"
-'Meistersinger," -'Wa1kure." -'Siegfried,' -
Tristan and Isolde 'Johengrn" and
"Parsifal."
Canada may have a new stamp next
April for the cetenary Of the city Of
Toronto.
Examples of the new Wilberforce cen