Evening star., 1935-03-31

Germany brought out two stamps
in memory of the heroes of the World
War, March IS. The design shows a
gaunt and battle-scarred soldier. and
the values are: 6pf, dark green, and
12pf, red brown. Specimen presented
by courtesy of e. Irving Fulton,
Chamber Of Commerce of the United
States.
The miniature sheets of four air
mail stamps, issued by Japan In con-
nection with the communications
exhibition last April, were not sue
| cess from the official point Of view
It is strongly indicated that the
japanese post Office has banned fur
ther freak printhgs.
Sales figures for the health stamps
of New Zealand are: 1929. 592, ,848;
1880, 215,543: 1881, 74,802; 1882, 237,-
504, and 1888, 6O,883.
The American Bank Note Co., stamp
engravers and printers to the United
States Government from 1879 until
1894, also manufactured numerous
issues for Newfoundland, Haiti and
various Latin American republics.
Weekly Philatelic Gossip for March
80 reports: 1T appears that L. A.
johnson, inspector over Nebraska,
Kansas and Oklahoma, was the origin
ator of the idea of applying State
names to stamps to protect them
against theft and resale in other
States, and, when the Post Office De-
partment decided to adopt his plan
for stated period, 1t honored him by
making the tryout in his territory.
However, it was Mr.. Johnson's origin
al idea that the State name should be
incorporated with the design Of the
stamp somewhere, instead of being ap-
piled as an overprint.
Those interested in the story of
religion as depicted in stamp designs
should remember the st. Demetrius
commemorative brought out by Greece
September IL, 1884. It represents the
patron of Saloniki on horseback, and
bears the inscription 'Thessalonikes"
the ancient name of the city. The
value is 20 lepta; the color chocolate
brown.
The letters "A. D." on the 1869 to
1891 stamps of Belgium signify the
name of the engraver, M. A. Doms.
Henry Archer, an Irish engineer,
commonly Is credited with having in
vented the perforation machine. Poole
and Wylie's Philatelic Dictionary says:
I'm 1S47 he brought to the notice of
the postmaster general Of Great
Britain machine whereby the stamps
might be separated without the neces-
sity of using knives or scissors This
was a rouletting machine designed to
pierce series Of cuts through the
paper between the labels. The ma
chine proved impracticable and Archer
modified it somewhat. Trials were
made with various sheets of stamps"
on the first and second machines, but
the mechanism was still unsatisfac-
tory.
Nothing daunted by these failures,
Archer persevered with his idea, and
in 1849 produced another machine,
which was constructed on the princi-
pie Of perforating the portions of
paper between the stamps with q
series of holes, which were punched
out by hollow steel needles. After re-
peated experiments and alterations
Archer triumphed over his many
difficulties and perfected his invention
and the machine was purchased by
the government"
The first day Of use by the inland
revenue authorities was January 28.
1854.
Preliminary plans for the Interna-
tional Philatelic Exhibition, to be held
at Grand Central Palace, New York
City, May 9 70 II, 1886, have been
completed.
The Association for Stamp Exhibi-
tions will be in charge Of arrange
ments. President Roosevelt has ac-
cepted an invitation to serve as hon
orary patron; DR.. Charles Lathrop
Pack will be honorary president and
Col. E. H. r. Green and John Luff
honorary vice presidents.
Active officers are A. F. Lichten-
stein, president; j. j. Klemann, IT,;
Laurence B. Mason and Arthur Z.
Owen, vice presidents; Rear Admiral
Frederic r. Harris, secretary; Theo-
dore e. Steinway, treasurer; Hugh M.
Clark, j. A. Klemann, Charles j.
Phillips and Harry L. Lindquist, COM
mittee men.
An Office has been established at
a william street, New York City,
and applications for copies Of the first
prospectus may BE- had at that ad-
dress. u
Seventy six iranks Of valuable and