Evening star., 1935-04-21
BSsI%x5a&&M HI
55

ries of four stamps was issued for the
prepayment Of letters carried. Re-
prints of the set once were very COM
mon, but in recent years they seem
to have disappeared.
The 1851 to 1860 stamps of the
United States were manufactured by
Toppan, Carpenter & Co.. printers,
Philadelphia.
Herbert Bourne Qs25-1sO7, cele-
brated English engraver, prepared the
dies for several great stamp printing
houses, including Perkins, Bacon g.
Co. and Waterlow g. Sons. Examples
of his work may be found in the issues
of Queensland, Haiti. Liberia. Chile.
Spain, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Uruguay
and Nyassa.
Further quotations from Stamp
Oddities" by Harold B. Atkinson, jr.,
in the Junior Red Cross Magazine, are
as follows:
Many different persons, animals.
birds and places have been used as
illustrations on stamps, but only one
postage stamp pictures Christ. This
was issued by Italy in 1928. However,
there are several which carry pictures
of the Madonna and the Christ Child
"At one time Sicily was a separate
kingdom and issued its own stamps.
But King Bomba of Sicily did not
want his picture marred by canceling
ink, SO a special cancellation was de-
vised that went around three sides
of stamp, leaving his picture un-
touched.
"The United States 5o-cent Graf
zeppelin issue Of 1888 has serious
error. The dirigible hangar shown on
the stamp is that at Glendale, Calf,
and not the one at Friedrichshafen,
Germany, the home port of the ship
When the first airmail stamp was
issued by the United States in 1918,
three sheets of 100 stamps each were
put through the presses the wrong
way when the second color was being
added, and so the stamp came out
with the airplane in the center upside
down. Two of these three sheets were
destroyed by the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing, but the third was sold
without the error being noted. This
was bought for $24 by a collector
who quickly spotted the error. and
who later sold the sheet for $4,000
Today, individual stamps from this
sheet are cataloged at $4,000.
Two stamps that never fail to inter-
est persons in general are, respective
ly. the largest stamp in the world and
the smallest. A newspaper stamp
issued by the United States in 1865 is
conceded to be the largest and in the
same year the Department of Bolivar
of the Republic of Colombia issued
what is commonly regarded as the
smallest
Tin Can Island or Niuafoou, Tonga,
in the South Seas. derives its nick
name from the fact that at one time
all mail sent or received from there
was carried in tin cans by swimmers.
This was done because there is no
harbor large enough to permit a ship
to dock. Because of the viciouSneSs
of the sharks, however, this had to be
stopped. and canoes are now used.
Mail delivery and collection is made
only once a year.
Before our National Post Office De-
partment was well organized 1t was
customary for local postmasters to de-
wise their own canceling devices, and
issues bearing skull and crossbones"
cancellations are among the oddities of
the stamp world One postmaster can
celed his stamps Don't U. S. M"
This was misinterpreted until he ex-
planned that he meant Don't use 'em
again!" 1t seems that some of our
ancestors had a habit of washing of
cancellations and using the stamps
again. Stamps have been issued in all
kinds OF shapes, rectangular. circular,
triangular, octagonal, diamond, and
oval.
"The United States has the honor of
issuing the first mourning stamp,
which came out following President
Lincoln's assassination. Since that
time many countries have issued
mourning stamps. Belgium issued one
on the death of King Albert and Ger
many put out one after the death of
President Won Hindenburg."
The word "Seebeck," frequently en-
countered in philatelic literature. re-
fers to N. F.. Seebeck, executive head
of the Hamilton Bank Note Co.. New
York, who in 1889 made contracts
with various Central American repub-
lies under which he agreed to supply
them with new sets of stamps every
year on condition that he was to be
allowed to retain the plates and to be
free to dispose of the remainders as
successive sets were replaced. All the
stamps were legitimate originals, but
the vast quantities of them marketed
to collectors affected their value dele
teriously
Many Of the stamps of Austria in
the early years Of the century showed
parallel bars of varnish running
across the surface. The
device was intended to prevent
washing" of used copies, a safeguard
abandoned in 1905.
Finland has corrected its stamp
scandal by sentencing one postal Of
f1cer to Is years imprisonment and
another to years. The two men
circulated forged stamps, cheating
he government of approximately
100000. They were trapped through
IN anonymous letter from a collector.
Stamps from the Arthur Hind COL
lection, now being sold at auction in
London, have realized $620, 900 to date,
and the end still is distant.
Representative Donald c. Dobbins
of Illinois has introduced bill Oh. r.
744D to permit the reproduction of
stamp designs in phiiatelic publica-
tions under such rules and regula-
tons in respect thereto as may here
after be prescribed by the Postmaster
General" Stamp clubs and individual
collectors are invited to support the
proposed legislation.
Hugo Meyer has in his collection
stampless cover showing the first post
mark Of the United States, 1889, and
he autograph of Oliver Wolcott. first