The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-03-14

"L'EchO dc Ia Timbrologie," for disregarding the use of 0. G. (original gurm) which collectors insist upon using in dealing with unused stamps. The following arguments against the use of gum ares ct forth by the French journal: Gum is not an essential feature of the stamp but is used only for convenience; many gums used on stamps are dele terious, either because they crack or curl up or because they contain acids which attack the paper, thus causing discolOr- ati0n. Preservation of the orig inal gum is impossible in many parts of the world, especially in the tropics and collectors are obliged to remove the gum from stamps or else give up their col lection. Anyone with an ele- mentary knowledge of chemistry can gum g stamp in such 8 way that no expert could detect whether or not the gum was original.
 The French publication does not go so far as to suggest that gum should be removed from all unused stamps, but that gummed and ungummed stamps should be placed in the same category.
 On the eve of the Third In- ternational Philatelic Exhibition (Tipex) in Nef York, the collec- ton which received gold medal at the 1885 event will be offered for sale by Irwin Heiman. The extensive accumulation of Ball. loon Posts, formed by J. w. Pre- vost, will be broken up and in addition to the material which was in the collection of ten years ago, there will be many new items.
 One of the main features of this collection is the complete correspondence of French of- ficer to his wife, l12 letters, cov- ering the seige day by day. This lot was secured in France from the original addressee. So scarce is the lot that 1t is being of- fered as a single unit, and the balance, broken up into 400 sep- arate units, including Paris Stars, Letter Journals, several hundred balloon letters and Pigeon Posts.
 The new issue of Ethiopian Postage Stamps, . series con- sisting of five stamps in denOm- nations of 1, 2, 4 and 6 Guerches and 1 Thaler, printed in green, blue, pink, brown and purple, each with 9 Red Cross Overprint on the upper left hand corner, have arrived in this country and are now on sale at the Imperial Consulate General of Ethiopia, 78 Water street, New York city. These stamps have been officially authorized by the Ethiopian government.
 Inasmuch as this is a special series. the stamps will not be sold in single denominations, hut only in sets of five at dou- ble the face value, which Is the present rate of basis on foreign exchange. The price will be set at $l.5O. Payment for these stamps should be made in cer- tified cheeks or by money order, drawn to the order of the Ethi- opian Consul General. This series will also be available in Ethiopia and will serve as post age stamps In that country.
 For the convenience of p0ten- tial purchasers of these sets. the series will be affixed t0 self-ad- dressed envelopes and will be forwarded t0 Ethiopia for nail- Ing. Upon their return Co the Consulate they will be forward ed te addresses under separate covers. In this way every pre-. caution will have been taken to assure safe delivery, although present conditions in Ethiopia foreed the consulate Co refrain from making any guarantee for the return 0f these covers.