Evening star., 1940-03-03
AMONG THE STAMP COLLECTORS
News of the Phaec World Its Interests and Peope-Review OF
the Stamp Press-List of Local Meetings
By James Waldo Faucet.

ventor whose genius made possible
the issuance of the famous Penny
Black in the form in which 1t ap-
peared." has been suggested for
commemoration In the Postage
Stamp Centenary stamp to be re-
leased on May 8. His portrait, 1t
is urged, should be reproduced as
the central motif of the design.
A native of Newburyport, Mass,
Perkins was born on July 8, 1866.
He had meager schooling but early
in childhood manifested a remark
able inventive and artistic capacity.
At 13 he was apprenticed to a gold
smith; and at Is, when his master
died, he was left to carry on the
business alone. Later, he was COM
missioned to make dies for the cop
per coins struck at the Massachu-
sets mint. The failure of a COM
pany which he established to manu-
facture nail machine of his own
design led him to study the prob
lens of engraving In this field he
achieved his most notable success.
''The steel check plate which he
made for printing currency rem
dered counterfeiting extremely diff
f1cult-so much so that the Massa-
chusetts legislature passed a law
requiring all banks to adopt the
form of note produced from it."
Perkins next venture was the
publication of a series of school
copybooks, possibly the first books
using steel plates to be printed in
America" His partner in the busi-
ness was Gideon Fairman with
whom he crossed to London in
1918. Their hope was to win the
privilege of printing the Bank of
England notes, but they were dis
appointed. Nevertheless, with
capital furnished by the Heath
family, they established the firm
of Perkins, Fairman and Heath,
which from 1919 onward made
plates and printed notes which soon
were recognized as among the best
of their kind to be found anywhere
on earth" The Dictionary of
American Biography says: I'm 1910
duction of the first penny postage
stamps, and during the following
40 years produced many millions of
British postage stamps by the pro-
cess invented by Perkins"
The inventor himself continued
his labors, devising steam boilers
and engines, ship pumps, an air
conditioning system, ETC., until his
death, July 30, 1849. In recognition
of his talents he received many
honors, including the Vulcan medal
"dis engraving firm remained his
monument until just recently. The
philatelic public will remember him
as long as it will remember Hill or
the Heaths or any of their associates
Of century ago."
Postmaster General James A.
Farley authorizes publication of
f1rst-day sales figures for the poets
division of the Heroes of Peace"
series as follows: 1c. Henry Wads-
worth Longfellow, Portland, Me-,
February 16, 616,164 stamps, 160,-
SOB covers; &c, John Greenleaf
Whittier, Haverhill, Mass, Febru-
ary 16, 39O,355 stamps, 14S,423
covers; Sc, James Russell Lowell,
Cambridge, Mass, February 20,
265,688 stamps, 148,735 covers; SC,
Walt Whitman, Camden, N. j.,
February 20, 228,312 stamps, 1884,
1876 covers, and 10c James Whit
comb Riley, Greenfield, Ind, Febru-
ary "a, 192,794 stamps, 131,760
covers.
The Eighth American Scientific
Congress will be held in Washing
ton, May 10 to 18, inclusive, i'm
mediately following the Postage
Stamp Centenary celebration. Many
of those who plan to attend are
stamp collectors, and they probably
will be happy to have an opportuni-
ty to view the centennial exhibi-
tions at the Smithsonian Institu-
ton, the Library of Congress, the
Post Office Department and the
Bureau of Engraving and Print
ing.
George Van Den Berg, writing in
Stamps Magazine for March 2,
Endorses the proposal to purchase
the philatelic library of the late
Fred j. Melville for the Smith
sonian Institution. IF anything is
to be DONE" he says, lit must be
done in hurry. Executors naturally
do not wait long to wind up an
estate. Here is a chance for one
of our major societies with surplus
funds or some public-spirited COL
lector of means to do the handsome
thing. There will never be another
chance"
Hans Trier of Cologne is the
artist responsible for the designs
of the new Winter Relief stamps
of Germany. The designs show Ell
bogen Castle on the Eyer; Drachen-
fels on the Rhine; Imperial Pala-
tinate of Goslar; clock tower in
Graz; Roemer in Frankfort-on-
Main; Landhaus in Klagenfurt;
ruins of Schreckenstein near Aus
sig; salzburg Castle and Hohentwiel
Castle.
The Lagerloef trophy of the
Balisea stamp exhibition, Brooklyn,
N. Y, February 81 to Is, was
awarded to 1t. Col. A. M. Wilson,
U. S. A., retired, for his collection
OF Spanish Philippines.
Commissioner George E. Allen is
understood to have conferred with
Post ONCE Department officials re-
garding the proposed stamp to be
issued for the sesqui-centenary of
the Act Of Congress establishing the
District of Columbia as the Capital
of the United States. Residents Of
Washington favoring such a COM
memorative are invited to COM
municate their approval either to
him or to Deputy Third Assistant