Evening star., 1941-07-06
AMONG THE STAMP COLLECTORS
News of the Phaec World Its Interests and PeopleRevew of
the Stamp Press-Lst of Local Meetings
Bv James Waldo Fa,ccen.

The Buffalo Express 4O years ago
yesterday printed the following ac-
count of a philatelic crime: Some
time between 10 o'clock on Wednes-
Gay night, July 3, and o'clock yes
terday morning four sheets of rare
old postage stamps . were stolen
from the Post Office Department
exhibition in the Government build
ing at the Pan American) Expo
sition. The thief, who has not been
caught. must have been somewhat
of a philatelist, for the four sheets
stolen are the most valuable of the
500 sheets in the display. They
contained about 300 stamps of the
earliest varieties issued by the de-
partment. The stamp exhibit at
the fair was the finest ever put to-
gether by the Government and far
exceeded in completeness and value
any private collections whose own
ers were willing to lend their treas
ures to the Post Office Department.
The stamps are displayed under
glass on swinging leaves and the
leaves are fastened to the columns
by safety device, used here for the
first time. The employees of the
Post Office Department exhibit
work from 9 a m. to pm, and none
of them was on duty when the rob-
berry was done. The Government
building is policed by guards from
the regular Army service. -Four OF
them were on duty at night. When
the employees returned to work yes
terday morning they found that
four of the frames had been torn
from the columns. The thief, &C
cording to every indication, worked
with the utmost deliberation. He
first pried off the patent locking
hinges of three cases and removed
the stamps. The fourth case re-
mained locked after the thief had
removed it from the column. Then
there is evidence to show the robber
hied himself to the group illustrat-
ing the mail carrier in the Far
West. Back of the wax cowboy on
the stuffed horse he broke the re-
manning case open and rif1ed 1t of
the valuable stamps it contained.
The emptied stamp case was found
back of the mounted automaton
when the Government building was
opened yesterday. There was no
trace of the way in which the
stamp thief came or went"
Further details were added by the
Buffalo Commercial for the same
date. The stamps were especially
valuable" it was explained, for the
reason that without them the col
lection will not be complete ..
To get the stamps, the thief pried
off the hinges of the outer panels
and lifted the panes of glass which
covered the stamps. This was
neither the work of moment nor
of a novice. 1t must have required
fully half an hours effort on the
part of some one who had both
strength and knowledge of his sur
roundings =. An ordinary per-
son would not have been familiar
with the value of the stamps =.
The exhibits are supposed to be
WdUCneQ all u0S JlIlle.
Still more information was print
ed in the Buffalo Express for July
s, 1901, where it was written: Some
of the stamps belonged to the Gov
eminent. Others we're lent by H. G..
Mandell of the American Bank Note
Co. of New York :. The COL
lection was a complete series of
United States postage stamps issued
from 1847 to 1898 inclusive :.
It's value was nearly $4,000 as it
stood, but now that the collection
is gone and must necessarily be
broken up into separate stamps, the
value increases y. In the COL
lection of stamps taken were two
complete sets of departmental
stamps All the stamps were per-
feet specimens and unused They
can easily be sold to private collec-
tors one at time without detec-
ton"
Collectors owe a debt of gratitude
to DR.. w. L. Babcock of Detroit for
his researches into the mystery of
the Buffalo Exposition robbery. The
quotations reproduced above were
taken from his article in Mekeels
Weekly Stamp News for June 80.
The post Office at Buffalo Station,
Va. will be discontinued July Is.
Last-day postmarks probably will
be furnished by the postmaster
on request.
Philatelic Agency sales for June
reached a total of s50,145.47. The
total figures for the fiscal year 1941
are s1,157 $500.
A beautiful souvenir of the life
and art of Ignacy Jan Paderewski
has been made available by the
Polonus Philatelic Society. 1t con-
sists of souvenir sheet show
ing the famous pianist-statesman
teaching a little child to play a
composition entitled Poland Is Not
Lost" The Paderewski 15f, brown
red, stamp of Poland, 1919, also is
reproduced as a feature of the label
Copies may be had from Chester
Mikucki, 1874 North Winchester
avenue, Chicago. Send 10 cents fol
each specimen wanted, with self.
addressed stamped envelope fol
return.
The Associated Press says: War
time interruption and delays O.
postal relations are resulting in col.
lectors' items of special interest