Evening star., 1942-11-22

nSh invention dating from the time
when a young girl succeeded te
the throne successfully held by a
number of disreputable Hanoveriar
kings. Its earliest manifestation wa!
a finely engraved miniature potrai'
of Queen Victoria-the Penny Black
and its chief motif ever since has
been portrait of the living sover-
eign.
LAS former director of the firm
which printed British stamps from
the earliest times-and incidental
ly the stamps of Jefferson Davis for
the Confederate States-perhaps ]
may add that the last three kings
of England have taken close per-
sonal interest in the design and
quality of the stamps bearing their
effigies.
Though King George v was, and
the present king is, an ardent COL
lector of postage stamps, the royal
collection of stamps of the British
Empire being probably the most
complete in existence, philately in
connection with British stamps has
not been officially received with en-
thusiasm. The stamps of Great
Britain include practically no spe-
clal or picturesque issues. The en-
ployment in the printing of stamps
of persons known to be stamp COL
lectors has been normally discour-
aged. This may have originated in
the early Sos of the last century
when on one sheet of an Indian
issue the head of Queen Victoria
inadvertently was printed upside
down and, escaping the vigilance Of
the government inspectors, passed
into circulation. This error, I un-
derstand, became a great rarity,
specimens being sold at very high
prices. But it awoke the authorities
to interesting possibilities, and there
have been practically no errors
since.
English stamps are printed by a
very inexpensive process. their Sc
curity against forgery lying in a
secret ink. English banknotes also
are printed by cheaper process
than that of any other country,
their security however residing in
a special paper the secret of which
was brought to England by Hugue-
not refugee in the 18th century, one
de Pourtales, an ancestor of Sir
Charles Portal, chief of the Raj,
in whose family it still remains.
1T is of interest to note that,
though public ownership in most
fields has gone much further in
England than in America, postage
stamps are still produced by private
contract in England but by govern
ment printing establishment in the
United States of America"
The, India invert to which Mr..
Underwood refers is the 4-anna red
and blue, 1854, valued at $4,000 a
copy in used condition, not known
mint.
The present Rowland Hill. con-
temporary bearer of the name of the
inventor of the adhesive postage
stamp, is not interested in philately.
His hobby is pigs.
According to the Associated Press
Feature Service, The stamp market,
at least in New York. is more active
than it was six months ago. and
business was good even then. There
is demand for semi -postals, air.
mails and late pictorials, particularly
from Central Europe.
Reason may be an increased in
terest in stamps as hobby, but
more likely reflects greater pros
perity among collectors, as we'll as
recognition of stamps as an in
vestment."
A Philadelphia collector last week
paid $1,000 cash for an accumu-
lation of miscellaneous foreign and
mint United States stamps gathered
over period of years beginning in
1884 by resident of nearby Vir-
ginia who died not long ago. leaving
his philatelic estate to be liquidated
by his widow.
Kenya has new printings of cur
rent stamps on war paper.
One of the greatest of all precancel
collections was brought together by
a clerk in a hardware store who
had the wit to realize that the
stamps affixed to packages received
from wholesalers and manufacturers
were interesting and in some cases
valuable.
He spent practically no money in
the purchase of stamps. Such speci-
mems as he did not pick out of the
waste basket he obtained by trading
with fellow enthusiasts employed in
a public service corporation ware
house, department store auditor S
office, an electric supply shop and
laundry.
The Capital Precancel Club is So
liciting new members. Readers who
wish to join may communicate with
r. c. Southard, president, Box
5535, Washington, D. c., or George
w. Hawse, secretary-treasurer, 332
North Piedmont street, Arlington
Va.
If the present occupants of 734s
Kelly street. Pittsburgh, Pa, will
take down the mantlepiece in the
parlor Of their home they will-at
least should-find a large sheet ol
paper covered with foreign stamp.
of the 18th century worth the trou.
bic. Of retrieving. This philatelit
treasure trove was hidden there ir
1905 or 1906 by a small boy who now
is the stamp editor Of The Star anc
has not forgotten.
Carter Glass, jr.. former president
of the American Philatelic Society
is returning to active duty with the
Army.
Robert w. Jones, an American
stamp collector, is 4 prisoner Of wal
in Japan.
The following stamp Acollectini
boys at Boys Town. Nebr., win cele'
brate birthdays during December