Evening star., 1942-03-15

! una UOt yeL us Tue OeSWHtHy VI
| peace.
in addition that are in the $1000.-
900 class Together they have a
market value somewhere between
sl5.0O0OOO and S25 100000 The
bulk of the investment lies as usual
with the moderate collectors. There
are any number of acCumulatiens
worth thousands of dollars. Let it
be supposed that 100000 of the
estimated minimum of 2,000,0 900 col
lectionS are made up largely of
scrap or other material worth rela
lively little. with the remaining
100000 worth on the average only
5000 apiece. That leaves total
investment in the hands of the mod
crate collectors of 100000. Also
to be considered are the reference
collections and the stock in the
hands of the 5000 dealers. Since
| there are dozen or more merchants
who have hundreds of thousands of
dollars tied up in stock and refer
CIINC SldiIlpS, anu SIllCc even SOlIlc vi
the smallest of them have rather
! considerable stocks, it would seem
perfectly safe to put the average
value of the commercial holdings
at $1,000 per dealer, absurdly low
though that actually is. This adds
another S5000000 to the national
investment. Thus in the United
States alone there would seem to
be at least 1925 100000 invested in
stamps at current quotations. On
the supposition that there are three
times as many collections in other
countries, it would appear that the
minimum total for the world stands
in the Heighborhood of 5000 900 O00
And this total is growing every year
as new stamps come into the market
and as older issues increase in
value"
Mrs. Edith Alice Vaughan. wife
Of Charles H, Vaughan, president
of the Collectors Club of Washing
ton. died at Emergency Hospital,
Wednesday evening. She had been
in failing health for several months.
When Thomas K. Tapling. M. P.
left his valuable stamp collection
to the British Museum in 1891. the
| trustees of that famous institution
at first declined to accept it. The
Prince of Wales. later King George
V, intervened to obtain a different
verdict.
| Sir Lauder Brunton. a famous
English physician, on a certain oc-
casion some years ago. declared: "A
great many people die from the very
simple malady of having nothing
to do. When they retire from active
work they die of sheer ennui. Some
times they come to me and COM
plain of so many things and say
they have nothing to do. I tell
them to collect stamps. 1t will add
10 years to their lives. The wise
men do SO. The others do not and
the wise men live on. That is the
reason for collecting stamps in the
latter years of life"
! Ben L. Morris. Bellaire. Ohio, has
issued his eighth annual check list
of Christmas seals of the world
Copies may be had at cost, 10 cents.
plus postage.
A clipping from the New York
Times of June 30, 1889, tells the
story of the 1890 changes of color
in United States postage stamps,
as follows: The fate of the green
2-cent stamp has been settled by
Postmaster General John Wana-
maker. 1t must go, and its place
must be taken by stamp either
carmine or metallic red in color.
The next contract for supplying
the Government with stamps will
be made under specifications which
were made public today and which
show that, while the Postmaster
! General has determined upon a
/ change of color he is also seriously
! contemplating a reduction in the
/ size of the present stamp. Bids are
/ invited for two sizes of the ordi-
nary postage stamps. One the same
as now used and the other three
fourthS by Seven-eighths of an inch,
or about one-third smaller. No
change will be made in the size of
newspaper and periodical postage,
due or special delivery stamps, and
the question of smaller ordinary
stamps will depend for settlement
| largely upon the terms offered by
the would-be contractors. Mr..
Wanamaker thinks the cost of the
stamps to the Government may be
materially reduced if smaller size
is taken, although it would be
necessary to prepare new designs,
dies and rolls.
IF it is decided to retain the
present size the 2-cent stamp will
be printed with metallic red ink,
and the colors of the other denomi-
nations will be: One-cent, ultra
marine; Scent, vermillion; Accent,
milori green; Scent, chocolate; g.
cent, dark red; 10-cent, light brown;
15-cent, orange; 30-cent, black; 90
cent, carmine. If the Postmaster
General concludes to reduce the
size the color of the 2-cent stamp
will be carmine, while the others