Evening star., 1942-07-05
AMONG THE STAMP COLLECTORS
News OF the Phatelc World Its Interests PeopeRevew
the Stamp Press-List of Local Meetings..
Bp James Waldo Fospcen.

property tax forms were distributed
by the local assessor last week
Representing the first effort ever
made by any governmental body
in the United States to derive rev.
enue from the two most notably
popular hobbies, the 1943 question
naire calls for estimates of the
value of all stamps and coins held
by residents of Washington.
Each owner is expected to report
the true value" of his property. The
assessor then enters on the form
the value at which he estimates 1t.
A bill follows in due course. The
tax rate is not disclosed in the text
Of the form.
Just what process of reasoning a
stamp or coin collector may be ex-
pected to use in deciding the true
value" of his property also is some
thing of a mystery. Catalogue
value" obviously, is not true val
ue." Neither is insured value" sub
ject to Interpretation as an accurate
appraisal. Stamps and coins are
worth only what their purchasers
are willing to pay for them. They
have no fixed value. If there is no
organized market, there cannot be
any standard scale for buying or
selling, Auctions furnish some trl-
fling guidance toward the answer
ing of the assessors questions, but
they are too variable to constitute
rule.
Undoubtedly, the whole matter is
of enormous importance to collec-
tors. 1t will have to be studied with
great care before any philatelist or
numismatist will be able to make
any honest report to the tax gath
erer.
.N1e hobby public outside the Ma
tions Capital meanwhile, is
warned to anticipate similar diff
culties. If stamp and coin collec-
tors can be exploited by the gov
ernment of the District of Colum-
bia, they also can be exploited by
the government of any State,
county or municipality in which
they may happen to reside.
The Scent win the War" propa-
ganda stamp went on sale yesterday
as scheduled - uncorrected. Post
Office and Bureau of Engraving and
Printings officials decided that the
error in the design had been dis
covered too late for anything to be
done about it before the time an
nounced for release. Perhaps a Sec
ond edition may be produced later.
Meanwhile, the eagle on the new
adhesive faces one direction and his
arrows are aimed in another-a
symbol of Illustration rather than OF
achievement.
Germany during March brought
out four high-value stamps showing
portraits of that man"-1m, dark
green; 2m, violet; 3m, dark red;
SIN, blue. A fifth Hitler issue ap-
peared on his SD birthday in April
IL plus 38 pf, red violet.
Mexico allegedly is distributing six
new promotion stamps-three regu-
lar postage; three airmail to publi-
cize an agricultural exposition.
Glen w. Naves of Spartanburg,
S. G., has been appointed airmail
editor of Mekeet's Weekly Stamp
News, Portland, Me.
The Smithsonian Institution is
supplying servicemen with post
cards of six different varieties, rep
resenting historic relics and other
treasured possessions. Soldiers and
sailors are invited to ask for the set
at the north door of the Arts and
Industries Building.
New Army post Offices listed for
San Francisco are assigned the
numbers "a, Is, 965, 966, OCT and
o68.
Representative John M. Coffee of
Washington is acting as counsel for
the American Stamp Association.
France announces commemora-
tives to mark the important ami
versaries in the careers of the COM
posers Massenet and DIndy.
Concerning the late Col. E. H.
r. Green whose stamps are to be
sold at auction by dozen different
dealers this autumn, Mauritz Hall
gren, in "All About Stamps" " writes:
'He was not a true collector, much
less a philatelist. Rather was he
a speculator -accumulator on
mammoth scale. His purchases IN
most cases he did not even bother
to mount, but stored them away IN
trunks, packing boxes and filing
cabinets. He bought the new issues
of practically all countries as fast
as they came out and put them
away in their original envelopes
without so much as looking at them.
= At his death a few years ago
his stamp hoard was estimated to be
worth as much as S3,500,000 though
experts employed by the courts sub
sequently appraised it at 81 ,290, ,444. y
The Argentine Republic will bring
out at least one stamp. perhaps
several, to mark the 450th ami
versary of the discovery Of America
by Christopher Columbus, October
IL.
Lewis A. Herman, 1885 Gallatin
street NV, a general collector, has
been admitted to membership in the
Society of Philatelic Americans.
The planners Of ideal worlds al
ready are busy with proposals for
the arbitrary remodeling of the
globe to be put into effect when at
last the war has been won by the
United Nations. Prof. George T.
Renner of Columbia University pub
lished in Golfers Weekly for June
6 a revised map of Europe in which
he blandly suggests the destruction
of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland,
Portugal, Latvia and all the Scan
dinavian and the Balkan states; the
STAMPS AND COINS.
COLUMBIA STAMP SHOP