The Wilmington morning star., 1945-12-17

complete sheet Wnlcn hdu
value Of about 5000.
Ever since Mr.. Roosevelt made
his first Latin American goodwin
tour. foreign governments got into
the habit Of preparing special col
lections for him. The albums ran
the gamut of quality. There was
the small pamphlet containing
onlv E, current set OF Sarawak
stamps presented to the president
by Sir Charles Vyner Brooke.
raiah of the British protectorate.
And there was the complete col
lection OF perforated and imperfo-
rate Soviet stamps given to him
by the Russian government, and
mounted in albums which are
binding treasures in themselves.
Highlighting the material which
will be sold are u leather-bound
binders in which are mounted die
proofs of every stamp produced at
the bureau of engraving and print
ing from 1894 up to and including
the three-cent peace commend
ration (Newburgh) issue Of 1888,
the first stamp authorised under
the Roosevelt administration. This
collection alone accounts for $40.-
600 Of the appraisal Of the entire
Roosevelt lot. !
AL of the imperforate stamps
which Postmaster General James
A. Farley had obtained from the
bureau for presentation to the
boss" are here too. It was the
donation of these unfinished"
stamps to the president and sew
eral of MI. Farley's friends which
caused the Farley follies" uproar
of 1934-'35.
Also included are collections
which were philatelic gifts from
foreign governments and officials.
There is, for instance a; collection
of Monaco stamps given to the
president by Prince Louis II, in
1910. Others include two albums
presented by the post office Of
stamps donated by the Cechoslo-
vakian government; an album of
Polish issues given BY the republic
of Pols nd, in 1889; Bulgarian
stamps and die-proofs prepared
and presented by George Earle,
minister to Bulgaria; presen-
tation collection given by Maxim
Litvinov, in 1884; another collec-
ton given by the minister Of Posts
and Telegraphs of France. There
is complete sheet Of five stamps
which the Cuban government
made especi; lily for Mr.. Roosevelt
in 1912.
Many Of these are unique phi
latelic gems and the prices they
will relize is snybody's guess.
Some Of them according to phi
latelists who should know, will
bring as high as $1,000.
Such things as proofs Of stamp
dies, imperforate sheets Of stamps
which were available to collectors
only in perfors ted condition, and
kindred items command fantastic
prices when they leak into the phi
latelic market because they are
extremely scarce.
There was considera..e
quantity Of such material among
the gifts received by Mr.. Roose-
welt, and, while some Of it has
been consigned to the Hyde Ps rk
library whence it never will reach
the market, there still is much Of
it among the lots to be auctioned
Mr.. Roosevelt himself segregat.
ed the material, before he died
George Sloane, philatelic deale,
who appraised the collection with
in few weeks Of the president
death last April, estimated that thu
lot would bring $4,000. Mr.
HI rmer, through whom they will
be auctioned, says 100000, simply
because Of the rise in the marke
since the appraisal. No allowance
was made for the fact that buyer.
probably will pay more than nor
NAL values simply becs use tn,
stamps came from the Roosevelt
collection. and this possibility ma,
throw both Of these professional
estimates into the proverbia
cooked hat.