Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-09-12
PhIIdteTc News
Sudden Withdrawal Of 1893 81 Stomp
May Leod to Change in ?. 0. Policy
PhiIotefc News
By james Waldo Fowcett

Dy JuWeS VuiuV E0Wssu
Removal Of the presidential
series 50 stamp from the Phil
atelic Agency sales list with
out notice on August 80 has
raised q question about Post
ONCE Department policy
namely: Should the public be
warned Of such Withdrawals
in time to make reasonable
purchases before the final
deadline?
Agency officials and some
stamp SPECTATORS agree that
no advance notice is called
for. The practice Of the de-
partment has been to remove
adhesives In short supply
without giving potential Gus
toners information of the i'm
pending elimination. This rule
is defended by philatelic in
vestors who naturally favor
restricted editions. It has been
in effect ever since the agency
was established in 1921, and
spokesman for the department
insist that there is nothing I'M
fair about it.
But each time a stamp ar
bitrarily is taken of the list
there are complaints. varying
in number and intensity Of ex-
preston in the ratio of Gus
toner interest. A classic ex-
ample of general resentment
was that of the scent Korean
Occupied Countries commem-
orative Of 1914 which was
available at the agency only
80 business days.
In the case of the 50 War
rem G. Harding green and
black regular postage stamp,
the first-day release date was
September 20, 1898. and the
sticker was available at the
agency for more than Is years.
What collectors are troubled
about is the fact that Post
master General Summerfield
announced that the printing
of this denomination would
be discontinued on Thursday,
August Is and the stamp
actually ceased to be purchas-
able at the agency on Mon
day, August 80, the day fol-
lowing publication of the
Postmaster Gen erals an
nouncement in The Star of
Sunday, August 20. Thus pros
pective customers actually had
only a single business day of
seven hours to buy copies of
the 50 stamp in the Agency
before it was removed from
the list. When disappointed
late-comers went to branch
post offices in quest of speci-
mems they found none in stock.
Philatelic Agency personnel
thought they had ample sup
plies on hand when Mr.. Sum-
merfleld announced discon-
tinuance Of printing. but they
soon learned that they were
mistaken. (
Apparently nobody antic-
ipated the consequences Of the
news release of August Is. The
Post Office Department pub
licity bureau brought out moth
ing further, and the disappear
ance of the 81 Harding stamp
from current usage still only
unofficially is recorded. A few
specimens may be discovered
in random post offices scat
tered over the national land
scape but the search for them
will be a tremendous labor
compared with any results
worth the bother.
Many foreign countries habit
ually announce last-days as vel
as f1rst-days for'new stamps. 4
majority of collectors in thu
United States might regard thi
proceeding as preferable to repe'
titions of what happened to thu
scent Korean commemorative
Of 1914 and the 81 Harding regu
lar postage adhesive of 1888.
Meanwhile. Star readers ar
advised that the Philatelic Agen
cy sales list almost certainly viii
be cut still further without no
tice soon. Collectors who hav
not purchased stamps they neet
to fill out their albums SHOULD
do so without additional delay
This warning applies to com
memorative as well as ordinar,
issues. The Scent Armed Serv
ices, the Scent Red Cross ant
the Scent Civil Engineers label
of 1852 were liquidated last week
Other stickers in short suppl!
may disappear tomorrow.
Ten subscribers named Stamp
are listed in the September. 1854
Washington Metropolitan Are'
telephone directory distributed
last week.
Belgium announces thre'
stamps to publicize an interna'
tional Rotary meeting at Ostend
September 10.
The British Philatelic So
ciety allegedly has made ar
rangements whereby copies Of
the controversial book Of
Sperati counterfeit stamps
will be permitted to enter the
United States without inter-
ference by the Secret Service.
Ten local service or feeder
airlines started carrying reg
ular Scent mail by air last
Wednesday. This test opera
ton involves more than 100
communities in % States. I'm
proved facilities and econ
omies are the detectives of the
experiment.
The Silver Spring Philatelic
Society is staging a member