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CHATS ON 
 POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
BOOKS FOR COLLECTORS 
 
 With Coloured Frontispieces and many Illustrations, 
 Large Crown 8vo, cloth. 
 
 CHATS ON ENGLISH CHINA. 
 By Arthur Hayden. 
 
 CHATS ON OLD FURNITURE. 
 By Arthur Hayden. 
 
 CHATS ON OLD PRINTS. 
 
 By Arthur Hayden. 
 
 CHATS ON COSTUME. 
 
 By G. Woolliscroft Rhead. 
 
 CHATS ON OLD LACE AND 
 NEEDLEWORK. 
 By E. L. Lowes. 
 
 CHATS ON ORIENTAL CHINA. 
 
 By J. F. Blacker. 
 
 CHATS ON MINIATURES. 
 By J. J. Foster. 
 
 CHATS ON ENGLISH EARTHENWARE. 
 
 By Arthur Hayden. 
 (Companion Volume to •* Chats on English China.") 
 
 CHATS ON AUTOGRAPHS. 
 
 By A. M. Broadley. 
 
 CHATS ON OLD PEWTER. 
 By H. J. L. J. Masse, M.A. 
 
 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS. 
 By Fred J. Melville. 
 
• Chats on 
 Postage Stamps 
 
 BY 
 
 FRED J. MELVILLE 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE JUNIOR PHILATELIC SOCIETY 
 
 WITH SEVENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS 
 

 {All rights reserved.) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Come and chat in my stamp-den, that I may encircle 
 you with fine-spun webs of curious and rare interest, 
 and bind you for ever to Philately, by which name 
 we designate the love of stamps. The " den " pre- 
 sents no features which would at first sight differen- 
 tiate it from a snug well-filled library, but a close 
 inspection will reveal that many of the books are not 
 the products of Paternoster Row or of Grub Street. 
 Yet in these stamp-albums we shall read, if you will 
 have the kindness to be patient, many things which 
 are writ upon the postage-stamps of all nations, as in 
 a world of books. 
 
 It is not given to all collectors to know their 
 postage-stamps. There is the collector who merely 
 accumulates specimens without studying them. He 
 has eyes, but he does not see more than that this 
 stamp is red and that one is blue. He has ears, but 
 they only hear that this stamp cost £1^000, and that 
 this other can be purchased wholesale at sixpence 
 the dozen. What shall it profit him if he collect 
 many stamps, but never discover their significance as 
 factors in the rapid spread of civilisation in the 
 
 242373 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 nineteenth and twentieth centuries ? The true 
 student of stamps will extract from them all that 
 they have to teach ; he will read from them the 
 development of arts and manufactures, social, com- 
 mercial and political progress, and the rise and fall 
 of nations. 
 
 To the young student our pleasant pastime of 
 stamp-collecting has to offer an encouragement to 
 habits of method and order, for without these 
 collecting can be productive of but little pleasure 
 or satisfaction. It will train him to be ever observant 
 of the minuticB that matter, and it will broaden his 
 outlook as he surveys his stamps "from China to 
 Peru." 
 
 The present volume is not intended as a complete 
 guide to the postage-stamps of the world ; it is rather 
 a companion volume to the standard catalogues and 
 numerous primers already available to the collector. 
 It has been my endeavour to indicate what counts in 
 modern collecting, and to emphasise those features of 
 the higher Philately of to-day which have not yet 
 been fully comprehended by the average collector. 
 Some of my readers may consider that I have unduly 
 appraised the value in a stamp collection of pairs 
 and blocks, proofs and essays, of documental matter, 
 and also that too much has been demanded in the 
 matter of condition. But all these things are of 
 greater importance than is realised by even the 
 majority of members of the philatelic societies. 
 Condition in particular is a factor which, if dis- 
 regarded, will not only result in the formation of 
 an unsatisfactory collection, but will lessen, if not 
 
PREFACE 9 
 
 ruin, the collection as an investment. It has been 
 thought that as time passed on the exacting require- 
 ments of condition would have to be relaxed through 
 the gradual absorption of fine copies of old stamps 
 in great collections. The effect has, however, been 
 simply to raise the prices of old stamps in perfect 
 condition. It may be taken as a general precept 
 that a stamp in fine condition at a high price is a far 
 better investment than a stamp in poor condition at 
 any price. 
 
 In preparing the illustrations for this volume I am 
 indebted to several collectors and dealers, chiefly to 
 Mr. W. H. Peckitt, who has lent me some of the fine 
 items from the "Avery" collection, to Messrs. Stanley 
 Gibbons, Ltd., whose name is as a household word to 
 stamp-collectors all over the world, and to Messrs. 
 Charles Nissen, D. Field, and Herbert F. Johnson. 
 
 I should also be omitting a very important duty if 
 I failed to acknowledge the general readiness of 
 collectors, and especially of my colleagues the 
 members of the Junior Philatelic Society both at 
 home and abroad, in keeping me constantly au 
 courant with new information connected with the 
 pursuit of Philately. Without such assistance in 
 the past, this work, and the score of others which 
 have come from my pen, could never have been 
 undertaken ; and perhaps the best token of my 
 appreciation of so many kindnesses will be to beg 
 (as I now do) the favour of their continuance in 
 the future. 
 
 FRED J. MELVILLE. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE . . . . . .7 
 
 PHILATELIC TERMS . . . . .21 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE GENESIS OF THE POST . . . -55 
 
 The earliest letter-carriers — The Roman posita — Princely 
 Postmasters of Thurn and Taxis — Sir Brian Tuke — Hobson 
 of **Hobson's Choice "—The General Letter Office of 
 England — Dockwra's Penny Post of 1680 — Povey's •' Half- 
 penny Carriage " — The Edinburgh and other Penny Posts — 
 Postal rates before 1840 — Uniform Penny Postage — The 
 Postage Stamp regarded as the royal diplomata — The growth 
 of the postal business. 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA . . -77 
 
 Early instances of contrivances to denote prepayment of 
 postage — The '* Tyio-Sous " Post — Billets de port pay^ — A 
 passage of wit between the French Sappho and M. Pellisson 
 — Dockwra's letter-marks — Some fabulous stamped wrappers 
 of the Dutch Indies — Letter-sheets used in Sardinia — Lieut. 
 Treffenberg's proposals for '* Postage Charts " in Sweden — 
 The postage-stamp idea "in the air" — Early British re- 
 formers and their proposals — The Lords of the Treasury start 
 a competition — Mr. Cheverton's prize plan — A find of papers 
 11 
 
12 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 relating to the contest — A square inch of gummed paper — 
 The Sydney embossed envelopes — The Mulready envelope — 
 The Parliamentary envelopes — The adhesive stamp popularly 
 preferred to the Mulready envelope. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 SOME EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY . .113 
 
 " Hobbyhorsical " collections — The application of the term 
 *' Foreign Stamp Collecting" — The Stamp Exchange in 
 Birchin Lane — A celebrated lady stamp-dealer — The 
 Saturday rendezvous at the All Hallows Staining Rectory 
 — Prominent collectors of the first period — The first stamp 
 catalogues — The words Philately and Timbrolo^e — 
 Philatelic periodicals — ^Justin Lallier's albums- The Phi- 
 latelic Society, London. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 ON FORMING A COLLECTION . . . -133 
 
 The cost of packet collections — The beginner's album — 
 Accessories — Preparation of stamps for mounting — The 
 requirements of " condition " — The use of the stamp-hinge 
 — A suggestion for the ideal mount — A handy gauge for use 
 in arranging stamps — " Writing-up."- 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 THE SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION . -151 
 
 The historical collection : literary and philatelic — The quest 
 for rariora — The " grangerising " of philatelic monographs : 
 its advantages and possibilities — Historic documents — Pro- 
 posals and essays — Original drawings — Sources of stamp- 
 engravings — Proofs and trials — Comparative rarity of some 
 stamps in pairs, &c., or on original envelopes — Coloured 
 postmarks — Portraits, maps, 'and contemporary records — A 
 lost opportunity. 
 
CONTENTS 13 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ON LIMITING A COLLECTION . . . -197 
 
 The difficulties of a general collection — The unconscious 
 trend to specialism — Technical limitations : Modes of pro- 
 duction ; Printers — Geographical groupings : Europe and 
 divisions — Suggested groupings of British Colonies — United 
 States, Protectorates and Spheres of Influence — Islands of 
 the Pacific — The financial side of the "great" philatelic 
 ceuntries. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 STAMP-COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT . . 209 
 
 The collector, the dealer, and the combination — The factor 
 of expense — Natural rise of cost — Past possibilities in British 
 "Collector's Consols," in Barbados, in British Guiana, in 
 Canada, in "Capes" — Modern speculations: Cayman 
 Islands — Further investments : Ceylon, Cyprus, Fiji Times 
 Express, Gambia, India, Labuan, West Indies — The " Post 
 Office " Mauritius — The early Nevis, British North America, 
 Sydney Views, New Zealand — Provisionals : bond fide and 
 speculative — Some notable appreciations — " Booms." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES . . 237 
 
 Early counterfeits and their exposers The "honest" 
 
 facsimile — "Album Weeds" — Forgeries classified — Frauds 
 on the British Post Office — Forgeries "paying" postage — 
 The One Rupee, India — Fraudulent alteration of values — 
 The British los. and £\ "Anchor" — A too-clever "fake" 
 — ^Joined pairs — Drastic tests — New South Wales "Views" 
 and "Registered" — The Swiss Cantonals — Government 
 " imitations " — " Bogus " stamps. 
 
14 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FAMOUS COLLECTIONS . . . , . 261 
 
 The "mania" in the 'sixties — Some wonderful early collec- 
 tions — The first auction sale — Judge Philbrick and his 
 collection — The Image collection — Lord Crawford's "United 
 States" and '* Great Britain" — Other great modern collec- 
 tions — M. la Renotiere's " legions of stamps " — Synopsis 01 
 sales of collections. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS . . . 303 
 
 The late Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as a collector — King 
 George's stamps : Great Britain, Mauritius, British Guiana, 
 Barbados, Nevis — The " King of Spain Reprints " — The late 
 Grand Duke Alexis Michaelovitch — Prince Doria Pamphilj 
 —The "Tapling" Collection— The Berlin Postal Museum 
 — The late Duke of Leinster's bequest to Ireland — Mr. 
 Worthington's promised gift to the United States. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 333 
 
 INDEX . . . . . . .351 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Perforation Gauge . . . . . . • 43 
 
 The Commemorative Letter Balance designed by Mr. S. King, o- 
 Bath (1840). A monument "which may be possessed by 
 every family in the United Kingdom " . . .72 
 
 Mr. King's Letter Balance had a tripod base, as in the uppermost 
 figure, thus affording three tablets on which the associations 
 of J. Palmer, Rowland Hill, and Queen Victoria with postal 
 reform are recorded . . . . . -73 
 
 A Facsimile of the Address Side of a Penny Post Letter in 1686, 
 showing the ** Peny Post Payd " mark instituted by Dockwra 
 and continued by the Government authorities . . '83 
 
 Facsimile of the Contents of the Penny Post Letter of 1686 . 84 
 
 The Official Notification of December 3, 18 18, relating to the use 
 of the Sardinian Letter Sheets. Described in the records of 
 the Schroeder collection as "the oldest official notification of 
 any country in the world relating to postage-stamps " . .86 
 
 {Continuation from previous page.) The models show the 
 devices for the three denominations : 15, 25, and 50 centesimi 
 respectively . . . . . . '87 
 
 Proof of the Mulready Envelope, signed by Rowland Hill. (From 
 the "Peacock" Papers) . . . . .111 
 
 Gauge for Arranging Stamps in a Blank Album . . . 144 
 
 15 
 
16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Autograph Letter from Rowland Hill to John Dickinson, the 
 paper-maker, asking for six or eight sheets of the silk-thread 
 paper for trial impressions of the adhesive stamps . . 164 
 
 Original Sketch for the '• Canoe " Type of Fiji Stamps . . 169 
 
 A Postal Memento of New Zealand's '* Universal Penny Postage," 
 January i, 1901 ...... 190 
 
 The First Postage Stamp of the present reign, together with the 
 
 Post Office notice concerning its issue on November 4, 1910 . 193 
 
 The Official Notice of the Issue of the New Stamps of Great 
 Britain for the reign of King George V. . . . 195 
 
 LIST OF PLATES 
 
 Sir Rowland Hill. (From the painting by J. A. Vinter, R.A., in 
 
 the National Portrait Gallery) .... Frontispiece 
 
 Examples of some Philatelic Terms : — A Pair of Great Britain 
 embossed Sixpence. — A Pair of Cape of Good Hope 
 Triangular Shilling. — A Block of four Great Britain Penny 
 Red.— A Strip of three Grenada ** 4d." on Two Shillings . 25 
 
 Examples of some Philatelic Terms: — The figures "201" 
 indicate the Plate Number , and " 238 " the Current Number. 
 The Plate Number is also on each of these stamps in micro- 
 scopic numerals. — Corner pair showing Current Number 
 " 575 " in margin. — Corner pair showing Plate Number ** 15" 
 in margin. The Plate Number is also seen in small figures on 
 each stamp. — The above stamps are those of Great Britain 
 overprinted for use in Cyprus . . . . .29 
 
 Examples of some Philatelic Terms : — A sheet of stamps of 
 Gambia, composed of two Panes of sixty stamps each. — The 
 single " Crown and CA " watermark, as it appears looking 
 from the back of the Gambia sheet illustrated above. The 
 watermark is arranged in panes to coincide with the im- 
 pressions from the plate . . . . '33 
 
 Examples of some Philatelic Terms : — A " Bisect," or " Bisected 
 Provisional." The One Penny stamp of Jamaica was in 186 1 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 17 
 
 PAGE 
 
 permitted to be cut in halves diagonally, and each half used as 
 a halfpenny stamp . . . . '37 
 
 Examples of some Philatelic Terms : — Photograph of a flat steel 
 die engraved in taille dotue [i.e.^ with the lines of the design 
 cut into the plate). The stamp is the 50 lepta of Greece, issue 
 of 1 90 1, showing Hermes adapted from the Mercury of 
 Giovanni da Bologna . . . . . 'Si 
 
 Scarce Pamphlet (first page) in which William Dockwra announces 
 the Penny Post of 1680 . . . . .65 
 
 A Post Office in 1790 . . . . . .69 
 
 Sardinian Letter Sheet of 1818: 15 centesimi.— The 25 centesimi 
 Letter Sheet of Sardinia. Issued in Sardinia, 1818; the 
 earliest use of Letter Sheets with embossed stamps . . 89 
 
 The highest denomination, 50 centesimi, of the Sardinian Letter 
 Sheets. — One of the temporary envelopes issued for the use 
 of members of the House of Lords, prior to the issue of 
 stamps and covers to the public, 1840 . . -93 
 
 The "James Chalmers " Essay. — Rough sketches in water-colours 
 submitted by Rowland Hill to the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer for the first postage stamps . . -99 
 
 Hitherto unpublished examples of the proposals submitted to the 
 Lords of the Treasury in 1839 in competition for prizes 
 offered in connection with the Penny Postage plan. (From 
 the Author's Collection) ..... 103 
 
 The address side of the model letter which has the stamp (shown 
 below) affixed to the back as a seal. — Another of the 
 unpublished essays submitted in the competition of 1839 for 
 the Penny Postage plan. (From the Author's Collection) . 107 
 
 A Postage Stamp "Chart" — one of the early forms of stamp- 
 collecting . . . . . . .119 
 
 The small "experimental" plate from which impressions of the 
 Two Pence, Great Britain, were made on "Dickinson" 
 paper. Only two rows of four stamps were impressed on 
 each piece of the paper, ((y. next plate) . . -157 
 
 The Two Pence, Great Britain, on * ' Dickinson " paper. The upper 
 block is in red (24 stamps printed in all, of which nine copies 
 are known), and the lower block in blue (16 stamps printed. 
 
18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of which twelve copies are known). The above blocks of six 
 each are in the possession of Mr. Lewis Evans ; the pairs cut 
 from the left side of each block were in the collection of the 
 late Mrs. John Evans ...... i6l 
 
 One of the rough pencil sketches by W. Mulready, R.A., for the 
 envelope. The "flying" figures are not shown in this 
 sketch . . . . . . . .165 
 
 Engraver's proof of the Queen's head die for the first adhesive 
 postage stamps, with note in the handwriting of Edward 
 Henry Corbould attributing the engraving to Frederick 
 Heath . . . . . . . .173 
 
 An exceptional block of twenty unused One Penny black stamps, 
 lettered *' V R" in the upper corners for official use. (From 
 the collection of the late Sir William Avery, Bart.) . . 177 
 
 An envelope bearing the rare stamp issued in 1846 by the 
 Postmaster of Millbury, Massachusetts. — One of the stamps 
 issued by the Postmaster of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during 
 the Civil War, 1861 . . . . . . iSl 
 
 Another of the Confederate States rarities issued by the Postmaster 
 of Goliad, Texas.— The stamp issued by the Postmaster of 
 Livingston, Alabama. (From the " Avery " Collection) . 183 
 
 The One Penny ** Post Office " Mauritius on the original letter- 
 cover. (From the " Duveen " Collection) . . .187 
 
 A roughly printed card showing the designs and colours for the 
 Unified ' * Postage and Revenue " stamps of Great Britain, 
 1884 191 
 
 The King's copy of the Two Pence **Post Office" Mauritius 
 stamp. — The magnificent unused copies of the One Penny and 
 Two Pence " Post Office " Mauritius stamps acquired by 
 Henry J. Duveen, Esq., out of the collection formed by the 
 late Sir William Avery, Bart. ..... 22$ 
 
 The famous *• Stock Exchange " Forgery of the One Shilling green 
 stamp of Great Britain. — A Genuine "Plate 6." — One 
 specimen was used on October 31, 1872, and the other on 
 June 13 of the next year. The enlargements betray trifling 
 differences in the details of the design, as compared with the 
 genuine stamp above ...... 245 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 19 
 
 PAGB 
 
 The unique envelope of Annapolis (Maryland, U.S.A.) in Lord 
 Crawford's collection of stamps of the United States . . 279 
 
 Part sheet (175 stamps) of the ordinary One Penny black stamp of 
 Great Britain, 1840. (From the collection of the Earl of 
 Crawford, K.T.) . . . . . .283 
 
 Nearly a complete sheet (219 stamps out of 240) of the highly 
 valued One Penny black " V R " stamp, intended for official 
 use. (From the collection of the Earl of Crawford, K.T.) .285 
 
 Part sheet (lacking but six horizontal rows) of the scarce Two 
 Pence blue stamp "without white lines" issued in Great 
 Britain, 1840. (From the collection of the Earl of 
 Crawford, K.T.) . . . . . .287 
 
 The unique block of the " double Geneva " stamp, the rarest of 
 the Swiss " Cantonals." (Formerly in the " Avery " Collec- 
 tion, now in the possession of Henry J. Duveen, Esq.) . 291 
 
 Part sheet of the scarce 5c. " Large Eagle " stamp of Geneva, 
 showing the marginal inscription at the top. (From the 
 collection of Henry J. Duveen, Esq.) .... 293 
 
 A Page of the 5 cents, and 13 cents. Hawaiian " Missionary " 
 stamps. (From the " Crocker " Collection) . . .297 
 
 Hawaiian Islands, 1851. The 5 cents "Missionary" stamp on 
 original envelope. (From the " Crocker " Collection) . 299 
 
 A Page from the King's historic collection of the stamps of 
 Great Britain, showing the method of "writing up" . 307 
 
 The three copies of the unissued 2d. " Tyrian-plum " stamp of 
 Great Britain, in the collection of H. M. the King. The one 
 on the envelope is the only specimen known to have 
 passed through the post ..... 309 
 
 Design for the King Edward One Penny stamp, approved and 
 initialled by His late Majesty. (From the collection of 
 H.M. King George V.) . , . . . 313 
 
 The companion design to that on ps^e 313, and showing the 
 correct pose of the head, but in a different frame which was 
 not adopted. (From the collection of H.M. the King) . 315 
 
 A Page of the One Penny " Post Paid " stamps of Mauritius. (In 
 the collection of H.M. the King) .... 319 
 
 2 
 
20 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Two Pence *♦ Post Paid " stamp of Mauritius. Unique block 
 showing the error (the first stamp in the illustration), lettered 
 " Penoe » for *• Pence ". (In the collection of i H.M. the 
 King) 323 
 
 A specimen page rom the "Tapling" Collection at the British 
 Museum. Probably the most valuable page, showing the 
 Hawaiian "Missionaries." The two stamps at the top have 
 been removed from the cases and are now kept in a safe in the 
 " Cracherode '* Room. ..... 327 
 
PHILATELIC 
 TERMS 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 Albino. — An impression made either from an uninked 
 embossing die, or from a similar inked die, under 
 which two pieces of paper have been simul- 
 taneously placed, only the upper one receiving 
 the colour. 
 
 Aniline. — A term strictly applicable to coal-tar 
 colours, but commonly used for brilliant tones 
 very soluble in water. 
 
 B4tonn6. — See Paper. 
 
 Bisect. — A term applied to a moiety of a stamp, used 
 as of half the value of the entire label. 
 
 Bleut6. — This word implies that the blueness of the 
 paper has been acquired since the stamp was 
 printed, as the result of chemical action. 
 
 Block. — An unsevered group of stamps, consisting of 
 at least two horizontal rows of two each. 
 
 Bogus. — An expression applied to any stamp not 
 designed for use. 
 
 Burel6. — A fine network forming part of design of 
 stamp, or covering the front or back of entire 
 sheet. 
 
 Cancelled to order. — Stamps which, though postmarked 
 or otherwise obliterated, have not done postal or 
 fiscal duty. 
 
24 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 Centimetre (cm.). — The one - hundredth part of a 
 metre = '3937 inch. 
 
 Chalky, or chalk-surfaced. — Before being used for 
 printing, paper sometimes has its surface coated 
 with a preparation largely composed of chalk or 
 similar substance : this renders the print liable 
 to rub off if wetted ; and, in combination with a 
 doubly-fugitive ink, renders fraudulent cleaning 
 practically impossible. 
 
 Cliche. — The ultimate production from the die, and of 
 a number of which the printing plate is com- 
 posed. 
 
 Colour trials. — Impressions taken in various colours 
 from a plate, so that a selection may be made. 
 
 Comb machine. — A variety of perforating machine, 
 which produces, at each descent of the needles, 
 a line of holes along a horizontal (or vertical) 
 row of stamps, and a short line of holes down 
 the two sides (or top and bottom) of each stamp 
 in that horizontal (or vertical) row. And see 
 Perforation. 
 
 Commemoratives. — A term applied to labels issued 
 chiefly for sale to collectors, and commemorating 
 the contemporaneous happening, or the anni- 
 versary, centenary, &c., of some often unim- 
 portant or almost forgotten event. 
 
 Compound. — See Perforation. 
 
 Control. — An arbitrary letter or number, or both, 
 printed on the margin of a sheet of stamps, for 
 facilitating a check on the supply. Also used to 
 denote a design overprinted on a stamp {e,g, 
 Persia, 1899) as a protection against forgery. 
 
A Pair of Great Britain embossed Six Pence. 
 
 A Pair of- Cape of Good Hope 
 Triangular Shilling, 
 
 A Block of four Great Britain 
 Penny Ked. 
 
 ■J^-: 
 
 'mW- 
 
 IT. 
 
 Xi3Dra3VEc: Sl3riI33a5Ci:- [Lr«I:T€aCt'13r 
 
 A strip of three Grenada "4d." on Two Shillings. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SOME PHILATELIC TERMS. 
 
 25 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 27 
 
 Current number. — The consecutive number of a plate, 
 irrespective of the denomination of the stamp. 
 
 Cut-outs. — A term used to denote the impressions, 
 originally part of envelopes, postcards, &c., but 
 cut off for use as ordinary stamps. 
 
 Cut-squares. — Stamps cut from envelopes, &c., with a 
 rectangular margin of paper attached, are known 
 as "cut-squares." 
 
 Dickinson paper. — See Paper. 
 
 Die. — The original engraving from which the printing 
 plates are produced ; or, sometimes, from which 
 the stamps are printed direct. See Plate and 
 Embossed. 
 
 Doubly-fugitive. — See Fugitive. 
 
 Double-print. — Strictly applicable to two similar im- 
 pressions, more or less coincident, on the same 
 piece of paper ; though often, but erroneously, 
 applied to instances where the paper, not being 
 firmly held, has touched the plate, so receiving a 
 partial impression, and then, resuming its correct 
 position, has been properly printed. 
 
 Duty-plate. — Many modern stamps are printed from 
 two plates, one being the same (key-plate, which 
 see) for all the values, but the other differing for 
 each denomination : this latter is the duty-plate. 
 
 Electro. — A reproduction of the original die, made by 
 means of a galvanic battery from a secondary 
 die. See Matrix. 
 
 Embossed. — Stamps produced from a die, or reproduc- 
 tions thereof, on which the design is cut to 
 varying depths, are necessarily in relief, ?>., 
 embossed. And see Printing. 
 
28 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 Engraved. — The term is often used to denote stamps 
 printed direct from a plate, on which the lines of 
 the design are cut into the metal. And see 
 Printing. 
 
 Entires. — This expression includes not only postal 
 stationery (which see), but when used in de- 
 scribing an adhesive stamp, as being " on entire," 
 implies that the stamp is on the envelope or 
 letter as when posted. 
 
 Envelope stamp. — A stamp belonging to, and printed 
 on, an envelope. 
 
 Error. — An incorrect stamp — either in design, colour, 
 paper, &c.— which has been issued for use. 
 
 Essay. — A rejected design for a stamp ; in the 
 French sense also applied to proofs of accepted 
 designs. 
 
 Pacsimile. — A euphemism for a forgery. 
 
 Fake. — A genuine stamp, which has been manipulated 
 in order to increase its philatelic or postal 
 value. 
 
 Fiscal. — A stamp intended for payment of a duty or 
 tax, as distinguished from postage. 
 
 Flap ornament. — This refers to the ornament (usually) 
 embossed on the tip of the upper flap of 
 envelopes, and variously termed Rosace or Tresse, 
 or (incorrectly) Patte, which see. 
 
 Fugitive. — Colours printed in " singly-fugitive " ink 
 suffer on an attempt to remove an ordinary ink 
 cancellation ; but if in " doubly-fugitive " ink it 
 was thought that the removal of writing-mV 
 would injure the appearance of the stamp. And 
 see Chalky. 
 

 ir/k^iHtrr fh irn-m-r th* ^mifnt. (201) 
 
 r.8 
 
 The figures " 201 " indicate the Plate Number, 
 and "238" the Current Number. The Plate 
 Number is also on each of these stamps in 
 microscopic numerals. 
 
 i 
 
 2ri^ M 
 
 
 ®'2¥'i 
 
 CYPRUS CYPRUS; 
 
 Corner pair showing Current Number 
 "575" in margin. 
 
 Corner pair showing Plate Number " 15 " 
 margin. The Plate Number is also se* 
 in small figures on each stamp. 
 
 The above stamps are those of Great Britain overprinted for use in Cyprus. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SOME PHILATELIC TERMS. 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 31 
 
 Generalising. — The collecting of all the postage-stamps 
 of the world. 
 
 Government imitation. — Sometimes, when it is desired 
 to reprint an obsolete issue, the original dies or 
 plates are not forthcoming. New dies have, in 
 these circumstances, been officially made, and 
 the resulting labels are euphemistically called 
 "Government imitations." "Forgeries" would 
 be more candid. 
 
 Granite. — See Paper. 
 
 Grille. — Small plain dots, generally arranged in a 
 small rectangle, but sometimes covering the 
 entire stamp, embossed on certain issues of Peru 
 and the United States. The idea of this was to 
 so break up the fibre of the paper, as to allow 
 the ink of the postmark to penetrate it and 
 render cleaning impossible. 
 
 Guillotine. — The term used to define a perforating- 
 machine which punches a single straight line of 
 holes at each descent of the needles. 
 
 Gumpap. — A fancy term of opprobrium applied to a 
 stamp issued purely for sale to collectors and 
 not to meet a postal requirement. 
 
 Hair-line. — Originally used to indicate the fine line 
 crossing the outer angles of the corner blocks 
 of some British stamps, inserted to distinguish 
 impressions from certain plates, this term is 
 now often employed to denote any fine line, 
 in white or in colour, and whether intentional 
 or accidental, which may be found on a 
 stamp. 
 
 Hand-made. — See Paper. 
 
32 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 Harrow. — The form of perforating-machine which is 
 capable of operating on an entire sheet of 
 stamps at each descent of the needles. And see 
 Perforation. 
 
 Head-plate. — See Key-plate. 
 
 Imperforate. — Stamps which have not been perforated 
 or rouletted (both of which see) are thus described. 
 
 Imprimatur. — A word usually found in conjunction 
 with " sheet," when it indicates the first impres- 
 sion from a plate endorsed with an official 
 certificate to that effect, and a direction that the 
 plate be used for printing stamps. 
 
 Imprint. — The name of the printer, whether below 
 each stamp, or only on the margin of the sheet, 
 is called the " imprint." 
 
 Inverted. — Simply upside-down. And see Reversed. 
 
 Irregular. — See Perforation. 
 
 "Jubilee" line. — Since 1887, the year of Queen 
 Victoria's first Jubilee — whence the name — a 
 line of " printer's rule " has been added round 
 each pane, or plate, of most surface-printed 
 British and British Colonial stamps, in order to 
 protect the edges of the outer rows of cliches 
 from undue wear and tear. The " rule " shows 
 as a coloured line on the sheets of stamps. 
 
 Key-plate. — Stamps of the same design, when printed 
 in two colours, require two plates for each value ; 
 that which prints the design (apart from the 
 value, and sometimes the name of the country), 
 and is common to and used for two or more 
 stamps, is termed the head-plate or key-plate. 
 And see Duty-plate. 
 
© « 
 
 - 
 
 ;^■^'^:■■-^•^"■^•V.^;: \M 
 
 
 % "' .^ ^ ■•■' '^ ■' .'■' ;■' 'f ■'-' 'r 
 
 
 a-s!. , ' K- ,-!-> l^-C- ■ ' 
 
 
 ^^,:^: ' '^' ^y 'V f :>. ^ ^,- 
 
 
 5; ' 
 
 ■ ~ ^ i 
 
 -^ ^^ , ^ ! 
 
 ;c- 1 
 
 [?( ^ ^ : . . . . ! 
 
 ^ir :- :; :. 1 
 
 ,T ■■ '-v -1^^'^. . , . , , 1 
 
 
 \'> . . ■ , ! 
 
 ^. - 1 
 
 "a? , .■ . , ,.,.., J 
 
 r-. 
 
 '^t-Miy=,i}iiiJM-%\k^^iki^^i}id'^uiM 
 
 1 
 
 & m 
 
 J 
 
 A sheet of stamps of Gambia, composed of two Panes of 
 sixty stamps each. 
 
 
 AD 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 @ 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 t 
 
 AO 
 
 J 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 t 
 
 ^ 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 t 
 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
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 AO 
 
 
 
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 (F? 
 
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 t. 
 
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 AO : 
 
 
 AD 
 
 t 
 
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 -i_ 
 
 .5> "Tr 0/1 ^ «^ A 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
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 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 N 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
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 t 
 
 AO 
 
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 § 
 
 (0) 
 
 fi-, 
 
 t 
 
 AS 
 
 1^ 
 
 AO 
 
 t 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 t 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 @ 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 U 
 
 t 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 t 
 
 AO 
 
 H 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 AO 
 
 t 
 
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 S 
 
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 AO 
 
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 t 
 
 -5 
 
 n/i 
 
 w\n 
 
 r^ 
 
 CSl 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 J- 
 
 The single " Crown and CA " watermark as it appears looking 
 from the hack of the Gambia sheet illustrated above. The 
 watermark is arranged in panes to coincide with the 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 35 
 
 B^nife. — This is a technical term for the cutter of the 
 machine which cuts out the (unfolded) envelope 
 blank, and is principally used in connection with 
 the numerous varieties of shape in the United 
 States envelopes, amongst which the same size 
 may show several variations in the flap. 
 
 Laid. — See Paper. 
 
 Laid batonn^. — See Paper. 
 
 Line-engraved. — Is properly applied to a print from a 
 plate engraved in taille douce (which see) but is 
 often applied to the plate itself 
 
 Lithographed. — Stamps printed from a design laid 
 down on a stone and neither raised nor de- 
 pressed in the printing lines are denoted by 
 this term. And see Printing. 
 
 Locals. — Stamps having a franking power within a 
 definitely restricted area. 
 
 Manila. — See Paper. 
 
 Matrix. — A counterpart impression in metal or other 
 material from an original die, and which in its 
 turn is used to produce copies exactly similar to 
 the original die. 
 
 Millimetre (mm.). — The one - thousandth part of a 
 metre = '03937 inch. 
 
 Mill-sheet. — See Sheet. 
 
 Mint. — A term used to denote that a stamp or 
 envelope, &c., is in exactly the same condition as 
 when issued by the post-office — unused, clean, 
 unmutilated in the slightest degree and with all 
 the original gum undisturbed. 
 
 Mixed (Perforations). — In some of the 190 1-7 stamps 
 of New Zealand, the original perforation was to 
 
36 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 some extent defective : such portions of the 
 sheet were patched with strips of paper on the 
 back and re-perforated, usually in a different 
 gauge. 
 
 Mounted. — Usually applied to indicate that a stamp, 
 which has been trimmed close to the design, has 
 had new margins added. And see Fake. 
 
 Native-made paper. — See Paper. 
 
 Obliteration. — A general term used for any mark 
 employed to cancel a stamp and so render it 
 incapable of further use. 
 
 Obsolete. — Strictly, an obsolete stamp is one which 
 has been withdrawn from circulation and is no 
 longer available for postal use ; but the term is 
 often applied simply to old issues, no longer on 
 sale at the post-office. 
 
 Original die. — The first engraved piece of metal, from 
 which the printing plates are directly or indirectly 
 produced. 
 
 Original gum. — Practically all stamps were, before 
 issue, gummed on the back, and the actual gum 
 so applied is known as " original " : the usual 
 abbreviation is " o.g." : it is also implied in the 
 expression "mint", which see. 
 
 Overprint. — An inscription or device printed upon a 
 stamp additional to its original design. Cf. 
 Surcharge. 
 
 Pair. — Two stamps joined together as when originally 
 printed. Without qualification, a pair is generally 
 accepted as being of two stamps side by side : if 
 a pair of two stamps joined top to bottom is 
 intended, it is spoken of as a vertical pair. 
 
-I 
 
 CIS Oi 
 
 11 
 
 ^^ 
 a CO 
 
 G C5 
 
 cx; 
 
 ^ r- 
 
 £ w 
 
 . '^ 
 - . c 
 
 .2-1 
 
 •r c« 
 
 s> 
 
 « c 
 o ■*-• 
 
 - Xi 
 
 !^- <u 
 
 en t3 
 
 :: Cl, 
 
 37 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 39 
 
 Pane. — Entire sheets of stamps are frequently divided 
 into sections by means of one or more spaces 
 running horizontally or (and) vertically between 
 similarly sized groups of stamps : each of these 
 sections or groups is termed a pane. 
 
 Paper. — The two main divisions of paper are hand- 
 made and machine-made : the former is manu- 
 factured, as its name indicates, by hand, sheet 
 by sheet, by means of a special apparatus ; the 
 latter is made entirely by the aid of machinery 
 and generally in long continuous rolls, which are 
 afterwards cut up as required. 
 
 Each of these, apart from its substance, which 
 may vary from the thinnest of tissue papers to 
 almost thin card, is divisible according to its 
 texture, distinguishable on being held up to the 
 light, into — 
 
 Wove, of perfectly plain even texture, such as is 
 
 generally used for books. 
 Laid : this shows lines close together, usually with 
 
 other lines, an inch or so apart, crossing 
 
 them — " cream laid " notepaper is an 
 
 example. 
 BI,tonn6 is wove paper, with very distinct lines 
 
 as wide apart as those on ordinary ruled 
 
 paper. 
 Laid Mtonn^ : similar to batonne, but the spaces 
 
 between the distinct lines are filled in with 
 
 laid lines close together. 
 Quadrille paper is marked with small squares or 
 
 oblongs. 
 
40 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 Eep is the term applied to wove paper which has 
 been passed between ridged rollers, so that 
 it becomes, to use a somewhat exaggerated 
 description, corrugated : the small elevation 
 or ridge on one side of the paper coincides 
 with a depression or furrow on the other 
 side — the thickness of the paper is the same 
 throughout. 
 
 Ribbed paper, on the other hand, is different from 
 rep, in that one side is smooth and the 
 other is in alternate furrows and ridges — 
 the paper is thinner in the furrows than it 
 is on the ridges. 
 
 Native paper, so called, is yellowish or greyish, 
 often with the feel and appearance of 
 parchment ; generally laid somewhat irregu- 
 larly, but often wove. The early issues of 
 Cashmere and some of the stamps and 
 cards of Nepal are printed on native paper : 
 it is always hand-made. 
 
 Pelure is a very thin, hard, tough paper, usually 
 greyish in colour. 
 
 Manila is a strong, light, but coarse paper, and 
 is used for wrappers, large envelopes, &c. ; 
 usually it is smooth on one side and rough 
 on the other. 
 
 Safety paper contains ingredients which would 
 make it very difficult, if not impossible, to 
 remove an obliteration in writing-ink with- 
 out at the same time destroying the im- 
 pression of the stamp : usually this paper is 
 more or less blued, owing to the use of 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 41 
 
 prussiate of potash, and its combination 
 with impurities arising in the manufacture. 
 
 Granite paper is almost white, with short coloured 
 fibres in it, sometimes very visible, but at 
 others necessitating the use of a magnifying 
 glass. 
 
 Dickinson paper, so called from its inventor, has 
 a continuous thread, or parallel threads, of 
 silk in the centre of its substance, embedded 
 there in the pulp at an early stage of the 
 manufacture. 
 
 Paraphe is the flourish which is sometimes added at 
 the end of a signature : examples on stamps are 
 found in the 1873-6 issues of Porto Rico. 
 
 Patte. — French for the loose flap of an envelope ; it is 
 sometimes (but incorrectly) used for Rosace or 
 Tresse, the ornament on the flap. 
 
 Pelure. — See Paper. 
 
 Pen-cancelled denotes cancellation by pen-and-ink, as 
 opposed to the more customary postmark ; it 
 usually implies fiscal use. 
 
 Perc^ is a French term denoting slits or pricks, no 
 part of the paper being removed, in contradis- 
 tinction to perforated, in which small discs of 
 paper are punched out. There are several kinds 
 of pergage, or, in English, rouletting : — 
 
 Perc6 en arc, the cuts being curved, so that, on 
 severing a pair of stamps, the edge of one 
 shows small arches, whilst the other has a 
 series of small scallops, something like, but 
 
42 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 more curved than, the perforations on the 
 edges of an ordinary perforated stamp. 
 
 Perc6 en ligne : the cuts or slits are straight, as if a 
 continuous line had been broken up into 
 small sections. This variety usually goes 
 by the English term rouletted. 
 
 Perc^ en pointe denotes that the slits are com- 
 paratively large and cut evenly in zigzag, 
 so that the edges of a stamp show a series 
 of equal-sided triangular projections. 
 
 Perc6 en points, usually expressed as pin-perforated, 
 implies a pricking of holes with a sharp 
 point, but without removal of paper, which 
 is merely pushed aside. 
 
 Perc6 en scie is somewhat similar to perc^ en 
 pointe, except that the slits are smaller and 
 are cut in uneven zigzag (alternately long 
 and short), so that the edge of a severed 
 stamp is like that of a fine saw. 
 
 Perc6 en serpentin occurs when the paper is cut in 
 comparatively large wavy curves of varying 
 depth, with little breaks in the cutting which 
 serve to hold the stamps together. 
 
 And see Perforated and Perforation. 
 
 Perforated — in French piqu^. This word implies 
 removal of small discs of paper, not simply slits 
 or cuts. And see Perc6. 
 
 Perforation is either "regular," where the number of 
 holes within a similar space is constant along 
 the entire row ; or, where the number varies 
 more or less, "irregular." The gauge of the 
 perforations (or roulettes) of a stamp is measured 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 43 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 13V« 
 
 • •9mm» f %—•••• 
 
 by a perforation-gauge, a piece of metal, card, or 
 celluloid, on which is engraved or printed a long 
 series of rows of dots, each row being two centi- 
 metres in length and con- 
 taining a varying number of 
 dots from, say, 6 to 17 or 1 8. 
 A stamp, the edge of 
 which shows holes (per- 
 forated) corresponding in 
 spacing and number to the 
 row on the gauge marked, "" 
 say " 12," is said to be "per 
 forated 12." If the stamp J^'T 
 gauges the same on all four 
 
 •■■•••••»■••»• 
 
 sides, it is simply " perforated ., 
 
 im 
 
 101 
 
 to 
 
 9\k 
 
 8 
 
 7Vz 
 
 7 
 
 " ; if the top and bottom 
 are of one gauge, say 12, 
 and the sides, say, 14, the 
 stamp would be perforated I 
 " 12 X 14." If the gauge q^^ 
 varies on each of the four 
 sides — an unlikely combina- 
 tion — then the order of 
 noting same is, top (say 12), ^y^ 
 right (say 11), bottom (say 5 
 13), and left (say 15) — "per- ^y^ 
 forated I2x 11 x 13 x 15." 
 In the above the gauges are perforation gauge. 
 supposed to be regular. 
 
 Should, however, the gauge be irregular, the 
 extremes are noted even if not showing on the 
 stamp : for instance, a stamp may be per- 
 3 
 
44 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 forated with a machine, which, in its entire 
 length, gradually varies from 12 to 16 holes in 
 the two centimetres, though the stamp itself 
 does not show all those gauges. Such a stamp 
 would be "perforated 12 to 16." 
 
 On the other hand, a row of perforations, 
 instead of gradually altering in gauge, may do 
 so abruptly ; for instance, along a row of holes, 
 part may gauge 14, the next part 16, and then 
 1 6 J, all quite distinct over a particular space. 
 This would be termed "perforated 14, 16, 
 1 6 J," implying that the intermediate gauges 
 did not exist. 
 
 The use of a regular machine, in conjunction 
 with one of irregular gauge, might produce, 
 say, "perforated 14" (horizontally) " x 12 to 
 15" (vertically); and so on. 
 
 Stamps perforated, horizontally and vertically, 
 by differently gauged machines are sometimes 
 said to be "perforated, compound of . . . and 
 . . . ". There are many difficulties in the 
 way of obtaining a full knowledge of the com- 
 binations and vagaries of perforating-machines. 
 
 Perforation-gauge. — A means of measuring perforation 
 or roulette, which see. 
 
 Philatelic. — The adjective of Philately. 
 
 Philatelist. — One who studies stamps. 
 
 Philately — from two Greek words, " <piXog " (= fond 
 of) and ^^ariXEia" (= exemption from tax) — 
 signifies a fondness for things (vz'js.y stamps) 
 which denote an exemption from tax, i.e., that 
 the tax, or postage, has been paid. The word 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 45 
 
 is a little far-fetched to imply the study of 
 stamps, but as "Philately" has been the accepted 
 term for over forty years, "Philately" it will 
 doubtless remain, even if some one succeeds in 
 finding a word which more accurately expresses 
 the popular and scientific hobby. 
 
 Pin-perforated. — See Perc^. 
 
 Plate is the term used, not always quite correctly, 
 to describe the ultimate reproductions from the 
 die which constitute the printing surface in the 
 manufacture of stamps : the word covers not 
 only a sheet of metal with stamps engraved 
 on it, but also a group of cliches or a forme of 
 printer's type and even a lithographic stone. 
 
 Plate number is the consecutive number of each plate 
 of a particular value, appearing on the margin 
 of the plates and (in some of the British series) 
 on the stamps themselves. 
 
 Postal-fiscal is a fiscal stamp the use of which for 
 postal purposes has been duly authorised, in 
 contradistinction to a "fiscal postally used," a 
 use which has been tacitly permitted in many 
 countries. 
 
 Postal stationery, i,e.^ envelopes, postcards, letter- 
 cards, wrappers, telegram forms, &c. : frequently 
 termed entires. 
 
 Postmark. — The official obliteration applied to a 
 stamp to prevent its further postal use. 
 
 Pre-cancelled. — Two or three countries have adopted 
 the system, to save time in the post-office, of 
 supplying sheets of stamps cancelled prior to 
 use. This may be a convenience, but the 
 
46 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 practice undoubtedly opens the door to pos- 
 sible fraud. 
 
 Print is an impression taken from any die, plate, 
 forme, or stone. 
 
 Printing, in its fullest sense, is reproducing from a die, 
 plate, stereotype, &c. (all of which see). There 
 are, on this definition, four kinds of production : 
 " Embossing," where the paper is impressed 
 with a raised design, by pressure from a cut- 
 out die (see Embossed) ; " Surface-printing " or 
 " typography," where the portions of the plate 
 which receive the ink and print the design 
 are raised : this process causes a slight indenta- 
 tion on the surface of the paper and a corre- 
 sponding elevation at the back ; " Printing direct 
 from plate " (so-called Line-engraved, which see), 
 in which the portions to be inked are recessed : 
 in this process, the printed design on the stamps 
 is in very slight relief, due to the ink being 
 taken from the recessed engraving. "Litho- 
 graphy" is printing from a stone, on which 
 the design has been drawn or otherwise laid 
 down : impressions from a stone are flat. 
 
 Proof. — An impression, properly in black, from the 
 die, plate, or stone, taken in order to see if 
 the design, &c., has been properly engraved 
 or reproduced. 
 
 Provisional. — A make-shift intended to supply a tem- 
 porary want of the proper stamp, which may 
 have been unexpectedly sold out, or may not 
 have been supplied owing to lack of time. 
 
 Quadrille. — See Paper. 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 47 
 
 Re-issue denotes the bringing again into use of a 
 stamp which has become obsolete, or at any 
 rate has been long out of use at the post-office ; 
 it sometimes implies a new printing. 
 
 Remainders. — Stamps printed during the period of 
 issue and left on hand when that issue has 
 gone out of use. 
 
 Reprint. — Strictly a reprint is an impression taken 
 from the identical original die, plate, stone, or 
 block, after the stamps printed therefrom have 
 gone out of use. The term is used to include 
 printings from new plates or stones, made from 
 the original die. And see Government imitations. 
 
 Rep. — See Paper. 
 
 Retouch, re-set, re-engraved, re-drawn, re-cut. — All these 
 terms have a somewhat similar meaning, and 
 imply repairs to, or alterations of, the die, 
 plates, stones, or blocks : instances of most 
 drastic re-engraving are known, e.g.^ that of the 
 1848 Two Pence ("Post Paid") of Mauritius, 
 the plate of which was so altered as to produce 
 a practically new stamp, the Two Pence, " large 
 fillet," of 1859; and the Half Tornese "Arms" 
 of Naples, which had the entire centre removed 
 from each of the two hundred impressions on 
 the plate and replaced by the Cross of Savoy 
 To differentiate — retouchhig is generally under- 
 taken to remedy minor defects caused by wear 
 and tear: re-setting suggests slight re-arrange- 
 ment of stamps made up, wholly or partly, of 
 printer's type ; re-engravings the replacing of 
 parts of a design worn away by use or inten- 
 
48 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 tion : re-drawing rather leads one to infer that 
 the original design has been reproduced in an 
 improved form ; and re-cutting implies going 
 over the original die, &c., and strengthening 
 the engraving, with, perhaps, slight accidental 
 variations of the design. 
 
 Eevenue. — This word indicates availability for fiscal 
 use, as distinguished from postal use. A stamp 
 may be available for either purpose, or for one 
 only ; the use is almost invariably indicated by 
 the inscription. 
 
 Reversed. — Backwards-way ; " as in a looking-glass." 
 The term is often, but quite erroneously, used 
 for inverted — which see — implying upside-down. 
 
 Ribbed. — See Paper. 
 
 Rosace. — The small ornament frequently found on 
 the upper flap of old envelopes ; known also as 
 
 Rough perforation.— When the holes in the lower 
 plate of the perforating-machine get damaged 
 or partly clogged up, or the punches are very 
 worn, the perforation becomes very defective, 
 the little discs of paper not being punched 
 out, but (though generally distinct) left only 
 partly cut through : this state is termed " rough," 
 but must not be confused with perc6 en points 
 (pin-perforated), which see. 
 
 Rouletted. — See Perc6. 
 
 Rouletted in coloured lines is a variety of rou letting, 
 and always so termed, in which the slits or 
 cuts are made by means of type ("printer's 
 rule ") a little higher than the cliches or stereos 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 49 
 
 composing the plate, and which cut into the 
 paper under the pressure of the printing-press. 
 
 Safety paper. — See Paper. 
 
 " Seebecks."— The late Mr. N. F. Seebeck, the con- 
 tractor to various South American Republics 
 had an arrangement under which there was 
 a new issue of stamps every year, he to retain 
 for his own benefit any demonetised remainders 
 of the previous set : stamps provided under such 
 conditions are called after their originator. 
 
 Se tenant. — A French expression signifying that the 
 stamps referred to have not been separated : 
 usually employed in reference to an error, or 
 variety, when still forming a pair with a normal 
 stamp. 
 
 Serpentine roulette. — See Perc6 en serpentin. 
 
 Sheet (of paper). — There are three " sheets " : a mill- 
 sheet, as manufactured ; a sheet as printed, 
 which may be, and often is, less than a mill- 
 sheet; and a "post-office" sheet, either the 
 whole or an arbitrary part of a printed sheet, 
 so divided for convenience of reckoning. 
 
 Silk-thread paper. — See Paper (Dickinson). 
 
 Single-line perforation. — See Guillotine. 
 
 Spandrel is the term for the triangular space between 
 a circle, oval, or curve, and the rectangular frame 
 enclosing it. 
 
 Specialising. — To develop in a collection a complete 
 record of the inception, history, and use of the 
 stamps of a particular country, or group of 
 countries, in the fullest and most detailed 
 manner. In contradistinction to Generalising 
 (which see). 
 
50 PHILATELIC TERMS 
 
 Stationery. — See Entires. 
 
 Stereotype or stereo. — A reproduction of the original 
 design, made by means of a papier-mache or 
 other mould, in type-metal. And see Matrix. 
 
 Strip is the philatelic term for three or more stamps 
 unsevered and in the same row, horizontal or 
 vertical. 
 
 Surcharge. — An overprint (which see) which alters the 
 face value of a stamp, or confirms it in the same 
 or a new currency. The term is loosely used to 
 mean any overprint, but it is desirable that 
 its application be confined to inscriptions affect- 
 ing the denomination of face-value. 
 
 Surface-printed, that is, printed by a process in which 
 the parts of the plate, &c., which produce the 
 coloured portions of the stamp are raised up. 
 See Printing. 
 
 Taille douce. — When a design is cut into the substance 
 of the plate it is said to be engraved in taille 
 douce. A familiar example is a visiting-card plate. 
 
 Tdte-b^che is a French expression signifying the in- 
 version of one stamp of a pair (or more) in 
 relation to the other stamp (or stamps) : natur- 
 ally, the peculiarity disappears on severance, 
 and such varieties must necessarily be in a pair 
 or more. 
 
 Toned, as applied to paper, implies a very slight buff 
 tint 
 
 Tresse. — See Rosace. 
 
 Trials. — These are impressions from die, plate, stone, 
 &c., taken to ascertain if the design be correct, 
 or to assist in the selection of a suitable colour. 
 
i)i 
 
 «<-s.^. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF SOME PHILATELIC TERMS. 
 
 Photograph of a flat steel die engraved in taille douce {i.e., with the 
 lines of the design cut into the plate). The stamp is the 
 50 lepta of Greece, issue of 1901, showing Hermes adapted 
 from the Mercury of Giovanni da Bologna. 
 
 51 
 
PHILATELIC TERMS 53 
 
 Type. — A representative common design, as distin- 
 guished from "variety," which indicates slight 
 deviations therefrom. 
 
 Type-set. — Stamps — e.^,, the 1862 issue of British 
 Guiana — have sometimes been set up with 
 ordinary printet's type^ as used for books, and 
 the ornamental type-metal designs to be found 
 in a printing establishment. 
 
 Typographed. — See Surface-printed. 
 
 Used abroad. — Prior to certain countries and colonies 
 having their own stamps, British post-offices 
 were established in them, at which British 
 stamps were to be purchased ; such stamps, 
 identified by their postmarks as having been 
 so used, are termed " British used abroad'' The 
 stamps of other countries have been similarly 
 " used abroad." 
 
 Variety. — A slight variation from the normal design, 
 or type, which see. 
 
 Watermarks. — A thinning of the substance of the 
 paper, in the form of letters, words, or designs, 
 &c., during the manufacture. On the paper 
 being held up to the light, or placed on a dark 
 surface, the designs become more or less visible. 
 So-called "watermarks" are sometimes pro- 
 duced by impressing a design on the paper 
 after manufacture ; this has a somewhat similar 
 effect, though the paper is only pressed, not 
 thinned. 
 
 Wove. — See Paper. 
 
 Wove b^tonn^. — See Paper. 
 
I 
 
 THE 
 GENESIS 
 OF THE 
 POST 
 
CHAPTER I 
 THE GENESIS OF THE POST 
 
 The earliest letter carriers — The Roman posita — Princely Postmasters 
 of Thurn and Taxis — Sir Brian Tuke — Hobson of '*Hobson's 
 Choice " — The General Letter Office of England— Dockwra's 
 Penny Post of 1680 — Povey's "Halfpenny Carriage" — The 
 Edinburgh and other Penny Posts — Postal Rates before 1840 — 
 Uniform Penny Postage— The Postage Stamp regarded as the 
 royal diplomator—Tdt growth of the postal business. 
 
 Postage is so cheap and so easy to-day that we 
 are apt to forget how, not very many years ago, 
 it was a privilege of the rich. To-day the Post 
 Office is no respecter of persons, and the " all 
 swallowing orifice of the pillar-box " receives without 
 favour or distinction the correspondence of the 
 humble with the messages of the mighty. The 
 Post Office treats everything confided to its charge 
 with the same organised routine. In the palatial 
 new edifice. King Edward the Seventh Building, 
 a few days before Christmas, a letter was handed 
 to me for inspection in the " Blind Division," where 
 they deal with insufficiently addressed letters. The 
 missive bore in the handwriting of a little child, 
 "To Santa Claus, No. i. Aerial Building, London." 
 
 57 
 
68 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 That letter, I was informed, had to be passed 
 through the Blind Division, thence to the Returned 
 Letter Office, where it would be opened to discover 
 if the enclosure contained any indication of the 
 identity and whereabouts of the writer. If not 
 returnable, the letter would be preserved for a 
 period lest it should be claimed. The Depart- 
 ment is as careful of the precocious petitions of 
 a child as it is of the papers of State which it 
 carries throughout the length and breadth of the 
 land. 
 
 By all who would know the true love of stamps 
 it must needs be understood how postal matters 
 were before the birth of the Penny Black. Else 
 we shall not fitly appreciate all the benefices that 
 the " label with the glutinous wash " has brought 
 to our present civilisation. Without this comparison 
 of the old order with the new, we should be in 
 peril of passing over the true significance of the 
 postage-stamp in the surfeit of blessings it confers 
 upon the world to-day. Postage to-day is as fecund 
 of bounties as a fruitful garden, yet do we accept 
 all as our rightful heritage, without giving much 
 consideration to the little postage-stamp which was 
 the seed which, planted in every civilised country 
 of the earth, has yielded blessings in abundance. 
 
 So in our first chat, we would open up the book 
 in which is told the history of things that are 
 written from one to another. The first letter of 
 which we have any particular knowledge was that 
 by which David achieved his evil purpose of sending 
 Uriah the Hittite to the forefront of the battle, that 
 
THE GENESIS OF THE POST 59 
 
 he might be smitten and die. The unfortunate 
 Uriah was himself the rn., ..^.., ucci^.n^ ^... 
 letter to Joab with his ovv,i hand. The brazen-faced 
 Jezebel forged her royal husband's name to letters, 
 so our first meeting with letters in scriptural history 
 shows that they could be used to evil as well as 
 to good purpose. 
 
 As the Scythians made contracts one with 
 another by mingling the warm blood of their 
 bodies in a cup and drinking thereof, so the Persians 
 used living letters in their early correspondence. 
 Herodotus tells us how they shaved the heads of 
 their messengers and impressed or branded the 
 " writing " upon their scalps. Then they were shut 
 up until the hair had grown again and concealed 
 the message, when the runners were sent off upon 
 their divers journeys. A messenger on reaching 
 his destination was again shaved and the epistle 
 was made plain to the eyes of the beholder. 
 
 This was a primitive method, one of many which 
 had vogue amongst the ancients. Under Darius I. 
 the Persians had a service of Government couriers, 
 for whom were provided horses ready saddled at 
 specified distances on their route, so that the Govern- 
 ment could send and receive communications with 
 the provinces. " Nothing in the world is borne 
 so swiftly as messages by the Persian couriers," 
 says Herodotus. 
 
 The word " post " descends to us from the Roman 
 posita (posttus=p\diced), and is a link between our 
 posts of to-day and the cursus publicus of the time 
 of Augustus. In those days of arms the roads were 
 
60 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 laid for armies to traverse, not for traffic, and the 
 organisation of the posita was military. Stations 
 were established at intervals on the chief routes, 
 where couriers and magistrates could be furnished 
 with changes of horses {mutationes.) For the benefit 
 of the travellers mansiones or night quarters were 
 erected. These State posts were only for the use 
 of the Government, and they were ridden by couriers 
 who had, besides their own mount, a spare horse 
 for carrying the letters. Individuals were at times 
 permitted to use the posts, for which privilege they 
 had to have the permits or diplomata of the Emperor. 
 The Romans also had what may be compared with 
 sea-posts, from Ostia and other ports. 
 
 Foot-runners and messengers on horseback have 
 been organised for Government communications in 
 most lands where civilisation has dawned, even in 
 remote times. In the West the Incas and the 
 Aztecs had runners from earliest times, and in the 
 Orient carrier-pigeons provided an additional means 
 of communication. 
 
 It is not until the fifteenth century that we find 
 posts in operation on a more public scale, the first 
 being a horse-post plying between the Tyrol and 
 Italy, set up by Roger of Thurn and Taxis in 1460. 
 From that modest beginning sprang the vast mono- 
 poly of the Counts of Thurn and Taxis, which 
 dominated the posts of the Continent during five 
 centuries, remaining into the early period of the 
 postage-stamp system. By 1500, Franz von Taxis 
 was Postmaster-General of Austria, the Low 
 Countries, Spain, Burgundy, and Italy. In 15 16 
 
THE GENESIS OF THE POST 61 
 
 he connected up Brussels and Vienna, and his 
 successor Leonard provided a link between Vienna 
 and Nuremberg. In 1595, Leonard von Taxis was 
 the Grand Postmaster of the Holy Roman Empire, 
 and he established a post from the Netherlands 
 to Italy by way of Treves, Spire, Wurtemburg, 
 Augsburg, and Tyrol. In the next century, 
 Eugenius Alexander subscribes himself in a postal 
 document as "Count of Thurn, Valsassina, Tassis 
 and the Holy Empire, Chamberlain of His Majesty 
 the Roman Emperor, Hereditary Postmaster-General 
 of the Realm,' The postal dominion of this princely 
 house flourished until the wars of the French Revolu- 
 tion, from which period the power of the Counts 
 began to dwindle. Some of the German States 
 withdrew from their arrangements with the house 
 of Thurn and Taxis, and others purchased their 
 freedom and set up postal establishments of their 
 own. By the middle of the nineteenth century 
 Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Hanover, Baden, Bruns- 
 wick, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Holstein, Oldenburg, 
 Lauenburg, Luxemburg and Saxony had indepen- 
 dent posts, but the Thurn and Taxis administration 
 still controlled an area of 25,000 square miles (with 
 3,750,000 inhabitants), under the direction of a head 
 office at Frankfort-on-the- Maine. In 185 1, however, 
 Wurtemburg, at a cost of over ;^ 100,000, bought 
 its freedom from the monopolists ; and sixteen years 
 later (1867) Prussia paved the way for the com- 
 pletion of the consolidation of the German Empire 
 by purchasing for three million thalers (approxi- 
 mately ;£"450,ooo) the last remaining rights of the 
 
 4 
 
62 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 house of Thurn and Taxis in the postal affairs of 
 Germany. 
 
 In England the royal Nuncii et Cur sores were 
 the forerunners of the King's Messengers of to-day, 
 and were exclusively employed upon State affairs 
 and for the correspondence of the Sovereign and 
 of the Court. At what period the people were 
 admitted to the privilege of the posts is obscure. 
 The first Master of the Posts of whom we know 
 was one Brian Tuke, Esq., afterwards Sir Brian 
 Tuke, who is best remembered in Holbein's several 
 portraits of him, and as the author of the preface 
 to Thynne's "Chaucer." He was at one period 
 secretary to Cardinal Wolsey, and it is in a letter 
 (1533) to his successor in that office, Thomas Crom- 
 well, that we find the one clue to the state of the 
 posts at that time: 
 
 " By your letters of the twelfth of this moneth, 
 I perceyve that there is grete defaulte in conveyance 
 of letters, and of special men ordeyned to be sent 
 in post ; and that the Kinges pleasure is, that postes 
 be better appointed, and laide in al places most 
 expedient ; with commaundement to al townshippes 
 in al places, on payn of lyfe, to be in suche redynes, 
 and to make suche provision of horses, at al tymes, 
 as no tract or losse of tyme be had in that behalf." 
 
 In the sixteenth century, there were regular 
 carriers licensed to take passengers, goods, and 
 letters, and of these the most remarkable was 
 Tobias Hobson, who was an innkeeper at Cam- 
 bridge. His memory is perpetuated in the common 
 expression of " Hobson's choice." The innkeeper 
 
THE GENESIS OF THE POST 63 
 
 kept a stable of forty good c«fcttle, but made it a 
 rule that any who came to hire a horse was obliged 
 to take the one nearest the stable dobr, " so that 
 every customer was alike well served, according 
 to his chance, and every horse ridden with the 
 same justice." Milton, in one of his two punning 
 epitaphs on Hobson, refers to his position as letter- 
 carrier : — 
 
 "His letters are deliver'd all and gone; 
 Only remains this superscription." 
 
 From 1609, the Posts of Great Britain have been 
 under the monopoly of the Crown, and at that 
 time they were carried on at a loss. As the posts 
 did not carry the correspondence of the public, there 
 was no likelihood of their being made self-supporting 
 until the facilities they offered were of utility to the 
 people. The general admission of the public to these 
 facilities dates from 1635, under the Postmastership 
 of Thomas Witherings, and two years later was 
 set up the " Letter Office of England." The cheapest 
 rate under Withering's management was 2d. for a 
 "single letter" (that is, one sheet of paper) con- 
 veyed a distance not exceeding 80 miles. If the 
 letter weighed an ounce, the charge was 6d. A 
 single letter to Scotland cost 8d. and to Ireland gd. 
 
 For a number of years prior to 1667, the posts 
 were farmed to various individuals, and during the 
 Commonwealth, Parliament passed an Act settling 
 the postage of the three kingdoms, which " pretended 
 Act" was practically re-enacted at the Restoration. 
 The profits on the Post Office were settled by Charles 
 
m CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 ^*Uv^ II. upon his son, the Duke of York, afterwards 
 
 ^^^^ff^ James II., and the latter took care upon his acces- 
 Hg^'^^ sion to the throne to secure the continuance of his 
 ^ enjoyment of its revenues. 
 Jr^^^ ^ Private enterprise was responsible for putting a 
 
 good deal of pressure on the Post Office in the 
 early days. In 1659, a penny post was first proposed 
 by one John Hill and certain other " Undertakers," 
 but the most notable instance was the success that 
 attended the efforts of William Dockwra in establish- 
 ing the London Penny Post in 1680. By this penny 
 post, Londoners had for three years an excellent and 
 frequent service of postal collections and deliveries 
 of their letters and parcels within the City and 
 suburbs. The Government post had one office in 
 London — the General Letter Office — up to 1680. 
 Consequently, persons who had letters to send by 
 post had either to take them, or procure messengers 
 to take them, to the office in Lombard Street. 
 Dockwra established between four and five hundred 
 receiving offices for letters, and a good part of the 
 business he did was in transmitting letters to and 
 from the General Letter Office in Lombard Street. 
 
 The penny post made many friends, but also 
 a few enemies. Of the few there was one of power- 
 ful influence, the Duke of York, who envied the 
 prospective income to be derived from a popular 
 post; there were others who were unscrupulous in 
 their attacks, led by the notorious Titus Oates, who 
 pretended to expose the whole of Dockwra's plan 
 as "a farther branch of the Popish plot," and the 
 porters of London, who, fearing to lose many of 
 
( « ) 
 
 The Pradical Method . 
 
 O V THE 
 
 PENNY POST 
 
 Being a Sheet very ncccffiiry for all Perfons to luvc by them, 
 
 For their Information in the Regular Ule of a De- 
 
 \ {ign fo well Approved of, for quicken Ing Corre- 
 
 fpondencc, Promoting Trade and PiihiickGood, 
 
 pyah an Exf lunation of the following Stamps fur the 
 Mtirl^ng of nil Letters, 
 
 Jrh w IIP . 
 
 ^ b,Co 
 
 fadjc I r T^t cc, 1 1 <, 3 ^ 
 
 vjn^bc-"i.ru I omcF V\t. ii^ 
 cnll) fiomuicl nora! i,in<ir i\k ^ , 
 Convi-'ced, b> u.n ind cxjcuc ,\ 
 Un 1 rnki irs Compk t , for rl c *u. 
 d fti>, niuch (.\pcicc of urt^ a d 
 fortTiLr M(.tkd:>, ^Cthtj loix ;\ n 
 Irsbccii much Noil, il o t tiie j uk 
 Ferry Ifjf, w'licli h s rifen thir h i 
 the UndorUkcrs c..n fufrciei^ly Evid<.i c \ 
 ready to produce, for the Jufti'icstion or U- 
 " 'fo many Caulicfs and Unjuft R.:. 
 
 it hi^ly Ntceilary to undeceive t! _ 
 Tpring, vtz. Some Men fuppoR-, : 
 
 atleai Delayed,) becaufethey Lavs ;x- 
 
 1 o f • 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 sard 
 
 
 
 Ten Pourd n 
 
 
 
 w !.l D 
 
 iLn^sof 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Lc UiO ? rr 
 
 .1 , h^rc- 
 
 ll 
 
 1 
 
 d Buiit c< J 
 
 n-^ ui « 
 
 sfor 
 
 aD( 
 
 »fca\eTp i\ 
 
 1^. 
 
 sof 
 
 "o 
 
 ndsCrarfc ii. 
 
 
 
 
 Good , t 
 
 1 I . 
 
 
 
 ch (it 
 
 '^pr3 
 
 
 
 i tt hj he 
 
 tc,cf{ 
 
 
 
 il P0 5l 
 
 Will 11 
 
 
 
 , iiid 1 CJ 
 
 liN>.v 
 
 
 
 > 1 »\<- \ rh 
 
 r t ll! 
 
 n L 
 
 
 ch Alu ti) 
 
 in 1 
 
 !•; 
 
 -1. 
 
 ■> \\\ \ 
 
 S 1 
 
 ^y^ 
 
/ 
 
THE GENESIS OF THE POST 67 
 
 their chances of employment, vented their spleen 
 in the manner of vulgar rioters. 
 
 Proceedings were taken against Dockwra for in- 
 fringement of the Crown's monopoly, and the case 
 being carried, the London Penny Post was shortly 
 afterwards re-established and carried on under 
 authority for nearly a hundred and twenty years, 
 until 1 80 1, when the penny rate was doubled and 
 the Penny Post became the Twopenny Post. 
 
 Charles Povey's " halfpenny carriage " (1708) was 
 a poor copy of Dockwra's post, covering a smaller 
 area at the lower fee of one halfpenny. Its originator 
 was fined ;£"ioo in 1760, and the incident of this post 
 is only remarkable in postal history for its having 
 originated the use of the "bellman" for collecting 
 letters in the streets. 
 
 The Edinburgh Penny Post, set up by the keeper 
 of a coffee-shop in the hall of Parliament House, 
 Peter Williamson, in 1768, was also stopped by the 
 authorities as a private enterprise ; but its pro- 
 moter was given a pension of ;£"25 a year and the 
 post was carried on by the General Post Office. 
 Just three years previously, local Penny Posts had 
 been legalised by the Act of 5 George HI., c. 25, 
 provided they were set up where adjudged to be 
 necessary by the Postmaster-General. Such penny 
 posts increased rapidly towards the end of the 
 eighteenth century, and just before Uniform Penny 
 Postage was introduced there were more than two 
 thousand of them in operation in different parts of 
 the country. In spite of the increase in these local 
 posts, however, the general postage was high, the 
 
68 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 tendency of the later changes in the rates being to 
 increase rather than to lessen them. 
 
 In the early part of the nineteenth century, the 
 rates were such that few but the rich could make 
 frequent use of the luxury of postage, and these 
 rates, coming close up to the period of the new 
 regime of 1840, form an extraordinary series of 
 contrasts. Here is an old post-office rate-book kept 
 by the postmaster (or mistress) at Southampton in 
 the 'thirties, which I like to show my friends when 
 they sigh for the good old times. It is a printed 
 list of the chief places to which letters could be sent, 
 with columns to be filled in by the postal official 
 after calculating distances and exercising simple 
 arithmetic. In Great Britain the rates were for 
 single letters : — 
 
 From any post office in England or Wales to any place 
 
 not exceeding 15 miles from such office 
 Between 15 and 20 miles... 
 
 20 
 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 
 50 
 
 so 
 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 
 170 
 
 170 
 
 
 230 
 
 230 
 
 
 300 
 
 '.*' 
 
 .. 4u. 
 
 
 .. 6d. 
 
 
 .. 7d. 
 
 
 .. 8d. 
 
 
 .. 9d. 
 
 
 .. lOd. 
 
 
 .. iid. 
 
 
 .. I2d. 
 
 and one penny in addition on each single letter for 
 every 100 miles beyond 300. These rates did not 
 include " id. in addition to be taken for penny 
 postage" and in certain cases toll-fees. 
 
 Under these rates, a single letter to Kirkwall 
 from Southampton cost is. ^d. ; to London 9d., 
 
APosT-CrMCE IV 17SG. 
 
 By permission of the Proprietors of the City Pre 
 
 V. 
 
THE GENESIS OF THE POST 71 
 
 plus the penny postage ; Cork is. 3d., &c. These 
 rates were for a single-sheet letter, the charge being 
 multiplied by two for a double letter, by four for an 
 ounce, which is one-quarter of the weight at present 
 allowed on a letter which costs us a modest penny. 
 
 Letters for overseas were correspondingly high 
 as the following comparisons will show : — 
 
 
 Single-sheet Letter. 
 
 I oz. Letter. 
 
 
 1830. 
 
 1911. 
 
 Austria 
 
 2S. 3d. 
 
 ... 2jd. 
 
 Brazil x 
 
 Buenos Aires I 
 
 Chili, reru, &c. J 
 
 
 
 3s. 5d. 
 
 ... 2id. 
 
 
 
 Canary Islands 
 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 ... 2id. 
 
 Germany 
 
 IS. 9d. 
 
 ... 2jd. 
 
 Hayti 
 
 2S. iid. 
 
 ... 2id. 
 
 Honduras 
 
 2S. I id. 
 
 ... 2id. 
 
 Portugal 
 
 2S. 2d. 
 
 ... 2jd. 
 
 Russia 
 
 2S. 3d. 
 
 ... 2jd. 
 
 Spain 
 
 2S. 2d. 
 
 ... 2id. 
 
 Sweden 
 
 IS. 8d. 
 
 ... 2jd. 
 
 Turkey 
 
 2S. 2d. 
 
 ... 2id. 
 
 United States 
 
 2S. id. 
 
 ... Id. 
 
 British West Indies and ) 
 British North America 1 
 
 
 
 2S. id. 
 
 ... Id. 
 
 Malta, Gibraltar 
 
 2S. 2d. 
 
 ... Id. 
 
 St. Helena 
 
 IS. 8id. 
 
 ... Id. 
 
 The registration fee on foreign letters was, in the 
 early nineteenth century, one guinea per letter ; to- 
 day it is twopence. 
 
 These are but a few examples showing what a 
 mighty change was wrought with the introduction of 
 the Uniform Penny Postage plan of Rowland Hill. 
 The circumstances under which the new plan was 
 introduced included several factors to which may 
 
THE COMMEMORATIVE LETTER BALANCE DESIGNED BY MR. S. KING, 
 OF BATH (1840). 
 
 A monument " which may be possessed by every family in the United Kingdom." 
 
 72 
 
MR. king's letter BALANCE HAD A TRIPOD BASE, AS IN THE 
 UPPERMOST FIGURE, THUS AFFORDING THREE TABLETS, ON 
 WHICH THE ASSOCIATIONS OF J. PALMER, ROWLAND HILL, 
 AND gUEEN VICTORIA WITH POSTAL REFORM ARE RECORDED. 
 
 78 
 
74 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 be attributed a share in the success of Hill's plan. 
 First, the uniform and low minimum rate of one 
 penny on inland letters, dispensing with tedious 
 calculations of distance. By some it was feared that 
 the necessity for calculating the weight would be 
 more troublesome than examining the letter against 
 a lighted candle to see if it were " single " or 
 " double," and scores of " penny post letter balances " 
 were placed upon the market at the outset. Next 
 was the increased facility of transit provided by the 
 then growing system of railways, and the subsequent 
 development of steam-power at sea. 
 
 But the one factor which to us is the most notable 
 contribution to the success of the Penny Postage 
 plan, was the square inch of paper with its backing of 
 glutinous wash. This enabled the authorities to effect 
 the introduction of prepayment, and save the long 
 delays formerly occasioned by the postman having 
 to await payment for each letter on delivery. It 
 saved the complicated system by which the Post 
 Office had to ensure that the postman did get paid, 
 and in his turn accounted for the money to his 
 office. It was to this simple contrivance of a small 
 label, issued by authority, to indicate the prepay- 
 ment of postage that the practical success of Hill's 
 plan was greatly due. The little stamps are the 
 royal diplomata which enable us all, at a modest fee, 
 to use His Majesty's mails, a privilege enjoyed by 
 great and small, by rich and poor. So stamp-col- 
 lectors deem the objects of their interest to have 
 achieved a vast reform in internal and universal 
 communications, giving a powerful impetus to social 
 
THE GENESIS OF THE POST 75 
 
 progress, international commerce, and the world's 
 peace. 
 
 The year before the introduction of Uniform 
 Penny Postage there were 75,907,572 letters dealt 
 with by the Post Office. The number was more than 
 doubled in the first year of the new system, and the 
 subsequent growth of correspondence is outlined in 
 the figures (letters only) for the following years; — 
 
 1840 
 
 .. 168,768,344 
 
 1880 .. 
 
 1,176,423,600 
 
 1850 . 
 
 .. 347,069,071 
 
 1890 .. 
 
 1,705,800,000 
 
 i860 . 
 
 564,002,000 
 
 1900 .. 
 
 . 2,323,600,000 
 
 1870 
 
 862,722,000 
 
 I9I0 .. 
 
 2,947,100,000 
 
n 
 
 THE 
 
 DEVELOPMENT 
 OF AN 
 IDEA 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 
 
 Early instances of contrivances to denote prepayment of postage — The 
 "Two Sous" 1*051 — Billets de port pay i — A passage of wit 
 between the French Sappho and M. PelHsson — Dockwra's letter- 
 marks — Some fabulous stamped wrappers of the Dutch Indies — • 
 Letter-sheets used in Sardinia — Lieut. TrefFenberg's proposals for^ 
 "Postage Charts" in Sweden — The postage-stamp idea "in the 
 air " — Early British reformers and their proposals — The Lords of 
 the Treasury start a competition — Mr. Cheverton's prize plan — A 
 find of papers relating to the contest — A square inch of gummed 
 paper — The Sydney embossed envelopes — The Mulready envelope 
 — The Parliamentary envelopes — The adhesive stamp popularly 
 preferred to the Mulready envelope. 
 
 The simplest inventions are usually apt adaptations. 
 The postage-stamp, as we know it to-day, can 
 scarcely be said to have been invented, though 
 much wild controversy has raged about the identity 
 of its "inventor." The historian must prefer to regard 
 the postage-stamp of to-day as the development of 
 an idea. 
 
 It would not serve any purpose useful to the 
 present subject to trace to its beginnings the use 
 of stamped paper for the collection of Government 
 revenues ; but it is highly interesting to disentangle 
 
 79 
 
80 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 from the web of history the facts which show this 
 system to have been recognised as applicable to 
 the collection of postages by the prototypes of the 
 reformers of 1840. 
 
 The first known instance of special printed 
 wrappers being sold for the convenience of users 
 of a postal organisation occurred in Paris in 1653. 
 At this time France had its General Post, just as 
 England about the same time had set up a General 
 Letter Office in the City of London ; but in neither 
 case did the General Post handle local letters. To 
 despatch a letter to the country from Paris, or from 
 London, there was no choice but to deliver it person- 
 ally, or send it by private messenger, to the one 
 solitary repository in either city for the conveyance 
 of correspondence by the Government post. 
 
 The porters of London found no small part of the 
 exercise of their trade in carrying letters to the 
 General Letter Office, and in Paris, no doubt, a 
 similar class of men enjoyed the benefit of catering 
 at individual rates for what is now done on the vast 
 co-operative plan of the State monopoly. 
 
 In 1653, a Frenchman, M. de Villayer, afterwards 
 Comte de Villayer, set up as a private enterprise 
 (but with royal authority) the petite poste in Paris, 
 which had for its raison ditre the carrying of letters 
 to the General Post, and also the delivery of local 
 letters within the city. He distributed letter-boxes 
 at prominent positions in the chief thoroughfares in 
 Paris, into which his customers could drop their 
 letters and from whence his laquais could collect 
 them at regular intervals. At certain appointed 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 81 
 
 places M. de Villayer placed on sale letter-covers, 
 or wrappers, which bore a marque particulier^ and 
 which, being sold at the rate of a penny each (two 
 sous)^ were permitted to frank any letter deposited in 
 the numerous letter-boxes of the Villayer post to any 
 point within the city. The post is the one afterwards 
 referred to by Voltaire as the " \.viO'Sous post." 
 
 These wrappers, then, were the first printed franks 
 for the collection of postage from the public. The 
 exact nature of the matter imprinted upon them is 
 uncertain ; but it probably included M. de Villayer's 
 coat of arms, and it was on this hypothesis that the 
 late M. Maury, the French philatelist, reconstructed 
 an approximate imitation of the original form of 
 cover. The covers, it should be stated, were wrapped 
 around the letters by the senders, and were then 
 dropped in the boxes. In the process of sorting 
 for delivery, the servants of M. de Villayer removed 
 the special cover, which removal was practically 
 the equivalent of the cancellation of the stamps 
 of to-day. 
 
 These covers undoubtedly represent the first known 
 form of printed postage-stamps, being the forerunners 
 of the impressed non-adhesive stamps of to-day. The 
 Maury reconstruction is fanciful, but the inscriptions 
 thereon are literally correct. Owing to the removal 
 of the covers (which were probably broken in the 
 process) during the postal operations no originals 
 of these covers are now known to exist. Indeed, the 
 only true relics of the billets de port payd of M. de 
 Villayer are in the two fragments of correspondence 
 between M. Pellisson and the French Sappho, Mile. 
 
 5 
 
82 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Scud^ri. Pellisson, who was not noted for his good 
 looks, addressed " Mademoiselle Sapho, demeurant 
 en la rue, au pays des Nouveaux Sansomates^ k Paris, 
 par billet de port pay6." Signing himself " Pisandre," 
 he inquired if the lady could give him a remedy for 
 love. Her reply, sent by the same means, was, " My 
 dear Pisandre, you have only to look at yourself in 
 a mirror." It was of this correspondent that the 
 lady once declared, " It is permissible to be ugly, but 
 Pellisson has really abused the permission." 
 
 The London Penny Post of 1680, while it did not 
 use special covers for the prepayment of letters, 
 introduced the system of marking on letters, by 
 means of hand-stamps, the time and place of post- 
 ing and the intimation " Penny Post Payd." Dockwra, 
 instead of setting up boxes in the public streets, 
 organised a great circle of receiving houses to which 
 the senders took their letters and paid their pennies 
 over the counter. So the principle of the postage- 
 stamp, as we know it to-day, was not represented in 
 the triangular hand-stamps of Dockwra, or of his 
 successors in the official Penny Post. 
 
 A device representing the arms of Castile and 
 Leon was used in the eighteenth century as a kind 
 of frank or stamp which passed official correspon- 
 dence through the posts, and in the last quarter of 
 that century the Chevalier Paris de I'Epinard pro- 
 posed in Brussels the erection of a local post with 
 a mark or stamp of some kind to denote postage 
 prepaid — a plan which, however, was not adopted. 
 
 There is a curious account given by a corre- 
 spondent in The Philatelic Record \yi\\. 138] of some 
 
"<;i 
 
 Q 
 
 It 
 
 - o 
 
 - K 
 w H 
 
 k2 
 |o 
 
 go 
 
 a: 2 
 
8A 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 85 
 
 so-called stamps said to have been used in the Dutch 
 Indies. The writer, whose account has never so far 
 as I am aware received any definite confirmation, 
 says : — 
 
 "At the beginning of this year [1890] were dis- 
 covered amongst some old Government documents 
 at Batavia some curious and hitherto — whether here 
 or in Europe — unknown postally used envelopes, 
 with value indicated. ... In the time of Louis XIV. 
 it is believed that postage-stamps existed ; but no- 
 body has been able to bring them to light, conse- 
 quently we have in these hand-stamped envelopes of 
 the Dutch East Indian Company absolutely the oldest 
 documents of philatelic lore. 
 
 "The letter-sheets are all made from the same 
 paper, and are all of the same size — namely, about 
 23 X 19 centimetres ; whilst the side which is most 
 interesting to us — the * address ' or * stamp ' side — 
 is folded to a size of 103 x 88 mm. Up to the 
 present the following values have been found : — 
 
 black 
 
 i> 
 
 red 
 black 
 
 (daukli; that is to say, two stamps 
 ** 1 of 6 stivers side by side. 
 
 red 
 
 *' On the address-side is no date stamp, and no 
 indication of the office of departure ; also the figures 
 denoting the year are only discernible on the seal 
 
 3 stivers 
 
 ... 
 
 5 » 
 
 ... 
 
 5 n 
 
 ... 
 
 6 „ 
 
 ... 
 
 6 „ 
 
 ... 
 
 10 „ 
 
 ... 
 
 10 „ 
 
 ... 
 
 IS .» 
 
 ... 
 
MANIFESTO 
 
 CAMERALE 
 
 toTlstitt notificanza che la Carta Postale-bollata , stabillta 
 colle Regie Pateoti delH 7 (lello scorso novembre , sara 
 prowisionalmeote posta in corso noo filagraoata ; della 
 dfhoeniiobe ordlnaria della Carta cos\ delta da Lcttere , 
 « munltQ dei bolli retaiivi alie tre quality della medesima 
 pienamente cooformt agH impmoti tvi delioeati. 
 
 In data delU 3 dicembre 1818. 
 
 TORINO , 
 
 DALLA STAMPERIA REALE. 
 
 THE OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION OF DECEMBER 3, I818, RELATING TO 
 THE USE OF THE SARDINIAN LETTER SHEETS. 
 
 Described In tht records of the Schroeder collection as "tlie oldest ofAcial 
 notification of any country in the world relating to postage stamps." 
 
 86 
 
3. Che air epoca in cui comincier^ la distrlbuziooe dcIU 
 nuova carta filagranata cesser^ V uso della carta bollala 
 Hon filagranata ; e che i foglj rimanenti della raedestma 
 potranno essere cangiati contro altrettanll della ouova 
 con filagraoa. 
 
 I diversi boUi che verranno appostl sovra la carta prov- 
 iri&ionale non filagranata , saraono pienamenle cooformi 
 agP impronti infra delineati , i quali unitamenle ai loro 
 modclli , ed agli esemplari della carta suddetta sono stati 
 depositati negli Archivj nostrl giusta il disposto dalTar- 
 ticolo 2 delle mentovate Regie Palenti- delli 7 dello 
 scorso novembre. ^ 
 
 Modelli de BoHu 
 
 nfandiamo il prescnte pubblicarsi ai luoghi , e modi soliti, 
 ed alle copie che ne verranno stampate nella Stamperia 
 Rcalc prestarsi la stessa fede che all' originale. 
 
 Dat, in Torino li ire dicembre mille ottocento diciolto. 
 
 Per delta Eccellentissima Regia 
 CAMERA 
 
 X 
 
 FAVA. 
 
 {Continuation from previous P<^.) 
 
 THE MODELS SHOW THE DEVICES FOR THB THREE DENOMINA- 
 TIONS : 15, 25, AND 50 CBNTBSIMI RESPECTIVELY. 
 
 87 
 
88 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 of each letter. On the specimens hitherto found 
 are the dates from 1794 to 1809; but it is quite 
 possible that other values may be unearthed. So 
 far, of all the above values together, only about 
 thirty specimens are known. . . . These envelopes 
 came from various places in the Dutch Indian 
 Archipelago." 
 
 The foregoing statement is open to much ques- 
 tion, in view of the lapse of twenty years since the 
 matter was first aired in The Philatelic Record, If 
 authentic, these would be the earliest denominated 
 stamps for the prepayment of postage, the Dutch 
 stuiver in use in the colonies being a copper coin 
 equal to about one penny. Perhaps the introduction 
 of the matter in these Chats will, in the light of 
 increased modern facilities for research, bring the 
 subject before the notice of our Dutch philatelic 
 confreres. 
 
 The Sardinian letter sheets of the early nineteenth 
 century are now tolerably well known to stamp- 
 collectors. They, however, represented a Govern- 
 ment tax on the privilege of letter-carrying, rather 
 than a direct prepayment of postage. These were 
 the product of a curious anomaly in the exercise 
 of the postal monopoly by the Government of 
 Sardinia. It was forbidden to send letters and 
 packets otherwise than through the Government 
 post ; but as this latter was very inefficient, and in 
 many parts of the country was practically non- 
 existent, the authorities established by decree, in 
 18 1 8, a system whereby the people for whom the 
 Government post was inconvenient, if not absolutely 
 
SARDINIAN LETTER SHEET OF 1818 : 15 CENTESIMI. 
 
 11. 
 
 
 THE 25 CENTESIMI LETTER SHEET OF SARDINIA. 
 
 Issued in Sardinia, 1818 : the earliest use of Letter Sheets with 
 embossed stamps. 
 
 89 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 91 
 
 useless, could send their letters by other means. To 
 effect this the senders had to supply themselves from 
 a post-office with a stock of special letter sheets, 
 stamped with a device of a mounted post-boy, 
 within a circular, oval, or octagonal frame, at a cost 
 of 15, 25, or 50 centesimi apiece. The use of these 
 stamped letter sheets, bought from the post-office, 
 was an authority for their conveyance by private 
 means, but not through the ordinary channels of the 
 ■Sardinian postal organisation. Thus, while the Post 
 Office took its full charges for the conveyance of such 
 letters, it did not perform the work of collecting, 
 transmitting, and delivering them. The three de- 
 nominations, 15, 25, and 50 centesimij were used for 
 letters conveyed varying distances according to the 
 Government postal tariff, from which, however, the 
 actual messenger derived no benefit, his remuneration 
 being over and above these official charges. 
 
 The next proposal of stamped covers the historian 
 has to note, is that embodied in a Bill introduced in 
 the Swedish Riksdag, March 3, 1823, by Lieutenant 
 Curry Gabriel Treffenberg. His proposals included : 
 " Stamped paper of varying values, to be used as 
 wrappers for letters, should be introduced and kept 
 for sale in the cities by the Chartae Sigillatse deputies, 
 or by other persons appointed for that purpose by 
 the General Chartae Sigillatse Office at Stockholm, 
 and in the rural districts, by the sheriffs and other 
 private persons." Private persons were to be granted 
 the privilege of selling these "Postage Charts" by 
 the local officials representing the Crown authorities 
 on obtaining proper security. 
 
92 CHATS ON POSTAGE ^STAMPS 
 
 The actual proposals for the distinguishing character 
 of the stamped covers were : — 
 
 " The Postage Charts should be made of the size 
 of an ordinary letter sheet, but without being folded 
 lengthwise as these are. The paper should be strong 
 but not coarse, and in order to make forgery 
 more difficult, should contain a circular design, 
 easy to discover. It should also be of some light 
 colour. 
 
 "In the centre of the paper two stamps should be 
 impressed side by side, occupying together a space of 
 six square inches. One of the stamps should be 
 impressed into the paper and the other should be 
 printed with black ink. Both should contain, besides 
 the value of the Chart, some suitable emblem which 
 would be difficult to imitate. The assortment of 
 values should be made to meet all requirements." 
 
 The letters were to be folded so that the stamps 
 would be outside, and so easily cancelled or otherwise 
 marked if required ; and in the case of the despatch 
 of packets too large to enclose within a chart, the 
 latter could be cut down, preserving the stamped 
 portion, which was to be sent along with the packet, 
 both packet and chart bearing marks by which the 
 two could be identified and associated in the course 
 of the post. 
 
 The Bill did not pass the Riksdag, and so Sweden 
 
 was deprived of the national credit of giving a lead 
 
 to the nations of the world in a postage-stamp 
 
 y system, not very different in principle from that of 
 
 Great Britain in 1840. 
 
 I now come to the period of the active development 
 
 r 
 

 
 
 ;5f:jvn-. 
 
 -a 
 
 Ju^ Crr^/i€n%^^ 
 
 //4 
 
 f^^M'^^^^^\ 
 
 
 
 THE HIGHEST DENOMINATION, $0 CENTESIMI, OF THE SARDINIAN 
 LETTER SHEETS. 
 
 '! ; • ' ; :?; til. W. x :'s-: or L>>hI)< o\\\y\ 
 
 ' • i -ONE PENNY.- \V.i^:ht ,u>t t- fer!^^^ -. 
 
 h 
 
 
 j^^^jg^^^.' 
 
 
 
 Jy^y' 
 
 ./y>r^^ 
 
 'J.^-/^^'^ - 
 
 >^^ 
 
 ONE OF THE TEMPORARY ENVELOPES ISSUED FOR THE USE OF 
 MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, PRIOR TO THE ISSUE OF 
 STAMPS AND COVERS TO THE PUBLIC, I84O. 
 
 93 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 95 
 
 of the idea, and so far from the stamp being a 
 particular invention of the fourth decade of the 
 nineteenth century, we must recognise that, beyond 
 all controversy, the notion — whether for an impressed 
 or an adhesive stamp is of little matter — was " in the 
 air." It was stated before the Select Committee on 
 Postage, on February 23, 1838, by a Mr. Louis, 
 formerly Superintendent of Mails, that a plan for 
 stamped covers was communicated to him " by Mr. 
 Stead of Yarmouth, a gentleman who has interested 
 himself a good deal about the Post Office." ^ The 
 sheets of paper were to be stamped and sold to 
 persons who would then be at liberty " to send their 
 letters by conveyances not suitable to Post Office 
 hours." 
 
 The scheme had been proposed to the Post Office 
 according to Mr. Louis in his evidence " many years 
 ago," and it is attributed by some writers to 1829, 
 though I can trace no source for their information as 
 to this date. 
 
 The plan, from the rather vague remembrance of 
 the witness before the Committee, may have been 
 simply one to introduce the Sardinian method of 
 18 1 8 into this country, and in any case there are no 
 concrete relics of Mr. Stead's ideas in the shape of 
 essays. Mr. Charles Whiting, of the Beaufort House 
 Press, entered the arena of postal reform some time 
 prior to March, 1830, but we have no definite 
 knowledge of his proposals previous to that date. 
 In that year Mr. Whiting suggested the use of 
 
 * "Select Committee on Postage, First Report, 1838," p. 122, 
 questions 1829, 1830. 
 
96 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 stamped bands for the prepayment of postage on 
 printed matter.^ 
 
 Mr. Whiting called his stamped wrappers "Go 
 frees," and he is understood to have intended the 
 plan to extend to written matter, if it proved success- 
 ful in an experimental trial with printed matter. 
 The plan did not get a trial, and no greater success 
 attended the efforts of Mr. Charles Knight, the 
 celebrated publisher, who suggested stamped wrappers 
 as a means of collecting postage on newspapers, 
 subject to the abolition of the "Taxes on Know- 
 ledge," which were the occasion of a vigorous 
 campaign set on foot in 1834. According to 
 Hansard^ a resolution was moved by Mr. Edward 
 Lytton Bulwer, May 22, 1834, "that it is expedient 
 to repeal the Stamp Duty on newspapers at the 
 earliest possible period," and in the course of the 
 debate the member for Hull, Mr. Matthew Davenport 
 Hill, advocating the payment of a penny upon an 
 unstamped newspaper sent by post, said : " To put 
 an end to any objections that might be made as to 
 the difficulty of collecting the money, he would 
 adopt the suggestion of a person well qualified to 
 give an opinion on the subject — he alluded to 
 Mr. Knight, the publisher. That gentleman recom- 
 mended that a stamped wrapper should be prepared 
 for such newspapers as it was desired to send by 
 post ; and that each wrapper should be sold at the 
 
 * It should be remembered that newspapers had for many years 
 (since 17 12) been the subject of a tax, and until 1855, when the 
 newspaper tax was abolished, such papers passed through the post 
 free. 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 97 
 
 rate of a penny by the distributors of stamps in the 
 same way as receipt stamps." ^ 
 
 Mr. Knight had made the proposal referred to in a 
 private letter to Lord Althorp, Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer.2 
 
 The ultimate result of the campaign was the 
 reduction, not the abolition, of the Newspaper Tax, 
 and, as the reduced tax of one penny for an ordinary 
 newspaper included free transmission in the post, 
 there was no need for the adoption of Mr. Knight's 
 proposal at that time. It is to be noted, however, 
 that Mr. Knight was an active supporter of Rowland 
 Hill's plan a few years later, and that Hill was not 
 unaware of the suggestion, for he wrote of it in his 
 pamphlet that : " Availing myself of this excellent 
 suggestion, I propose the following arrangement : — 
 Let stamped covers and sheets of paper be supplied 
 to the public from the Stamp Office or Post Office, as 
 may be most convenient, and sold at such a price as 
 to include the postage : letters so stamped might be 
 put into the letter-box, as at present." 
 
 Dr. Gray, the eminent zoologist of the British 
 Museum and one of the earliest scientific collectors 
 of postage-stamps, made a somewhat ambiguous 
 claim to the authorship of the proposal for the 
 prepayment of postage by means of stamps. When 
 challenged by Rowland Hill in The AthencBum^^ he 
 stated in that journal that " I have simply said I 
 believe I was the first who proposed the system 
 
 * Hansard^ xxxiii., p. 12 14. 
 
 " Athenceum^ No. 1836, January 3, 1863, p. 18. 
 
 3 Nos. 1834 (December 20, 1862) and 1835 (December 27, 1862). 
 
98 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 of a small uniform rate of postage to be prepaid 
 by stamps." When Mr. Knight entered upon the 
 Athencsum correspondence, Dr. Gray reminded him 
 of an incident : 
 
 "In the spring of 1834 we [Knight and Gray] 
 were fellow-passengers in the basket of a Blackheath 
 coach, when the subject was discussed. I then 
 stated, as I had frequently done before to other 
 fellow-travellers, my views in relation to the pre- 
 payment of postage by stamps. These views Mr. 
 Knight combated, and so little was he then prepared 
 to adopt them that he exclaimed, as he quitted the 
 coach at the corner of Fleet Street, ' Gray, you 
 are more fit for Bedlam than for the British Museum.' " 
 Knight, whose case has the advantage of attaining 
 substantial record in Hansard and The Mirror of 
 Parliament^ disclaimed any connection with the 
 incident, and left his friends to decide " whether the 
 language, stated to have been used by me to a gentle- 
 man of scientific eminence, would not have been 
 better suited to a costermonger returning from 
 Greenwich fair than to mine." 
 
 Mr. Wallace, the member for Greenock, was 
 perhaps the first to turn Rowland Hill's attention 
 in the direction of a serious campaign for postal 
 reform, and Wallace succeeded in 1837 in getting 
 a Committee " to inquire into the present rates and 
 modes of charging postage, with a view to such 
 a reduction thereof as may be made without injury 
 to the revenue ; and for this purpose, to examine 
 especially into the mode recommended for charging 
 and collecting postage in a pamphlet published by 
 

 *'0 f «^:'<: 
 
 THE "JAMES CHALMERS" ESSAY. 
 
 ROUGH SKETCHES IX WATEK-COLOLKS SUBMITTED BY 
 ROWLAND HILL TO THE CHANCELLOR OF THE 
 EXCHEQUER FOR THE FIRST POSTAGE STAMPS. 
 
 99 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA lOT 
 
 Mr. Rowland Hill." The Committee started its 
 sessions in February, 1838, and it had the advantage 
 of the reports of the Commissioners of Post Office 
 Inquiry, and the collection of much valuable material 
 by a Mercantile Committee, of which Mr. (afterwards 
 Sir) Henry Cole was secretary. 
 
 The proposals from this time on, till the issue of 
 the stamps, were numerous. The Commissioners of 
 Post Office Inquiry had printed samples of several 
 suggested letter-sheets for use by the London Dis- 
 trict post, in their "Ninth Report, 1837." Mr. J. W. 
 Parker, of the Cambridge Bible Warehouse, West 
 Strand, London, printed a somewhat similar letter- 
 sheet, with advertisement on the reverse, which was 
 circulated with W. H. Ashurst's " Facts and Reasons 
 in support of Mr. Rowland Hill's plan for a Universal 
 Penny Postage,"^ and Mr. James Chalmers of Dundee 
 first communicated to the Mercantile Committee 
 a proposal that stamped slips should be printed at 
 the Stamp Office on prepared paper, furnished with 
 adhesive matter on the back. These slips were to 
 be sold to the public, and affixed by senders to 
 their letters; and postmasters were to deface the 
 stamps in the course of the post. He included two 
 specimens ; similar specimens were submitted by 
 Chalmers to the Treasury in the same year. 
 
 In 1839, t^^ fi^st uniform postage Act (2 and 3 
 Vict. c. 52) was passed, and the Lords of the 
 Treasury, in preparing to give effect to the plan 
 of Rowland Hill, extended an invitation to " artists, 
 men of science and the public in general " to submit 
 
 * Second edition 1838. 
 
iOSr CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 proposals in competition for prizes of ;f 200 and ;£"ioo, 
 for the best and next best proposals. My Lords 
 stated that in the course of the inquiries and discus- 
 sions on the subject, several plans were suggested, 
 viz.^ stamped covers, stamped paper, and stamps to 
 be used separately, and " the points which the Board 
 consider of the greatest importance are : — 
 
 " I. The convenience as regards the public use. 
 
 "2. The security against forgery. 
 
 " 3. The facility of being checked and distinguished 
 at the Post Office, which must of necessity be 
 rapid. 
 
 " 4. The expense of the production and circulation 
 of the stamps." 
 The contest brought in about 2,700 suggestions, and 
 although none was actually adopted, the suggestions 
 contained in some were deemed of value. The 
 Treasury increased the amount of prizes to ;f400, 
 dividing that sum equally between Mr. Benjamin 
 Cheverton, Mr. Charles Whiting, Mr. Henry Cole, 
 and Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co. Mr. Stead of 
 Norwich, Mr. John Dickinson, the paper-maker, Mr. 
 R. W. Sievier, the sculptor, Mr. S. Henderson of 
 Dalkeith and others were included amongst the com- 
 petitors. Until recently, however, little or nothing 
 has been known as to the nature of these suggestions, 
 except that the majority were impracticable ; but 
 it is on record that Mr. Charles Whiting sent in at 
 least one hundred samples, embodying his ideas or 
 illustrative of designs and methods of duplication 
 in use at his printing establishment. 
 
 However, in May, 1910, an article which I con- 
 
HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED EXAMPLES OF THE PROPOSALS 
 SUBMITTED TO THE LORDS OF THE TREASURY IN 
 1839 IN COMPETITION FOR PRIZES OFFERED IN CON- 
 NECTION WITH THE PENNY POSTAGE PLAN. 
 
 {From the Author's Collection.) 
 
 103 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 105 
 
 tributed to The Daily Mail brought from the 
 daughter of Mr. Cheverton a letter in which she 
 made the interesting statement that her late father's 
 papers relating to the proposals made by him in 1839 
 were still in her possession. She very kindly pro- 
 mised me a sight of them. 
 
 Enthusiasts know how difficult it is, when on 
 the verge of an anticipated discovery, to possess 
 their souls in patience, hoping for at least a sight 
 of the find ; but my patience in this case was un- 
 availing, for the next I heard of the treasured papers 
 and the dies was — and this is some consolation — that 
 they were in the capable hands of the Earl of Craw- 
 ford, who prepared and subsequently read before 
 the Royal Philatelic Society a scholarly reconstruc- 
 tion of Cheverton's plan. 
 
 Fortune, however, made me some compensation 
 shortly afterwards. The upheaval and dispersal of 
 an old store of rubbish and unconsidered trifles 
 brought into my possession a considerable parcel 
 of papers accumulated by the Lords of the Treasury 
 in response to their invitation of 1839, and which, 
 after lying hidden for nearly three-quarters of a 
 century, have fortunately escaped total destruction 
 in the year of grace 191 1. 
 
 The suggestions are mostly crude designs in the 
 form of pencil or crayon work on envelopes, pen 
 and ink drawings for adhesive labels, and in one 
 case the latter were made up in such form as to 
 suggest how the labels would be printed in sheets. 
 The unravelling of the plans for which these various 
 suggestions were made is not yet complete, but they 
 
 6 
 
106 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 will, I trust, yield to further investigation and admit 
 of extensive description in a forthcoming work in 
 which Mr. Charles Nissen is collaborating with 
 me on the subject of British essays and proofs for 
 postage-stamps. 
 
 It was towards the end of 1839 that Mr. Henry 
 Cole visited Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co., then at 
 Fleet Street, and told them that the idea of the 
 authorities was that the adhesive labels should be 
 about one square inch in size, and on December 3, 
 1839, that firm submitted their first estimate of not 
 exceeding eightpence per thousand, nor less than 
 sixpence per thousand, the price being exclusive of 
 paper. The process by which they were to be 
 produced is the now well-known system known as 
 the " Perkins mill and die " process, a method of 
 production which was adopted in due course, and has 
 never been superseded for the production of artistic 
 stamps. 
 
 The history of the making of the stamp, the com- 
 bination of the art of Wyon, Corbould, and Heath, 
 I have dealt with elsewhere, so I turn to the envelope 
 plan. Stamped covers, as we have seen, had been 
 used in Sardinia in i8i8 and, in a different fashion, 
 in Paris as early as 1653. In 1838, while Britain 
 was in the throes of the postal agitation. New South 
 Wales actually issued and used embossed envelopes, 
 which were sold in Sydney at is. 3d. per dozen 
 sheets. The embossed design consisted of the royal 
 coat of arms of William IV. enclosed in a circular 
 frame, bearing the words " General Post Office — New 
 South Wales." 
 
% 
 
 ^ 
 
 // ^^-^ /L^.^^^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 yy^ ^^ 
 
 ^ / 
 
 P'l.JL^ 
 
 '-l^^'Z^y^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 THE ADDRESS SIDE OF THE MODEL LETTER WHICH HAS THE 
 STAMP (SHOWN BELOW) AFFIXED TO THE BACK AS A SEAL. 
 
 
 yy A^/y^^if^^^ ^. e^ /'^■^-o^ A^ 
 
 ANOTHER OF THE UNPUBLISHED ESSAYS SUBMITTED IN THE 
 COMPETITION OF 1839 FOR THE PENNY POSTAGE PLAN. 
 
 {From the Author's Collection.) 
 107 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA 109 
 
 The envelope proposals that were before the 
 Treasury in 1839 consisted mainly of rough sketches, 
 but in a few cases of elaborate printed designs 
 {e.g.y Harwood's envelope), and the patterns made up 
 of intricate geometrical work like the specimens in 
 Ashurst's " Facts and Reasons " and the " Ninth 
 Report." Cole called upon Mr. William Mul- 
 ready and invited him to draw a design for the 
 envelope, and it was decided that this design should 
 be printed on the paper with the silk threads em- 
 bedded in its substance, a paper which has since been 
 known to philatelists as " Dickinson " paper, after the 
 name of its inventor. Mr. Dickinson had all along 
 been keenly interested in the proposals for postage 
 reform, and was a witness before the Select Com- 
 mittee in 1837, providing paper with threads in it 
 for the essays in the Report. Many of the chief 
 officials and the agitators were convinced of the 
 protection that this paper offered against forgery, 
 and it is not generally known — I mention it as 
 specimens of the paper are by no means commonly 
 met with — that Mr. Dilke was so convinced of the 
 importance of the use of this paper that he printed 
 the entire issue of The Athenceum for April 28, 1838, 
 on the thread paper. ^ Mr. Dickinson's firm was at 
 that time supplying the regular Athenceum paper. 
 
 Among the rarities for which collectors, even 
 general collectors, will pay high prices are the 
 temporary letter-covers prepared in January, 1840, to 
 give members of Parliament the first privilege of 
 
 * Mr. John Collins Francis refers to this issue in his two volumes, 
 "John Francis and The Athernxunty^ published by Bentley in 1888. 
 
110 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 using the penny "post-frees." There are several 
 kinds with inscriptions reading " Houses of Parlia- 
 ment," " House of Lords," and " House of Commons." 
 These were in use from January i6th, but their 
 great rarity suggests that the use of them was not 
 extensive. That, no doubt, was attributable to the 
 injunction, " To be posted at the House of . . . 
 only." 
 
 The public in London first saw the stamps on 
 May I, 1840, when Sir Rowland Hill reports, 
 "Great bustle at the Stamp Office" — £2,soo worth 
 were sold on the first day. They did not come into 
 use, however, until May 6th, when Sir Henry Cole 
 went to the Post Office and reported that "about 
 half the letters were stamped." 
 
 The envelopes, covers and labels were issued 
 simultaneously. Within six days the " labels " won 
 the race for popular favour. " I fear," wrote Hill 
 on May 12th, "we shall be obliged to substitute 
 some other stamp for that designed by Mulready, 
 which is abused and ridiculed on all sides. ... I 
 am already turning my attention to the substitution 
 of another stamp, combining with it, as the public 
 have shown their disregard and even distaste for 
 beauty, some further economy in the production." 
 
 Sir Rowland Hill was perhaps pardonably piqued 
 at the success which the label won from the start, 
 at the expense of the elaborate envelope design on 
 which the artistic ideals of both Cole and Hill had 
 set their hopes.^ It was not the public lack of 
 
 ^ It is said to have cost ;^ 1,000; the art of the label cost, to 
 Mr. Corbould ;^I2 I2s., to Mr. Heath ^CS^ lOs. 
 
Ill 
 
112 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 appreciation of beauty or art, but their ready 
 selection of the convenient and the practical, instead 
 of the imaginative and sentimental, and, it must be 
 admitted, very impracticable, design for the envelopes 
 and covers. More than two decades later — May, 
 1863 — Sir Rowland Hill, writing to Signor Perazzi, 
 who was making inquiries on behalf of the Italian 
 authorities, said, " I do consider them [stamped 
 envelopes] as of real use to the public, although the 
 small proportion used (not more than i per cent., I 
 believe), shows that the demand for them is com- 
 paratively insignificant" 
 
m 
 
 SOME 
 
 EARLY 
 
 PIONEERS 
 
 OF 
 
 PHILATELY 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 SOME EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY 
 
 ** Hobbyhorsical " collections — The application ot the term " Foreign 
 Stamp Collecting" — The Stamp Exchange in Birchin Lane — 
 A celebrated lady stamp-dealer — The Saturday rendezvous at the 
 All Hallows Staining Rectory — Prominent collectors of the first 
 period — The first stamp catalogues — The words Philately and 
 Timbrologic — Philatelic periodicals — Justin Lallier's albums — The 
 Philatelic Society, London. 
 
 We have already seen something of the growth of 
 
 the postage-stamp idea among the nations of the 
 
 world. It will now be convenient for us to discuss 
 
 the manner in which these postage-stamps first came 
 
 to be regarded in the light of objets de curiositi. 
 
 From the beginning of the postage-stamp system 
 
 there is no doubt many people of advanced ideas 
 
 took a very keen interest in the success of the new 
 
 institution. The accumulating of the stamps by 
 
 individuals began almost immediately after their 
 
 issue in 1840, as is clear from the advertisement 
 
 in The Times of 1841 in which " A young lady 
 
 being desirous of covering her dressing room with 
 
 cancelled postage-stamps " invited the assistance 
 
 of strangers in her fanciful project. This is probably 
 
 lis 
 
116 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 typical of the character and motif of the collecting 
 until circa 1850, and Punch's quip (1842) that the 
 ladies of England betrayed more anxiety to treasure 
 up Queen's heads than King Henry VIII. did 
 to get rid of them, has served to perpetuate the 
 popular early definition of the stamps of the 
 Victorian reign as " Queen's heads." 
 
 This form of collecting was " hobbyhorsical " in 
 the extreme ; it recognised no other objects than 
 the attainment of numbers, or the production of 
 a new form of wall-paper, using the old stamps 
 as the tessercB of a mosaic. At these times collect- 
 ing was probably considered a test of the bona fides 
 of philanthropic appellants, for we trace to the 
 earliest decade of stamp issuing the popular notion 
 that the accumulated treasure of a million of old 
 stamps will provide an " open sesame " for an orphan 
 into a home, or that in old age one may find a 
 haven of rest in an asylum. There is the grain 
 of truth in the latter prospect which is sufficient 
 to perpetuate a great error. To take a million 
 stamps collected from old letters to any asylum 
 might well ensure a ready admittance and hospitable 
 retention. 
 
 It was during the middle 'fifties that schoolboys 
 began to give their attention to the " foreign stamp 
 collecting." I say " foreign " advisedly, for the 
 early interest was almost entirely centred in the 
 stamp issues of other countries, and it pleased the 
 youthful mind to receive specimens from Brazil or 
 the United States. The stamps which passed in 
 the post before his own eyes every day were treated 
 
EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY 117 
 
 with the contempt that is bred of familiarity. In 
 later years the old designation of " foreign stamp 
 collecting" is by no means correct as applied to 
 the scope of modern Philately. Patriotism had led 
 the fashion of the time to the cult of the stamps 
 of our own nation and its possessions. 
 
 There are several claims to priority of interest 
 in collecting stamps which have been put forward 
 in recent years. Mr. E. S. Gibbons is said to have 
 collected when at school in 1854. He was then 
 fourteen, having been born in the year of the 
 introduction of postage stamps. He is said to 
 have been dealing in stamps about 1856. Mr. W. 
 S. Lincoln tells of an album still in his possession 
 inscribed "Collection of stamps made by W. 
 Lincoln 1854." The memoranda in that book 
 are: 
 
 " 1854, 210 varieties. 
 1855, 310 varieties." 
 
 In the following year (1856) he was exchanging 
 stamps with another collector. 
 
 The late editor of Le Timbre-Poste (Brussels), 
 M. J. B. Moens, started collecting about 1855, 
 and produced the earliest of the continental periodi- 
 cals devoted exclusively to philately from 1863- 
 1900. His earliest English rival of any pretensions, 
 The Stamp Collector's Magazine^ was edited by Dr. 
 C. W. Viner, whose interest in the subject begajm 
 about 1855 by assisting a lady friend to form a 
 chart representative of the postage-stamps of the 
 world. This simple form of collecting was evidently 
 much in vogue in the later 'fifties and remained 
 
118 OHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 during the next decade, and a photograph of one 
 of these taken in the 'sixties will be found among 
 the illustrations. It was not until i860 that Dr. 
 Viner took up the pursuit on his own behalf. And 
 with i860 and the next few years we have evidences 
 of the spread of the newer form of stamp-collecting, 
 which was to givQ the pursuit the scientific interest 
 and value which were to ensure its permanence 
 and to make it in the present year of grace the 
 most widely popular of all collecting hobbies. In 
 those days collections were limited by the com- 
 paratively small number of stamps that had been 
 issued, but even then the phantom of completeness 
 was not within reach. " I remember counting my 
 stamps with much glee when they reached a 
 hundred," wrote Dr. Viner in 1889. " I saw some 
 collections with two or three hundred, and keard 
 of one with five hundred. Cancelled specimens 
 were principally seen ; but I can recall one collection 
 rich in unused Naples, Sicily, Tuscany, and other 
 Italian States purchased at their several post-offices 
 by a young traveller." 
 
 It is very significant that the collectors of this 
 early period of whom any records are preserved 
 were mostly men of culture and of position. The 
 boy was still the main influence and in a majority, 
 but he was in stamp-collecting the father to the 
 man. The historic and scientific possibilities of 
 the pursuit were still but dimly recognised by the 
 mass of collectors. An active exchange of stamps 
 had been carried on from about i860 in Birchin 
 Lane, London, where crowds of youngsters used to 
 

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 A POSTAGE STAMP "CHART "—ONE OF THE EARLY FORMS OF 
 STAMP-COLLECTING. 
 
 
 119 
 
EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY 121 
 
 meet and exchange stamps. They were frequently 
 joined by their elders. Fifty to a hundred barterers 
 of all ages and ranks and of both sexes were 
 there in the evenings of the spring of 1862. "We 
 have seen one of Her Majesty's Ministry there," says 
 The Stamp Collector's Magazine of 1863. Charac- 
 teristic examples of the conversation at these gather- 
 ings were given in the same magazine : " Have you 
 a yellow Saxon ? " — " I want a Russian " — " I'll give 
 a red Prussian for a blue Brunswicker " — " Will 
 you exchange a Russian for a black .English? " — " I 
 wouldn't give a Russian for twenty English." The 
 date attributed to these overheard remarks is 1861. 
 The police intervened later and the exchanging p 
 had to be done more or less surreptitiously. But / 
 still the group formed in the neighbouring alleys, 
 and still included the Cabinet Minister and " ladies, 
 album in hand," and it is recorded that one of the 
 ladies " contrived to effect a highly advantageous 
 exchange of a very so-so specimen for a rarity, 
 with a young friend of ours, who salvoed his green- 
 ness with the apologetic remark that he could not 
 drive a hard bargain with a lady." 
 
 Similar scenes went on in the gardens of the 
 Tuilleries at Paris, and in other cities they centred 
 around establishments set up by the earliest dealers 
 in postage stamps. Birchin Lane contained the 
 business premises of at least one dealer — a lady 
 — and there was in Paris, in the rue Taitbout, 
 Mme. Nicholas, a little person, " rather lean, very 
 active, lively and intelligent," of whom M. Mahd 
 tells in his reminiscences. For a long period she 
 
122 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 held "le sceptre dans le royaume des timbres, 
 royaume ou la loi salique n'exerce pas ses injustes 
 rigueurs." A woman with considerable talent for 
 business, she and her husband kept a modest little 
 reading-room in a small shop in the rue Taitbout. 
 To this business she added, possibly at the sug- 
 gestion of one of the Paris amateurs of the period, 
 the business in stamps. Her shop became the 
 regular meeting-place of the dilettanti^ and these 
 were men of substance and intelligence who were 
 not to be charged with following " fancies too weak 
 for boys, too green and idle for girls of nine." 
 
 In London, too, there was a coterie of amateurs 
 among whom were men of distinction. We might 
 trace the birth of the higher ideals in stamp collect- 
 ing in London to the rectory adjoining All Hallows 
 Staining. Charles Dickens described the church, 
 all of which save the tower is now demolished, 
 as " a stuffy little place." The perpetual curate 
 in charge of this old City living at the time of which 
 I write was the Rev. F. J. Stainforth, one of the 
 most zealous promoters of the hobby, "assisting 
 the movement by his well-known readiness to bid 
 high for any real or supposed rarity." Mr. Stain- 
 forth gathered around him the chief of the serious 
 collectors of the period, and his influence on the 
 beginnings of the study is probably greater than 
 most collectors of the present day are aware. 
 Cultured, amiable, and generous, his rectory was 
 a rendezvous for all seeking information on the 
 subject of stamps and for those who had informa- 
 tion to impart. Perhaps a too abundant good-nature 
 
EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY 123 
 
 occasionally resulted in the host being imposed 
 upon, for it is said that, " utterly devoid of guile 
 himself, he frequently became the prey of much 
 younger, but more worldly-wise, heads." 
 
 But if there were those who abused the welcome 
 of the rectory, there were others who imparted a 
 lustre to the little gatherings in the upper room. 
 Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart, the first Speaker of the 
 Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, was one 
 of these. He returned from Australia about 1 860-61, 
 and formed an important collection of stamps. He 
 was elected first President of the Philatelic Society 
 when that body was formed in 1869. The legal 
 profession was frequently represented at the rectory 
 by Mr. Philbrick, afterwards his Honour Judge Phil- 
 brick, K.C., and Mr. Hughes- Hughes, who had been 
 called to the Bar in 1842. There was also a physi- 
 cian in Dr. Viner, a young merchant in Mr. Mount 
 Brown, and a youngster in his 'teens, who occa- 
 sionally travelled to town to attend the Saturday 
 afternoon gatherings and who quickly displayed an 
 intuition for the scientific in philately which few 
 have surpassed, and made the name of E. L. Pember- 
 ton one of the most distinguished in the annals of 
 philately. 
 
 The cult was not confined to the metropolis. Most 
 of the early dealers began operations in the country. 
 The first published list of stamps for collectors 
 came from a young artist residing in Brighton. Mr. 
 Frederick Booty was aged twenty when he issued 
 his "Aids to Stamp Collectors" in April, 1862. Mr. 
 Mount Brown was twenty-five when his "Catalogue 
 
124 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 of British, Colonial, and Foreign Stamps " appeared 
 in May of the same year. The wide difference of 
 years among the enthusiasts of this time is notable 
 in the third of the early English chroniclers, Dr. 
 Gray, the eminent naturalist and all-round scientist 
 of the British Museum, who published his first 
 " Hand Catalogue of Postage Stamps " towards the 
 end of 1862, the author being then sixty- two years 
 of age. 
 
 The first three catalogues represent three distinct 
 independent aspects of the collecting of the time. 
 Booty, of Brighton, coming of an artistic stock, an 
 artist himself, discusses in his preface the " great 
 variety in execution, colour, and engraving of the 
 design," the "tasteful arrangement," the whole of a 
 collection, in Mr. Booty's view, arranged with the 
 embellishments suggested by the artist, forming "a 
 handsome appendage to the drawing-room table." 
 
 Mr. Mount Brown's catalogue was more practical, 
 if less imaginative in view. 
 
 Dr. Gray brought the profundity of his scientific 
 training into his classification of stamps in his " Hand 
 Catalogue." So far as we know, he worked within 
 the precincts of the British Museum, where he resided, 
 and had little association, if any, with the rectory 
 reunions. Mr. Overy Taylor (another of the early 
 and able writers on philately and the editor of the 
 later editions of " Gray ") tells us that the venerable 
 scientist regarded stamps as " the visible signs of the 
 complete realisation of a system of communication 
 which in his early maturity was scarcely more than 
 a generous dream, and by treating them as such in 
 
EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY 125 
 
 the preface to his catalogue he at once lifted them 
 above the level of mere meaningless curiosities." 
 The same writer points out that Dr. Gray, " bringing 
 to the task the habits and predilections acquired in 
 the classification of zoological specimens, attached 
 no importance to colour; to him the design was 
 everything ; and whether printed in black on coloured 
 paper or in coloured ink on white was to him of 
 very little importance. The intricacies of design he 
 described with the utmost minuteness, and some of 
 the terms he introduced into his description have 
 been generally adopted." 
 
 The early continental catalogues showed a similar 
 diversity of treatment of the subject. The first lists 
 of M. Frangois George Oscar Berger-Levrault (1861) 
 were mere twelve-page indices to the stamps known 
 to the compiler, and were printed by autographic 
 lithography at Strasbourg. 
 
 The first edition of the catalogue of Alfred Poti- 
 quet was the first regularly published guide for the 
 amateur. Its first edition, the rarest of the items 
 in the collections of the philatelic bibliophiles, was 
 dated from Paris, 1862, but was actually issued at 
 the end of 1861. The author, who was an employe 
 of the French Ministry, essayed to present his cata- 
 logue in a geographical classification, but abandoned 
 it in favour of the alphabetical arrangement as " le 
 plus commode." His descriptions, though in many 
 cases now known to be inaccurate, were for the most 
 part very minute, and he notes variations in shade, 
 the method of production {lithographies^ gravis en 
 tailk'douce^ typographies and, more remarkable still, 
 
 7 
 
126 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 he states when the specimens are perforated 
 (^piques). 
 
 The catalogue of Francois Valette — " P^re Valette," 
 as the juniors of the time used to call him — is the 
 most remarkable of all the early works of this kind. 
 It was more ambitious in its scientific treatment of 
 the subject. Valette, already an elderly man in 
 1862, was "un drudit, un demi-savant," perhaps even 
 a " savant tout entier." He was a contributor to the 
 journal La Science and acting-proprietor of the Bazar 
 Parizer. His list was arranged on a synoptic basis, 
 and his introductory essays are the most ambi- 
 tious of any of the philatelic writings of 1862, the 
 chapter on frauds and counterfeits providing a most 
 conclusive indication of the extent to which stamp 
 collecting was rapidly becoming a popular cult 
 "Old stamps having become rare, there are those 
 who have sought methods of counterfeiting them." 
 Valette's " tableaux synoptiques " are typical of the 
 remarkable character of this work, and may be 
 briefly summarised here as representing three styles 
 of classification: (i) Genealogical; (2) heraldic; 
 (3) systematic, the latter being a scheme for arrang- 
 ing the stamps according to their colours for com- 
 parison. 
 
 It was in Paris that the serious collectors first 
 began to systematically note the watermarks and 
 to measure the perforations. The collectors there 
 were divided into two camps over the designation 
 of the new study. Dr. Legrand, a veteran collector 
 happily still with us, and still having a warm regard 
 for the objects of his early studies, led the group who 
 
EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY 127 
 
 preferred the style of " timbrophile," while M. G. 
 Herpin produced by a combination of the Greek 
 words (piXog (" philos " = fond of), arEXna (" ateleia " 
 = exemption from tax) the word Philatele, which 
 was accepted by many as indicating their interest in 
 the little labels which denoted that the tax or postage 
 had been paid. For a long time there was war 
 between the rival camps, and to this day while 
 Philately (ugly word as it is) is generally accepted 
 in English-speaking countries and in many other 
 places, Timbrologie is still preferred by many of the 
 French collectors, and is used in the title of the chief 
 Parisian institution, the Soci^t6 Fran^aise de Tim- 
 brologie. 
 
 Although several of the English dealers claim to 
 have been engaged in the business prior to 1862, the 
 study of stamps has been reduced to so exact a 
 science that students are sceptical of mere reminis- 
 cence and require documental evidence to support 
 claims of this kind. These should be forthcoming 
 in advertisements in periodicals of the time, most of 
 which have been thoroughly searched by the his- 
 torian, and in early dated lists. In the order of 
 their first known appearances in print as dealers Mr. 
 P. J. Anderson, of the Aberdeen University Library, 
 records from The Boys' Own Magazine^ 1862, Mount 
 Brown, J. J. Woods, Henry R. Victor, of Belfast, H. 
 Stafford Smith, of Bath (September, 1862, founder of 
 Stafford Smith and Smith, now Alfred Smith & Son), 
 Edward L. Pemberton (October), and " Wm. Lincoln, 
 jr., at W. S. Lincoln & Sons" (December, 1862). Of 
 these the veteran Mr. Lincoln is still engaged in the 
 
128 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 business of stamp-dealing, as also are a son of 
 Alfred Smith and a son of Edward L. Pemberton. 
 
 In 1862 the special periodical literature of the new 
 cult began with The Monthly Advertiser (December 
 15th), though The Monthly Intelligencer and Contro- 
 versialist^ published a few months earlier (September), 
 had been chiefly, but not wholly, devoted to stamp- 
 collecting. In 1863 The Stamp Collector's Magazine 
 was founded, and this publication achieved a splendid 
 record during the twelve years of its existence and 
 laid the basis of much of what is accurate and pre- 
 cise in our knowledge of the early issues of stamps. 
 Le Timbre' Poste^ of Brussels (i 863-1 900), shared 
 with its British contemporary a high place in the 
 records of the period and enjoyed a much longer life 
 of thirty-eight years, the publication having only 
 ceased upon the retirement of its founder, M. J. B. 
 Moens. The beginning having been made, it must 
 soon have become apparent that there was something 
 in stamp-collecting which called for an extensive 
 periodical literature ; the output practically ever since 
 has been extremely prolific. These and almost 
 countless monographs have swelled the libraries of 
 the philatelic bibliophiles to an extent which must 
 impress, if not necessarily convince, the unbeliever in 
 the fact of there being some real basis of interest and 
 value to not merely stimulate the cacoethes scribendiy 
 but also to justify so vast a number of printers' bills. 
 
 The albums of Justin Lallier date back to 1862, 
 and the name is one with which to conjure in these 
 days. To describe an old collection for sale as in a 
 "Lallier" so piques the curiosity of many buyers 
 
EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY 129 
 
 that I wot there are many such old collections made 
 up in these days upon the basis of an old discarded 
 album of the 'sixties or 'seventies, and offered as 
 tempting baits at the auctions. Lallier is said to 
 have been no philatelist, and probably that is correct 
 enough, for those early albums had their spaces 
 so arranged that the collectors of long ago were 
 led to trim their fine " octagonals " to shape, and to 
 otherwise vandalise choice items by removing in- 
 tegral portions of them to beautify the purely com- 
 mercially issued works which were intended to be 
 "elegant appendages to the drawing-room table," 
 a character which, if it did not imply deep study, 
 certainly gave the stamp album of those days a 
 place second only in veneration and respect to the 
 Family Bible. 
 
 Arising out of the gatherings at Mr. Stainforth's 
 rectory there grew up in 1869 the Philatelic Society 
 of London, which started its auspicious career under 
 the presidency of Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., and has a 
 roll of Presidents and Vice-Presidents more distin- 
 guished than almost any other learned society can 
 claim. It may fittingly close my third chapter if 
 I give an outline of this notable succession, adding 
 only that in November, 1906, His Majesty King 
 Edward VII. graciously allowed the Society the 
 style and dignity of the prefix "Royal," and that 
 throughout its long career of usefulness the work 
 of the Society has been strengthened by numerous 
 other bodies of enthusiasts who have formed societies 
 in the metropolis, in the provinces and abroad, ex- 
 tending the popularity of the stamp collector's hobby 
 
130 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 in every country which has seen the dawn of civilisa- 
 tion, and moreover creating a bond of universal 
 brotherhood which makes Philately a world-wide 
 Freemasonry, and an " open sesame " to the fellow- 
 ship and hospitality of collectors everywhere. 
 
ROLL OF PRESIDENTS AND VICE-PRESI- 
 DENTS OF THE ROYAL PHILATELIC 
 SOCIETY, LONDON. 
 
 Presidents. 
 
 Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart, F.R.G.S., April lo, 1869. 
 
 His Honour Judge F. A. Philbrick, K.C. (elected 
 when Mr. Philbrick), July 20, 1878. 
 
 H.R.H. the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, K.G. 
 (Hon. President), (elected when Duke of Edinburgh), 
 December 19, 1890. 
 
 The Earl of Kingston, May 20, 1892. 
 
 His Majesty King George V. (elected when Duke 
 of York), May 29, 1896. 
 
 The Earl of Crawford, K.T., June 16, 1910. 
 
 Vice-Presidents. 
 
 His Honour Judge F. A. Philbrick, K.C. (elected 
 when Mr. Philbrick), April 10, 1869. 
 
 V. G. de Ysasi, Esq., May 20, 1880. 
 
 T. K. Tapling, Esq., M.P., November 5, 1881. 
 
 M. P. Castle, Esq., J.P., May 29, 1891. 
 
 His Majesty King George V. (Hon. Vice-President), 
 (elected when Duke of York), March 10, 1893. 
 
 The Earl of Crawford, K.T., June 13, 1902. 
 
 M. P. Castle, Esq., J. P. (Hon. Vice-President, June 
 13, 1902), June 16, 1910. 
 
 m 
 
IV 
 
 ON 
 
 FORMING A 
 COLLECTION 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ON FORMING A COLLECTION 
 
 The cost of packet collections— The beginner's album— Acces- 
 sories — Preparation of stamps for mounting — The requirements 
 of " condition "—The use of the stamp-hinge— A suggestion for 
 the ideal mount — A handy gauge for use in arranging stamps — 
 **Writing-up." 
 
 It may be reasonable to judge a philatelist by the 
 stamps he has, rather than by the way in which 
 he puts them together in his collection. Yet none 
 can have justice in the process unless he has given 
 due attention to order and method. Postage-stamps, 
 more perhaps than any other objets de collectionner^ 
 are well suited to neat, orderly arrangement and 
 effective display, with a minimum of house-room. 
 This very suitability and convenience make some 
 collectors careless of the arrangement of their speci- 
 mens, especially the commoner issues, but I would 
 have everyone treat stamps rare or common with 
 the same tenderness, and with a keen eye to the 
 beauty of their arrangement. A rare stamp in itself 
 has little significance ; it requires to be allocated 
 to its fitting place in the mosaic of stamp-issues 
 comprising a collection, and there can be no beauty 
 
 185 
 
136 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 in a few rare stamps if there has been no proper 
 care exercised in the selection and arrangement of 
 the accompanying issues which go to complete the 
 picture. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary for me to more than 
 briefly discuss the methods of starting to collect 
 stamps, but it may serve some useful purpose to 
 indicate a sound method of establishing a good start. 
 The prime necessity to the collector is stamps — if he 
 be an enthusiast he can never have too many. But 
 at the outset, if he have none, the best start is in one 
 of the numerous packet collections, the stamps in 
 which are all different. These are sold by all 
 dealers, and a fair price for such packets is indicated 
 in the following scale: — | 
 
 per packet*; 
 
 500 varieties from 
 
 3s. 
 
 6d. 
 
 to 
 
 4s. pe 
 
 1,000 „ 
 
 
 1 2s. 
 
 
 to 
 
 15s. 
 
 1,500 
 
 
 30s. 
 
 
 to 
 
 35s. 
 
 2,000 „ 
 
 
 4SS. 
 
 
 to 
 
 £^ 
 
 3.000 „ 
 
 
 ;^8 
 
 
 to 
 
 £S los. 
 
 4.000 „ 
 
 
 ;^I3 
 
 lOS. 
 
 to 
 
 £h 
 
 Such packets contain the commoner stamps, as a 
 matter of course, but they are a necessity to the 
 general collection, which is made up of all grades 
 of common to rare specimens. 
 
 The album for the beginner should be a small 
 inexpensive one, the importance of keeping the small 
 collection compact being that it is more readily com- 
 prehensible than if scattered meagrely through a 
 wilderness of blank, or nearly blank, pages. If 
 the stamps are carefully arranged in a small album. 
 
ON FORMING A COLLECTION 137 
 
 a rare delight will be found later on, when the col- 
 lection is bulging the first album covers, in transfer- 
 ring it to a more commodious home. But at the 
 outset too many beginners waste their substance 
 in an elaborate album instead of on the all-important 
 stamps. They buy cumbersome volumes in which 
 the collection in embryo is lost. They should realise 
 from the start that the purpose of the album is to 
 assist in the formation of the collection, by keeping 
 the stamps easy of access for reference and study. 
 
 A supply of stamp-hinges or " mounts " should be 
 acquired at the outset (their use is explained here- 
 after), and a pair of tweezers — the kinds sold by 
 stamp-dealers are the most suitable — the points of 
 which should not be too sharp or pointed, lest they 
 penetrate into the delicate substance of a stamp. 
 The collector should cultivate the habit of holding 
 stamps always by means of the tweezers. 
 
 A good catalogue arranged on a chronological 
 basis is indispensable ; the beginner will find the 
 illustrations in it of great assistance in allocating his 
 specimens to their proper places in the album. 
 
 So much for the primary needs of the beginner. 
 The general collector, who is advancing towards the 
 large collection, will probably use one of the large 
 printed and spaced-out albums provided for his 
 needs by the enterprise of philatelic publishers. He 
 has his work made easy for him, so far as the 
 identification of specimens is concerned, and the 
 allocation and symmetrical distribution of them 
 upon the pages. Being saved all this, and nearly 
 all necessity for individual annotation, he should 
 
138 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 give his best attention to the excellence of condition 
 in his stamps and the perfection of mounting. 
 
 The stamps should be clean before they are 
 mounted, that is to say, they should have any 
 superfluous envelope-paper removed by careful float- 
 ing on warm water, or by moistening between damp 
 sheets of clean white blotting-paper. If there be 
 any extraneous marking or blemish, it may be re- 
 moved if it admits of removal without damage to 
 the specimen. The result of atmospheric action on 
 some colours (such as vermilion and ultramarine), 
 which will frequently be found to have turned a red 
 or blue stamp into one that appears to be black, 
 or at any rate black in parts, is removed by treat- 
 ment with peroxide of hydrogen applied with a 
 camel's-hair brush to the parts which have been 
 affected by the action of the atmosphere. The pro- 
 cess is erroneously called " de-oxidising " by many 
 philatelists ; it is really de-sulphurisation. 
 
 In the case of very stubborn specimens with this 
 defect, they may be steeped in the peroxide and 
 allowed to soak, but should not be left longer than 
 is necessary to restore the original fresh colour. 
 
 A crease in an unused stamp may, if it has not 
 cracked the paper, be removed by following the 
 crease on the back of the stamp with a fine camel's- 
 hair brush dipped in water. The slight soaking 
 swells the gum and enables one to gently press 
 the paper into its normal position. Pressure in the 
 case of a big crease is best applied by ironing, the 
 stamp being protected between glazed cards. Where 
 the gum is untidy on the back of an unused stamp 
 
ON FORMING A COLLECTION 139 
 
 it will sometimes be useful to lay it, after cleaning, 
 upon the surface of smooth glass or the glazing- 
 sheets used for glossy prints by photographers, which 
 will preserve what remains of the original gum, and 
 impart a gloss which compensates for a partial loss 
 of gum. 
 
 To preserve the tidy appearance of a collection in 
 a printed album one must sacrifice those portions of 
 the margins adjoining stamps from the outer edges 
 of the printed sheets. In most cases it serves no 
 purpose to retain them, and they interfere with the 
 symmetry of the pages. The collector, too, must use 
 his judgment as to the desirability of trimming away 
 unnecessary ragged protrusions of the perforation. 
 
 For all cleaning purposes benzine is an excellent 
 medium, as its rapid evaporation is a convenience, 
 and it does not injure the stamp. Most used stamps 
 may be soaked in benzine and be much improved 
 by the bath ; but where the colours of the stamp are 
 such that immersion in liquid is unsafe, treatment 
 may be applied to the edges or to the back as 
 required by means of the camel's-hair brush. 
 
 The whole purpose of this care with individual 
 stamps is to preserve the specimens and to impart 
 a composite beauty of condition to the whole, without 
 which no collection can be pleasing to its owner or to 
 any one else. Every unused stamp should be spotless 
 so far as extraneous blemishes are concerned; the 
 colour should be fresh as when it came from the 
 printers' workshops; the perforations of each stamp 
 should be complete, and should have been neatly 
 severed, and the gum on the back, unless it is so 
 
140 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 thick and crackly that it is a danger to the stamps, 
 should be preserved intact. 
 
 A used stamp should be selected for its lightness 
 of postmark, though there are often times when a 
 more heavily postmarked copy showing the date of 
 use will be valuable evidence in the pursuit of his- 
 torical researches. The colour of the used stamp 
 should not be less good than that of an unused one, 
 and the perforations should be all there. 
 
 In the case of imperforate stamps it is desirable 
 always to have as large margins round the printed 
 impression as possible ; while in all perforated stamps 
 one should endeavour to secure well-centred copies — 
 that is to say, copies in which the printed impression 
 falls evenly between the perforations on all four sides. 
 
 These are the chief desiderata for the general 
 collector. They read rather portentously; but the 
 cult of condition comes by practice to all who have 
 the true love of stamps, for if stamps are worth 
 collecting at all they are worthy of our best en- 
 deavours to keep them in the pink of condition. 
 " It is part of the decency of scholars," says Richard 
 de Bury, " that whenever they return from meals to 
 their study, washing should invariably precede read- 
 ing, and that no grease-stained finger should unfasten 
 the clasps or turn the leaves of a book " ; it should 
 be no less a part oC-the decency of the philatelist, 
 and in the case of his treasures the true lover of 
 stamps will not neglect the merest trifles which will 
 perpetuate the perfect preservation of his specimens. 
 
 The use of the stamp-hinge or mount is simple, 
 and, with proper care, perfectly effective. It is a 
 
ON FORMING A COLLECTION 141 
 
 small strip of paper gummed on the one side for 
 folding in the form of a hinge, the gummed surface 
 being on the outside of the hinge when folded. One 
 arm of the hinge is lightly affixed to the top back, or 
 right side of the back of the stamp, the other portion 
 being fixed to the album. The slightest touch of 
 moisture is sufficient for the purpose. The best 
 hinges are stamped with a die out of a kind of 
 onion-skin paper, are semi-transparent, and evenly 
 coated on the one side with a colourless mucilage. 
 In folding for use, the hinge should be formed of a 
 long arm for the album — say, two-thirds of the hinge 
 — and a short one — one-third — for the stamp. The 
 short arm should be applied quite close to the top 
 or side (top mounting is the more general), so that 
 in turning up a stamp for examination there is no 
 creasing of the upper part of the stamp. The pro- 
 cess should be manipulated with the tweezers, so 
 that the stamp is never fingered, and in smoothing 
 down the page of mounted stamps a clean blotter 
 should be used. 
 
 There can be no doubt that repeatedly mounting a 
 stamp, even if carefully done by a practised hand, 
 has a cumulative detrimental effect on the specimens. 
 The temptation to use the convenient digit is present 
 on every occasion, and even the cleanest finger must 
 make some — perhaps infinitesimal — mark on the 
 face ; multiply this by, say, seven times, and the 
 stamp, from being " mint," becomes merely " un- 
 used," and so on until after the proverbial seventy 
 times seven the stamp would come within the cate- 
 gory of "soiled." So, too, with each successive 
 
 8 
 
142 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 remounting, unless the first mount be preserved 
 intact (as is possible with good " peelable " mounts 
 handled with care), through a succession of removals 
 of the stamp there is a loss of the gum which is part 
 of the stamp, and in the various stages this becomes 
 a skinned, or " thinned," copy. 
 
 A stamp is a tender, delicate thing — especially if 
 "chalky" — and should be handled as little as pos- 
 sible, whether common, scarce, or rare ; in fact, the 
 old Latin proverb, Maxima debetur pueris reverentia, 
 might well be parodied, if one knew the Latin for 
 stamps. Care, coolness (physical), and cleanliness 
 are necessary attributes of the ideal collector, and 
 even he would do well to use tweezers instead of 
 fingers ; but if he must use a finger, let him interpose 
 a piece of tissue or blotting paper between it and the 
 stamp. 
 
 The best peelable mounts are good ; but the ideal 
 mount which, once affixed to the back of the stamp, 
 need never be removed therefrom has yet to be 
 manufactured. I will hand on a suggestion for the 
 ideal mount, a little troublesome to adopt in the first 
 instance, but which well repays a little extra initial 
 trouble in the preservation of the stamps, and which 
 even saves trouble in the event of " removals." 
 
 Imagine a mount, of standard size, and of very 
 thin tough paper, manufactured from linen rags to 
 give it a long fibre, to be sold ready folded, but 
 gummed only on the upper part above the fold ; 
 this is fixed in the usual way to the stamp. 
 
 Accompanying each mount are several narrow 
 (say, \ in.) slips of similar paper, gummed at 
 
ON FORMING A COLLECTION 143 
 
 the extreme ends, and as long as the mount is 
 wide. 
 
 Cut into the mount are two vertical slits — thin 
 pieces punched out, not mere cuts — immediately 
 below the fold, one about -^ in. from each edge of 
 the mount. Insert one of the narrow slips, so that 
 the two gummed ends are at the back of, but away 
 from, the mount ; slightly moisten each of these 
 gummed tips — instead of, as usual, the back of the 
 mount — and fasten the stamp on the page of the 
 album as if the hinge were of the ordinary make ; 
 the stamp will be fixed just as firmly as if the 
 mount were fastened to the page by a square inch 
 of gummed back. 
 
 When it is desired to move the stamp, a snip with 
 a pair of small scissors will sever the narrow slip 
 where it crossed the upper side of the mount, which 
 will then pull off from the two pieces. To remount 
 use a fresh narrow slip. 
 
 It sounds tedious, and the original mounting may 
 take longer than usual, but a removal takes con- 
 siderably less time than the ordinary remounting if 
 the hinge has stuck firmly, and there is in any case 
 absolutely no wear and tear of the stamp, risk of 
 " skinning," " cockling " from moisture, or possible 
 loss of gum. In fact, a permanent mount, secured 
 by a movable slip, which can be renewed. 
 
 This ideal mount answers wonderfully well, and 
 should be tried by all who care for their stamps, and 
 the slight extra cost and trouble should be more than 
 repaid by the preservation of the stamp, even if the 
 commonest " continental " ever printed : ii may, 
 
144 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 though it is no reason for treating it properly, some 
 day be rare. 
 
 In mounting on blank pages some kind of gauge is 
 necessary, and I offer this one as a very serviceable 
 assistance to the specialist mounting stamps on either 
 blank or quadrille leaves or cards. 
 
 The gauge should be in the form of a letter H, 
 the centre-bar being equal in length to the width of 
 the space available for mounting stamps, and the 
 uprights about the same height as the full page. 
 
 Suppose the available stamp space, after allowing 
 for leaf-margins and linen hinge, is 9J in. high by 
 7 in. wide, then the gauge would be thus, cut out 
 of fairly stout white cardboard with a sharp knife : — 
 
 ,7m., 
 
 The long sides being placed and kept parallel with 
 the sides of the ornamental border on the leaf are 
 obviously to enable the centre - bar to be kept 
 
ON FORMING A COLLECTION 145 
 
 perfectly horizontal, whether at the top or bottom 
 of the page. 
 
 In the measurements about to be given " c " stands 
 for centre, when the number of stamps in a row is 
 odd ; and the figures represent inches, to be measured 
 from the centre of the page when the number of 
 stamps is even, or from " c ", as the case may be. 
 
 One of two methods can be adopted — mark the 
 lower edge of the centre-bar in thirty-seconds of an 
 inch, starting from the centre and working in each 
 direction horizontally ; or use a separate gauge for 
 differently sized {viz.^ in width) stamps, in which case 
 mark the gauge to show the position of the centre 
 of the middle stamp (if an odd number), and of the 
 inner corner of any other stamps to be placed equi- 
 distant from the centre. The former is the prefer- 
 able course ; and the following scale will, it is hoped, 
 be useful, premising that it is unnecessary to give 
 measurements when there are only two or three 
 stamps in a row. 
 
 Width of 
 
 No. in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 stamp. 
 
 row. 
 
 
 Centre 
 
 
 
 li" 
 
 4 
 
 ij 
 
 \ 
 
 . 
 
 \ 
 
 li 
 
 ItV 
 
 4 
 
 iH 
 
 \ 
 
 . 
 
 i 
 
 HI 
 
 If" 
 
 4 
 
 iH 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 
 IT^" 
 
 4 
 
 1* 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 
 
 ^ 
 
 li 
 
 ir 
 
 4 
 
 iH 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 
 
 ^ 
 
 iH 
 
 
 5 
 
 2i 
 
 1 
 
 c 
 
 i 
 
 2h 
 
 lA" 
 
 4 
 
 If 
 
 A 
 
 . 
 
 ^ 
 
 If 
 
 
 5 
 
 2^V 
 
 tl 
 
 c 
 
 II 
 
 2^ 
 
 ir 
 
 4 
 
 I* 
 
 i 
 
 , 
 
 i 
 
 li 
 
 
 5 
 
 m 
 
 H 
 
 c 
 
 H 
 
 iK 
 
 ItV 
 
 4 
 
 III 
 
 I 
 
 . 
 
 i 
 
 Ifl 
 
 
 5 
 
 2^V 
 
 #1 
 
 c 
 
 U 
 
 2A 
 
 I" 
 
 4 
 
 If 
 
 i: 
 
 . 
 
 i 
 
 If 
 
146 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Width of No. in 
 stamp. row. Centre. 
 
 5 2 I C I 2 
 
 5 Iff M c fl Iff - 
 
 r 4 I| i . i If 
 
 5 iH H c H iH 
 
 1«M 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 t? 4 
 
 '/ 
 
 6 2/^ l/^ ,V . A IH 2^ 
 
 7 2t\ I^ ^ C ^ I^ 2A 
 
 4 i^ i ■ J ItV 
 
 5 Iff fi c fl iM 
 
 6 27»T I^V A • /^ I^V 2^ 
 
 7 2if lif ^ C iJ IM 2^1 
 
 4 li i . i i^ 
 
 2t If f C f If 2| 
 
 2*1^1. i Ij 2j 
 
 2i li 4 C i If 2i 
 
 2ii IH II T^ • ^ H IH 2^ 
 
 lA i • J itV 
 
 6 2^ li t'? . 1^ li 2t^ 
 
 7 2^4 IH if C if lil 2M 
 
 8 2j iH ^ ^ . tV ^ iH 2j 
 
 4 If J . i i| 
 
 5 lii H c H lii 
 
 6 2t^ It^ ^ . T^ ItV 2tV 
 
 7 2^ IT^^ A C t\ It^ 2^^ 
 2| I| I i . i I I| 2| 
 2ii IM lA tV C t2^ Ij% III 2H 
 
 I^ i . i IVV 
 
 TT 4 *TS 
 
 5 Iff f^ c H Iff 
 
 6 2tV li -a . tV iJ 2tV 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 4 ^ , , , 
 
 5 li t c t li 
 lyf lya T5 • T^ Itf IT6 
 
 7 2§ li f C f Ij 2§ 
 
 8 2| If f i . * ^ If 2i 
 
 9 2| 2 li i C 4 Ij 2 2| 
 
 10 2|| 2/t Iff ft /^ . sV ff Iff 2^^ 2^1 
 
 2tV ii ts ' tV iJ 2tV 
 
 2^ Iff fl C ^^ IH 2/7 
 
 2^ li If * . i If If 2^ 
 
 2M Iff IfV ff C if lA I|i 2fl 
 
 Ij J . i li 
 
ON FORMING A COLLECTION 147 
 
 With a gauge and scale as above suggested, it is 
 extremely easy to quickly mark out a page with 
 pencilled dots, so soon as it is decided how many 
 stamps are to go in each row — experto crede. 
 
 Of course, allowance must be made if the stamps 
 of a set are of uneven size, but there is no difficulty 
 if a little patience be exercised. 
 
 I have arranged many pages of stamps by the aid 
 of a home-made scale on this and similar plans, and 
 have experienced no trouble in allowing for the 
 occasional inclusion of pairs and short strips — a little 
 mental calculation, and a side movement of the 
 gauge to the extent of the width of one stamp will 
 compensate for, say, a pair instead of a single ; and 
 so on. 
 
 The specialist can rarely have the advantage of a 
 prepared printed album, as his possessions include 
 pairs, blocks, marginal pieces, original covers, and 
 evidential items of a variety of shapes. He works 
 therefore on albums that have blank pages, generally 
 enclosed within a form of semi-binding which allows 
 the interchanging of the leaves. Spring-back covers 
 are now much used, though there are excellent peg 
 and clutch attachments in the British-made albums 
 of the specialist class. The leaves are either quite 
 plain or with a faint quadrille ground which is an aid 
 to symmetrical arrangement. 
 
 The early stamp collectors used to elaborate their 
 albums with gay colourings ; some, following the early 
 artistry of Mr. Booty in the preface to his " Aids to 
 Stamp Collectors" (1862), mounted their stamps on 
 squares of coloured paper, and emblazoned the 
 
148 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 country's arms and painted its flags upon the pages 
 of their albums. The stamps, being of small size, 
 suffered in the contrast with these gaudy trappings, 
 and in the latter-day philately such contrivances are 
 left to the nouveau riche^ who will embellish each of 
 his pages with his name, titles, address, coat of 
 arms, and would add his portrait were album-pages 
 not made so ridiculously small for such big men. 
 To-day all extravagant flourishes and gay trimmings 
 are a vulgarity ; simple elegance and nice judg- 
 ment in the arrangement make for beauty in our 
 albums. 
 
 At the same time we must recognise for the 
 specialist two schools of collecting ; one is concerned 
 with the collecting of purely philatelic items, the 
 other devotes itself to the formation of an historical 
 as well as philatelic collection. The former does 
 not require much writing-up on the pages. The 
 latter advocates a good deal of it, and it is this form 
 of collecting — the highest exponent of which is the 
 Earl of Crawford — that allows of the most free scope 
 for the individuality of the collector. It is in the 
 collection which aims at a complete history of the 
 stamps of a country, with all the associated circum- 
 stances leading up to their issuance and connected 
 with their use, that the highest summit of philatelic 
 pleasure and culture is attained. 
 
 In writing-up, there are several details about a 
 stamp, some patent and some latent. To complete 
 the history of a particular stamp, every collector 
 ought to know and to inscribe in the proper place in 
 the album these points, so far as the information can 
 
ON FORMING A COLLECTION 149 
 
 be obtained from reliable sources, and so far as it 
 may be applicable : — 
 
 Date of issue. 
 
 Artist. 
 
 Engraver. 
 
 Printers. 
 
 Mode of production. 
 
 Paper, including watermark. 
 
 Perforation. 
 
 Date of supers 
 
 In a more elaborate form the writing-up will 
 develop into a full manuscript history — not too 
 diffuse — of the postal issues of a country. The record 
 of each stamp or issue will extend over several pages, 
 interspersed with the collector's specimens, proofs, 
 &c., appropriately inserted at points where they will 
 be explanatory to the text and make a valuable, 
 readable, and individualistic volume. To indicate 
 succinctly the range of the more comprehensive 
 writing-up, it would be the student's endeavour to 
 show and explain the circumstances leading up to 
 the necessity for the stamp ; its creation by act, 
 decree, or order; advertisements or requests for 
 designs, tenders for manufacture, &c., with results ; a 
 note as to some of the principal essays ; the chosen 
 design, with name of artist and source of his inspira- 
 tion ; the engraver ; the maker of the plate and the 
 process of printing adopted ; the number of stamps 
 on the plate and their arrangement and marginal 
 inscriptions ; the varieties (if any) on the plate ; 
 how such varieties arose and how frequently they 
 occurred ; the paper used — mill-sheet, printing- sheet 
 
 /- 
 
150 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 and post-office sheet — and its watermarking ; the 
 printers ; the colour, gum, and perforation of the 
 stamps ; the quantities printed ; the notices to the 
 Post Office and the public of the impending issue ; 
 the date of issue; the duration of use; the with- 
 drawal, supersession, or demonetisation ; the 
 quantity of remainders (if any), and what became 
 of them. 
 
THE 
 
 SCOPE OF 
 A MODERN 
 COLLECTION 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 
 
 The historical collection : literary and philatelic — The quest for rariora 
 — The **grangerising" of philatelic monographs: its advantages 
 and possibilities — Historic documents — Proposals and essays — 
 Original drawings — Sources of stamp engravings — Proofs and 
 trials — Comparative rarity of some stamps in pairs, &c., or on 
 original envelopes — Coloured postmarks — Portraits, maps, and 
 contemporary records — A lost opportunity. 
 
 The scope of the modern collector extends beyond 
 the collection of actually issued stamps. He uses 
 the stamps as a starting-point, but in the historical 
 collection he works — as it is said the writers of 
 detective stories used to do — backwards. He traces 
 to its earliest inception the service which ultimately 
 gave us the postage stamp. The collection is 
 literary as well as philatelic : stamps are preceded 
 by documents, prints and postal records of all kinds. 
 The essays, as we term the suggestions for stamp 
 designs submitted by artists, inventors or printers 
 to a Government or other issuing authority, are of 
 a high degree of interest and should be included in 
 the historical collection, which will also show, where 
 possible, the engraver's proofs taken in the course of 
 
 163 
 
154 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 his work, the finished die-proofs in black, plate-proofs 
 in black and in colours, and the stamps, generally of 
 the first printing, which are overprinted with the 
 word " Specimen," or its equivalent in other lan- 
 guages, and are sent out to show postal ofificers what 
 the newly-authorised stamps are like. 
 
 It is in this broad field that the collector in these 
 days gets the most enjoyment ; here he may heighten 
 the pleasures of the hunt for philatelic and associated 
 rariora. So many wonderful tales have been told of 
 the fabulous fortunes acquired in the finding of a 
 few old letters bearing stamps, that many a deal is 
 frustrated by the uninitiated owner having too 
 fanciful an idea of the value of his goods. It is rare 
 in these days for such an incident to happen as I 
 witnessed about twelve years ago. A gentleman, who 
 had been turning out some old papers, came across an 
 unsevered block of eight five-shilling British stamps 
 which had been sent to his father, presumably as a 
 remittance, somewhere in the early 'eighties. Here 
 was £2 lying idle for years, but having luckily 
 noticed them in clearing out these old papers, the 
 gentleman thought he would see if they were still 
 exchangeable at a post-ofBce. At the first post- 
 office he visited, he was told that the stamps were of 
 an old issue, and that to get them converted into 
 cash he would have to take them to Somerset House. 
 On his way thither he noticed a stamp-dealer's show 
 case, and apparently the possible interest of his 
 specimens in the stamp-market then first occurred to 
 him. He called in, and simply asked if the dealer 
 would give him the £2^ to save him the trouble of 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 155 
 
 going on to Somerset House. The dealer, who had 
 probably never seen an unsevered block of eight of 
 the five-shillings "anchor" of 1882, obliged him 
 readily, which he could well afford to do, as he 
 passed on the stamps the same week to a collector 
 for £7^, 
 
 These things do happen, but in the " legitimate " 
 stamp-collecting they are necessarily of rarer occur- 
 rence in these days of popular newspapers, over- 
 educating in certain directions, or at least pander- 
 ing to the common desire for a royal road to easy 
 wealth. Many dealers have told me that it is their 
 experience that, if they make a fair offer for valuable 
 stamps submitted to them by the uninitiated, they 
 never succeed in effecting a purchase at all in these 
 days. The hawker of "finds" visits the stamp- 
 shops to get an idea of the value of his wares, and 
 plays off one dealer against another, with the result 
 that it is necessary for the seller nowadays to state 
 his price in the first instance. 
 
 The modern collection is specialised, that is to 
 say, it deals with the postal history of a country or 
 group of countries, instead of being a mere accumu- 
 lation of specimens of the postage-stamps of the 
 world. The advanced collector's albums of to-day 
 are like the "association books" of the autograph 
 collector, and indeed there have been many successes 
 in " grangerising " the more important specialist 
 monographs on stamps. One of the most interesting 
 of these latter was the late Mr. Thomas Peacock's 
 copy of " The Postage and Telegraph Stamps of 
 Great Britain," written by the late Mr. (afterwards 
 
156 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Judge) Philbrick and the late Mr. W. A. S. Westoby, 
 and published by the Philatelic Society, London, in 
 1 88 1. This book was sold by auction after Mr. 
 Peacock's death, and realised only ;^I9, its treasures 
 not having been generally noticed before the sale ; 
 and it had been denuded of some of its wealth before 
 I saw it, an act for which it is not easy to forgive 
 the man of commerce. Peacock, as Inspector of 
 Stamping at Somerset House (1853-93), had had 
 intimate associations with the Hill family (of 
 whom several members got comfortable positions 
 in the Government service), and his connection with 
 the mechanical side of the production of stamps 
 enabled him to enrich his " Philbrick and Westoby " 
 with copious notes, photographs, proofs, and stamps. 
 Major Evans published most of the notes in Gibbons 
 Stamp Weekly^ and I had the privilege of adding the 
 notes and some photographs from the original to 
 my own copy of this book. 
 
 The collector "grangerising" a book on the British 
 stamps to-day would, of course, work on the later 
 authority, " The Adhesive Stamps of the British 
 Isles," by the late Mr. Hastings E. Wright, and 
 Mr. A. B. Creeke, jun., or on the sectional works of 
 mine, of which Mr. W. H. Peckitt has issued large 
 paper sets with special bindings for that purpose. 
 
 Generally, however, it is the stamp collection 
 itself that is enriched by a variety of evidential 
 matter and extensive notes by the owner. I have 
 traced with fair success in my Great Britain collec- 
 tion the early history of the Post Office in this 
 country, and have been fortunate enough to secure 
 
THE SMALL " EXPP:RIMEXTAL" PLATE FROM WHICH IMPRESSIONS OF THE TWO 
 PENCE, GREAT BRITAIN, WERE MADE ON " DICKINSON " PAPER. 
 
 Only two rows of four stamps were impressed on each piece of the paper. 
 (C/. next plate.) 
 
 167 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 159 
 
 several of those rarce aves among historic documents, 
 the proclamations relating to the post. Lord 
 Crawford has the finest set of these in any private 
 collection, and he has given a list of them in the 
 catalogue of the philatelic section of the Bibliotheca 
 Lindesiana^ with details of the location of all known 
 copies. Acts of Parliament are not always con- 
 venient for inclusion with the stamp collection, but 
 those relating to the issuance of stamps should be 
 included where possible. The original of the " pre- 
 tended Act " of the Commonwealth, to which I have 
 already alluded, was a bookstall-bargain, costing 
 a few shillings. The Uniform Penny Postage Acts 
 of 1839 and 1840 should be included in the " associa- 
 tion collection " of the stamps of Great Britain. My 
 copy of the former is an original, but the 1840 one 
 is a reprint. The years 1837-39 are of great 
 importance in the history of postage-stamps ; this 
 was the first period of the essays and proposals for 
 the system, to the advocacy q% which Rowland Hill 
 devoted himself with such tenacity of purpose. The 
 published proposals, samples of the printed envelopes 
 and covers of which were included in the " Ninth 
 Report of the Commissioners appointed to Inquire 
 into the Management of the Post Office " (1837), and 
 in Mr. Ashurst's " Facts and Reasons in support of 
 Mr. Rowland Hill's Plan," are accessible to the 
 specialist, and are the natural priores of the Mulready 
 envelopes and covers. Not so accessible are the 
 proposals of Forrester, Cheverton, Dickinson, and the 
 minor lights who sought to provide the Treasury 
 with the key to success in the adoption of pre- 
 
 9 
 
160 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 payment. My " Forrester " is a perfect copy which 
 came from the sale of the Philbrick library, where it 
 had been overlooked and classed among some more 
 ponderous but less treasured productions. The 
 Cheverton papers and the metal dies intended for 
 striking the impressions of his proposed labels 
 remain in the possession of the inventor's relative, 
 Miss Eliza Cooper, though casts have been made of 
 the die for the collections of his Majesty the King, 
 Lord Crawford, the British Museum, and the Royal 
 Society. Mr. Lewis Evans, the grandson of the late 
 Mr. John Dickinson, the great paper manufacturer — 
 a contemporary of Fourdrinier and no mean rival 
 of that genius — has a family treasure-store in the 
 Dickinson correspondence with Rowland, Ormond, 
 and Edwin Hill, and Mr. Spring Rice, Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer ; and particularly in a fine series of the 
 patterns drawn up by Ormond Hill for the envelopes 
 printed on Dickinson " thread " paper. Samples of 
 the actual thread-papers (unprinted) as used for the 
 Mulready and the later embossed envelopes and for 
 the first Ten Pence and One Shilling embossed 
 stamps are surprisingly rare — indeed, the authors of 
 " Wright and Creeke " had only seen three-quarters 
 of a mill-sheet at the time of writing their book. 
 Mr. Lewis Evans has a number of the original 
 samples, and has been good enough to allow me to 
 prepare a complete transcript of the Dickinson papers, 
 so far as they relate to postal matters, and I have 
 included facsimt/es of Ormond Hill's pattern instruc- 
 tions for the paper for the Ten Pence and Shilling 
 adhesives in " Great Britain : Embossed Adhesive 
 
THE TWO PEXCE, GREAT BRITAIN, OX " DICKINSON " PAPER. 
 
 The upper block is in red (24 stamps printed in all, of which 
 nine copies are known) and the lower block in blue 
 (16 stamps printed, of which twelve copies are known). 
 The above blocks of six each are in the possession of 
 Mr. Lewis Evans ; the pairs cut from the left side of 
 each block were in the collection of the late Mrs. 
 John Evans. 
 
 161 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 163 
 
 Stamps." These are items which form part of the 
 life-history of the stamps or impressed stationery to 
 which they relate, and are properly included with the 
 stamp collection. But, 'except in the facsimile state, 
 it will be obvious that but few can enrich their 
 collections with items of so unique a character as 
 Ormond Hill's carefully measured and ruled patterns 
 and the autograph letters with instructions from 
 Rowland Hill. But it is open to each specialist to 
 introduce much individuality into a collection of 
 Great Britain, or some other country, on these and 
 similar lines. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the " find " of a 
 quantity of the suggestions submitted to the Treasury 
 in 1839 as a result of the offer of prize-money. 
 These, too, are within the scope of the stamp collec- 
 tion carried out on the thorough historical basis, but 
 then nearly every item being unique designs in pen 
 and ink, in crayon and watercolour, and with manu- 
 script matter, they are not to enrich more than one 
 collection at a time. Yet there may be others of a 
 different kind, each in itself unique, to be had at 
 some future timely frustration of a holocaust of waste- 
 paper. 
 
 The City Medal of William Wyon is closely 
 associated with the history of our stamps, and used 
 to be represented in my collection by a silver cliche^ 
 though it has now been replaced by the medal in 
 silver. The medal is accessible to the collector in 
 bronze, silver, or gold, but for most philatelic purposes 
 a clichi showing only the obverse with the Queen's 
 head is more convenient for mounting in the album, 
 

 '<r* 
 
 AUTOGRAPH LETTER FROM ROWLAND HILL TO JOHN DICKINSON, 
 THE PAPER-MAKER, ASKING FOR SIX OR EIGHT SHEETS OF 
 THE SILK-THREAD PAPER FOR TRIAL IMPRESSIONS OF THE 
 ADHESIVE STAMPS. 
 
 164 
 
y-^/ 
 
 
 
 CfVlK^ 
 
 r -J. 
 
 
 o 
 « 
 
 w 
 
 165 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 167 
 
 in a heavily sunk card, and protected with "glass" 
 paper. 
 
 Original drawings are in nearly every case unique 
 in themselves. Curiously enough, Mulready is sup- 
 posed to have made two, possibly three, original 
 sketches for his envelope, though even here each 
 must be regarded as dissimilar from the others. One 
 is a pencil design in outline, and is in the possession 
 of His Majesty the King ; the sketch was sold with 
 other drawings and sketches by Christie, Manson & 
 Woods on April 28, 1864, when it was stated by the 
 auctioneer that this was the only sketch of the design 
 made by the artist. It is practically the whole of the 
 design as printed, and shares the peculiarity of the 
 issued envelopes and covers that one of the flying 
 angels is drawn without a second leg. Another 
 sketch, according to Sir Henry Cole,^ had this 
 omission corrected before it was presented to Mr. 
 Thomas Baring, M.P. If Sir Henry Cole were not 
 mistaken, I must consider the sketch in the possession 
 of Miss Jafifray to be yet a third " original," as it is 
 lacking the winged four figures entirely. 
 
 Another pair of sketches of unequalled importance 
 is in the possession of His Majesty. These are the 
 two rough sketches in water-colours of the designs of 
 the first (1840) One Penny and Two Pence stamps, 
 submitted by Mr. Rowland Hill for approval of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer : across the head of the 
 one in black Rowland Hill has written " id." in 
 pencil, and similarly " 2d." across the one in blue. 
 
 Original drawings of issued stamps very rarely 
 » " Fifty Years of Public Life," p. 63. 
 
168 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 leave the Government or printer's establishments, but 
 in a few cases they have come on the market. A 
 few years ago, in a large collection of colour-proofs of 
 stamps printed by De La Rue, I saw the original 
 drawing for the 1881 stamps of Cyprus, a unique 
 item which went to embellish the specialised collec- 
 tion of the stamps of that colony formed by 
 Mr. J. C. North, of Huddersfield. Shortly afterwards 
 I myself secured two original colour drawings for the 
 1897 issue of British Central Africa.^ I found them 
 in the Strand, where, strange to say, many of these 
 out-of-the-way items are often moderately priced, 
 quite out of proportion to their interest and relative 
 scarcity, for it is only in comparatively recent times 
 that specialism has admitted these historic side- 
 issues into the stamp album. Mr. Charles J. Phillips, 
 one of those rare combinations of student and dealer, 
 has permitted me to reproduce an original sketch of 
 the canoe type of Fiji, from the fine collection of this 
 colony formed by him.^ The drawing was by Mr. 
 Leslie J. Walker, Postmaster of Suva, and represents 
 " a young colony (the canoe forging ahead towards the 
 rising sun shows the progress of the colony) ; the crown 
 is retained, indicating that it is a colony of England." 
 Other sources of stamp-engravings are of interest, 
 and some are not difficult of access. A familiar one 
 is the source of the picture on the "Omaha" $1 
 stamp which the United States Post Office literally 
 " cribbed " from the etching published by Dunthorne, 
 
 * Illustrated in ** British Central Africa and Nyasaland Protectorate," 
 by Fred J. Melville, 1909. 
 
 » See further in "The Postage Stamps of the Fiji Islands," by 
 Charles J. Phillips, 1908. 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 169 
 
 of Vigo Street, of the late Mr. MacWhirter's painting 
 " The Vanguard." The American Post Office altered 
 the title to "Western Cattle in Storm," but the 
 picture is unmistakably the same. My statement of 
 MacWhirter's authorship of the picture having been 
 challenged by an artist, who was probably misled by 
 the Scottish painter's devotion to landscape, led me 
 
 ORIGINAL SKETCH FOR THE " CANOE ' 
 OF FIJI STAMPS. 
 
 TYPE 
 
 to submit the stamp to Mr. MacWhirter, whose reply 
 admits of no doubt. 
 
 *^ August 26 [1906]. 
 " Dear Sir, — Certainly the picture was painted by me. It was 
 exhibited in the R.A. about 15 or 18 years since. It was named by 
 me *The Vanguard.' The picture belongs now, I believe, to Lord 
 Blythswood, near Glasgow. It is published as an etching by 
 Dunthome, Vigo Street. 
 
 " Truly, 
 
 '•J. MacWhirter. 
 "F.J. Melville, Esq." 
 
170 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 A more scarce engraving, which was the basis of 
 some of the most classic designs in the history of 
 postage-stamps, is the mezzotint by Samuel Cousins, 
 A.R.A., of the portrait of Queen Victoria painted by 
 Alfred Edward Chalon, R.A., in 1837. The original 
 picture was a present from the Queen to her mother, 
 the Duchess of Kent, as a souvenir of Her Majesty's 
 visit to the House of Lords to prorogue Parliament 
 on July 17, 1837. According to The Athenceum^ the 
 original picture " may take its place as the portrait, 
 whether in right of the likeness, which is faithful and 
 characteristic, or in right of its artistic treatment." 
 From the mezzotint Edward Henry Corbould, the 
 son of the artist of the " Penny Black " of Great 
 Britain, made a drawing in water colours, from which 
 the engraver William Humphrys produced the fine 
 miniature for the first stamps of New Zealand. 
 
 In a number of cases photographs have provided 
 the subject for stamp vignettes, and here the collector 
 is able, if he takes a little trouble, to procure copies 
 for extra-illustrating his collection. The photograph 
 of the Llandovery Falls in Jamaica, used on the 
 picture stamp of that colony in 1900, was an un- 
 authorised copy of one of a published series of local 
 views ; that of the Victoria Falls on the 1905 stamps 
 of the British South Africa Company recently formed 
 a frontispiece to The Stamp Lover (October, 19 10). 
 The subject of the quaint vignette on the British 
 New Guinea and Papua stamps was engraved 
 from a photograph taken by a naval officer, and 
 I traced a copy to the collection of a returned 
 jnissionary. 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 171 
 
 Bank-note and other engravings of a like character 
 have provided copies for stamp pictures, and Lord 
 Crawford has formed a truly magnificent historical 
 collection of the United States stamps, in which his 
 lordship, in the course of about forty volumes, traces 
 each design to its inception, in some cases to the 
 first rough pencil sketch. He endeavours to show 
 every stage in the development of the stamp, and, 
 as every philatelist should do, he follows the stamp 
 through its period of currency, showing the different 
 kinds of obliterations, the varying shades of succes- 
 sive printings, and where they exist re-issues, re- 
 printings, and forgeries. His lordship's collections 
 of Great Britain and of the Italian States are equally 
 comprehensive, but that this manner of collecting 
 is not entirely exclusive is evidenced by the number 
 of collectors who have formed really worthy indi- 
 vidual "association albums" — to borrow an expressive 
 term — of the stamps of these same countries. 
 
 Proofs are comparatively easy of access, which, 
 considering their relative scarcity, is surprising. The 
 reason that they were neglected in the middle period 
 of stamp-collecting was probably that the creation 
 of a market for such items had led in some instances 
 to an illegitimate supply by the employes of printing 
 firms entrusted with the storage of Government dies. 
 The misuse of stamp dies is rare now, most self- 
 respecting Governments taking ample precautions 
 not to admit of any improper use of their property. 
 The opportunities for finds in the way of rare proofs 
 are still plentiful. Stamp-collecting, though firmly 
 established, is still young, and it is littlq over seventy 
 
172 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 years since the first adhesive postage-stamp was 
 issued. A number of near descendants of the 
 originators of the first postage-stamp are alive, and 
 no doubt there are still treasures in the way of proofs 
 among the little-valued waste of later stamp-engravers 
 and designers. Shortly after the death of the en- 
 graver Herbert Bourne (i 825-1907), I acquired 
 practically the whole of his reliques in the way of 
 proofs of stamp dies ; but during his long life the 
 engraver had done so many engravings that a little 
 while prior to his death he had been burning the 
 proofs he had saved to clear them out of the way. 
 His son fortunately saved the thirty to forty items 
 now in my collection, of which one of the most 
 curious, if least in dimensions, is the extremely small 
 head of King Carlos for the small opening in the 
 frame of the picture stamps of Portuguese Nyassa. 
 He appears to have done the die for the 1876 (June) 
 issue of Spain, which stamps, printed in taille douce 
 by Messrs. Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., are a flat 
 contradiction of the statements of both the Somerset 
 House authorities and the Crown Agents for the 
 Colonies. Each of these departments has averred 
 that the recess-plate printing offers more scope to 
 the forger than our paltry surface-printing, yet Spain, 
 prior to 1876, had to change her stamp issues practi- 
 cally every year owing to the prevalence of forgeries 
 making heavy inroads on the Government revenues. 
 Yet the forgeries were of surface-printed issues, and 
 this first Spanish issue in taille-douce engraving, 
 printed in London from the die of a London en- 
 graver, was never forged to defraud the Government, 
 
engraver's proof of the queen's head die for the first 
 adhesive postage stamps, with note in the hand- 
 writing of edward henry corbould attributing the 
 engraving to frederick heath. 
 
 173 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 175 
 
 neither have the stamps been successfully imitated 
 to deceive the collector. 
 
 As an instance of how little Mr. Bourne had 
 regarded the proofs taken of his work at various 
 stages, a very fine proof in the set obtained by me 
 was the Queensland head die proved upon a large 
 sheet of thick porous paper, the whole of which proof 
 had been used as a convenient blotting-pad ! 
 
 Proofs of the Mulready are not very difficult to 
 obtain, even on India paper. There was in the 
 Peacock papers a proof on India paper to which 
 Rowland Hill had affixed his signature, the latter 
 being added on a separate piece of writing-paper 
 pasted over the India paper, which does not take 
 writing. 
 
 There must be many engravers of stamp dies who 
 have accumulated a stock of proof specimens of their 
 work, and these are well worth looking out for. A 
 particularly choice item — said to be one of three 
 copies originally taken — is the engraver's proof of 
 the first adhesive postage, head only, without " POST- 
 AGE ", and undenominated. Mrs. Haywood, a grand- 
 daughter of Henry Corbould and daughter of 
 Edward Henry, and who is still further associated 
 with the stamp as the niece of Frederick Heath, the 
 engraver, has one of the three, which is in itself a 
 unique item, for it bears in the handwriting of Edward 
 Henry Corbould the note : 
 
 '• Engraver's Proof by Fredk. Heath after drawing by Henry 
 Corbould, F.S.A." 
 
 To this undoubtedly important piece of evidence I 
 
176 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 give special prominence, as it should establish the 
 association of Frederick Heath, rather than his father 
 Charles, with the engraving of this stamp. To Charles 
 it was popularly attributed at the time of the issue 
 of the stamp, as the father's name had been generally 
 associated with much of the work done under his 
 supervision, but not necessarily by his own hand, 
 by his many pupils and assistants.^ Mrs. Haywood 
 tells me that there has never been any doubt among 
 the older members of the family — the Heaths and 
 Corboulds having intermarried — that Frederick was 
 the engraver and not Charles, and Edward Henry 
 Corbould was himself a collaborator with Frederick 
 Heath on the coin-shaped Five Shillings stamp of 
 New South Wales, of which Mrs. Haywood treasures 
 also an engraver's proof. 
 
 In the plate stage proofs are more common than 
 die-proofs, but still in many cases they are scarce 
 compared with the stamps ; yet, by a strange inver- 
 sion of scarcity value, one can obtain a magnificent 
 proof of the famous " twelve pence " black stamp of 
 Canada for fewer shillings than the stamp itself costs 
 in pounds. The old-fashioned collector used to say 
 he only wanted "stamps," and turned up his nose at 
 a " proof," but the modern advanced school is chang- 
 ing all that. The old idea is the more ridiculous when 
 one considers that the Connell essay of New Brunswick 
 (it was never issued for postal use), if perforated and 
 gummed, though still not an issued stamp, fetches £^0^ 
 
 * See the obituary of Charles Heath in The Art Journal^ 1849, 
 p. 20, and the argument in my " Great Britain : Line- engraved 
 Stamps." 
 
!1! 
 
 I'lthK i-n'f,-f>tffj. I 
 
 m^§kM w^kM wUk 
 
 
 m^%m<wm 
 
 n^im^. 
 
 Z 
 
 ■^ 
 
 177 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 179 
 
 while an imperforate proof costs 20s. More absurd 
 still is it where philatelists, in the desire to establish 
 rariora^ are inconsistent enough to deem an un- 
 doubted " proof " of Cape Colony, the celebrated 
 id. red-brown triangular stamp on paper water- 
 marked Crown over CC, as an issued stamp, and 
 to pay a fabulous sum for the privilege of possess- 
 ing it. The price — if its rarity be the token by 
 which price may be gauged — was cheap enough; 
 there are about ten copies known to collectors, all 
 the specimens being unused, but by that same 
 token we know that it was never used in the post 
 nor issued to any post-office. 
 
 In regard to the actual stamps, there is much in 
 the modern advanced collection which has not yet 
 been fully appreciated even by the majority of col- 
 lectors. Much less has it been grasped by the 
 uninitiated vendor of "finds" among old letters and 
 papers. It is but little known that a stamp in itself 
 may be very common, but in a pair it may be of a 
 high degree of value. This is putting it by extremes; 
 but in the case of early imperforate stamps it is a 
 fact that many of the first issues of Great Britain, 
 her colonies, Holland, Belgium, German States, 
 Uruguay, Chili, and other countries, the stamps are 
 readily accessible as single copies, but pairs, much 
 less blocks of four, are almost unheard-of rarities. 
 Our own first stamp, the Penny Black, may cost 6d. 
 to IS. for a single used specimen, but a pair fetches 
 6s. to 7s. 6d., and a block of four would be worth 
 40s. to 50s. Alas! that many a one even among 
 collectors has never yet realised that it is vandalism 
 
>*' 
 
 180 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 to take the scissors to a fine block of imperforates, 
 simply because he is a collector of the one-stamp-of- 
 a-kind order and has no use for a block. 
 
 Mr. Hugo Griebert of London, in a painstaking 
 study of the " Diligencias " of Uruguay, says : " If 
 blocks and pairs had been available it would have 
 saved me years of work"; and again, "It is very 
 unfortunate that blocks of the * Diligencia ' stamps 
 are practically unknown. Not a single pair even of 
 the 60 centavos or i real has come to my knowledge." 
 Of the 80 centavos, there are a priceless block of 
 fifteen and a block of four in a collection in the 
 United States ; there may be others to be found, 
 and they would well repay the finding ! 
 
 A block of eight of the Penny Black stamp 
 (used) has fetched ^15, and a block of sixteen 
 would bring its owner at least £2$ — some thou- 
 sands per cent, over the catalogue quotation for 
 single copies. 
 
 Here, too, I may remark that with old used stamps, 
 especially the imperforates, really fine copies cannot 
 always be got at the prices indicated for them in the 
 standard catalogues. The same applies to some 
 extent to the unused copies also ; but the beginner 
 would be well advised to choose even his (apparently) 
 common stamps with painstaking regard to their 
 perfection of condition, and not to break up pairs 
 or blocks of early imperforates, even though they 
 may be inconvenient for insertion in his album. Fine 
 copies are often sold by the smaller dealers and in the 
 provinces and from private sources at prices based on 
 the catalogue rates, and it is in these directions that 
 
Ml 
 
 l^ 
 
 "I 
 
 
 'J J 
 
 ■^■y ^^^jx-o- ^yy^^-i'^j '^-^^ 
 
 X/ 
 
 h 
 
 'yc^. 
 
 -O:: 
 
 AX ENVELOPE BEARING THE RARE STAMP ISSUED IN 1 846 BY THE 
 POSTMASTER OF MILLBURY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 r 
 
 y 
 
 ) J I ' / / 
 
 ONE OF THE STAMPS ISSUED BY THE POSTMASTER OF BATON ROUGE, 
 LOUISIANA, DURING THE CIVIL WAR, 1861. 
 
 181 
 
ANOTHER OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES RARITIES ISSUED BY THE POSTMASTER 
 
 OF GOLIAD, TEXAS. 
 
 THE STAMP ISSUED BY THE POSTMASTER OF LIVINGSTON, ALABAMA. 
 {From the ^^ Avery"" Collection) 
 
 183 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 185 
 
 even to-day, with many thousands of keen hunters, 
 bargains are still to be had by the collector possessing 
 an appreciative eye for the rarity of condition. 
 
 In the advanced collection of to-day there is no 
 wavering over the used and the unused question. A 
 lot of ink has been spilt in the controversies over the 
 comparative interest, importance, or other claim of \^ 
 these two general conditions of postage-stamps. To- 
 day both unused and used stamps are necessary to 
 the study of stamps. A specialised collection con- 
 taining only unused specimens would indeed be an 
 " ill-roasted ^g%r and would fail to show the history 
 of the stamps during their currency. The unused 
 stamps show the pristine condition of the varying 
 shades of successive printings ; the used ones enable 
 the collector to place those successive shades in their 
 correct sequence, even to show for what purpose 
 special printings were required. The most evidential 
 items in a stamp collection are often the used copies 
 which have been preserved on the entire original 
 envelope, a fact which gives to the stamp used on 
 the envelope a special value not always to be gauged 
 by the catalogue quotation for an ordinary used copy. 
 A Penny Black stamp of Great Britain should be 
 worth at least two to three times "catalogue" if on 
 the entire original ; but if the original had been used 
 on May 6, 1840 (the first day authorised for its use), 
 the envelope with stamp would acquire an excep- 
 tional interest out of all proportion to "catalogue." 
 In a specialised price list before me at this moment 
 it is priced at ;£"io, less 25 per cent, for the entire 
 letter ; one used on the following Sunday, May 
 
 \ 
 
186 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 loth, IS priced at £1$.^ The Rev. G. C. B. Madden, 
 of Armitage Bridge, had a copy on a letter of May 
 5th, but the stamp was not, cancelled. The cover 
 bears the stamp and the indication — 
 
 ** Paid Penny Postage, 
 
 *' Miss Jones, 
 
 * * Addington Square, 
 
 " Camberwell." 
 
 and the enclosure is as follows : — 
 
 '*Brompton Place, 
 
 '^ May 5, 1840. 
 " My Dear Floral Friend, — To make you stare I send you a 
 Queen's Head, the day before it is in Penny Circulation. To-morrow 
 it will be obliterated by a Post Office Stamp. What a pity that they 
 should make Victoria Gummy like an old woman, without teeth as I 
 am. I write this without spectacles, therefore will strain my ninety- 
 and-one eyes no longer than in saying I hope you are All well at Home. 
 
 '* Yours 
 
 ** Gratefully, 
 
 ♦* John Alexander.'* 
 
 The cancellation may also be a factor in the 
 relative scarcity of a used specimen. Coloured post- 
 marks often have some special significance or may be 
 merely accidental applications of the " chops " to 
 the wrong inking pad. In the price list already 
 mentioned I find the Penny Black quoted with the 
 various coloured Maltese cross postmarks (ordinary 
 used copies, not on " entire ") as follows : — red 8d., 
 black 9d., blue 60s., violet 40s., marone 4s., brown Ss., 
 
 ^ I mention these and certain other quotations, not as standard valua- 
 tions, but to indicate the comparative importance of these and other 
 factors in determining the rarity of individual specimens. 
 

 • 
 
 A 
 
 2 
 
 m_ 
 
 m 
 
 n 
 n 
 
 1 
 
 mmijo "itc * 
 
 %. 
 
 •C 
 
 1 
 
 i.^-^ 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 \ 
 
 < ^ 
 
 187 
 
SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION 189 
 
 orange 7s. 6d., yellow 15s., vermilion 4s., carmine 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 Beyond the items the character of which I have 
 indicated as desirable in the historical collection, 
 there are others, which will readily suggest them- 
 selves to the collector who develops a keen enthusiasm 
 for his specialite. Portraits of persons concerned in \>^^ 
 the production of the stamps and in their use often 
 lend an enhanced interest to the collection as a 
 whole, and sometimes maps are conveniently inserted ^L--^ 
 in the album to show the geographical disposition of 
 the places where stamps were issued or used. No 
 one can expect those who have not studied the 
 particular speciality to understand, without such a 
 guide, the use of the " zemstvo " stamps of Russia, 
 the courier stamps of Morocco, the Treaty-Port 
 stamps of China, the provisionals of Mexico, or the 
 Chilian stamps used in the Peruvian campaign of 
 1881-3. 
 
 In concluding this chapter I would allude to the 
 interest and value of the collector's acquisition and 
 preservation of modern documents. In the present 
 day there are few events of importance that are not 
 duly chronicled in the newspapers, and events of 
 philatelic interest are largely recorded in the news- 
 papers specially devoted to Philately, such as The 
 Postage Stamp (weekly) in Britain and MekeeVs 
 Weekly Stamp News in the United States. But with 
 the enormous increase in bulk of newspaper records, 
 they are becoming constantly more difficult of ready 
 access for information on many points of even con- 
 siderable importance. Further, the original Act, 
 
 10 
 
100 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Decree, Postal Notice included within the album 
 containing the stamps referred to leaves no room 
 for any question of printer's errors, which may often 
 crop up in newspaper reproductions, telegraphed 
 perhaps in cipher from a distant colony. Among 
 modern items added to my own collection I regard 
 the card sent out by the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, 
 as Premier and Postmaster of New Zealand, on the 
 establishment of Universal Penny Postage from that 
 colony as of historic interest. 
 
 WITH THE HON. J. G. WARDS COMPLIMENTS. 
 
 3n cye-ixdina jot ijout acceptaticc tfiio, ovu o| t-fte -f^ia-t atticfeo 
 jxx>tcd itnSc* tkc ^nivctaai ^mnvj So>tcu^ ocf\^\ni. an3 9at«- 
 
 MOW tfu5 Ma^on:> aw*ttn<J*, an3 ttiot tfuxt t4» \yta^ wW\c'\ 
 
 GBMEKAL POST OFPlCE. 
 
 WELLINGTON. NJl 
 
 Another is a typewritten circular calling for designs 
 from artists in competition for the new stamps of the 
 Australian Commonwealth, and I was recently in- 
 debted to a correspondent in Pretoria for sending me 
 the following notice, the historic interest in which 
 needs no enlarging upon from me. 
 
DESIGNS AND COLOURS OF THE STAMPS 
 
 THAT WJIL KK IN l.-!. .Mji-R 
 
 APRIL THE I-i. 1884. 
 
 A ROUGHLY PRINTED CARD SHOWING THE DESIGNS AND COLOURS FOR 
 THE UNIFIED "POSTAGE AND REVENUE" STAMPS OF GREAT! 
 BRITAIN, 1884. 
 
 191 
 

 A '^-^W 
 
 Union of South Jlfrica. 
 
 li fs notified that a new postage stamp of 
 the 2sd. denonif nation will f9e on sale from 
 the 4th November the day of the opening of 
 the Union Parliament and will be practically, 
 therefore, a stamp commemorative of the 
 ciflminating fact of Union. The denomination 
 represents the Universal Postal Union unit of 
 postage, and the stamp is being issued in 
 advance of, and apart from, any general issue 
 for the South African Union. 
 
 By Order. 
 
 Pretoria, 1st October, 1910. 
 
 THE FIRST POSTAGE STAMP OF THE PRESENT REIGN, TOGETHER 
 WITH THE POST OFFICE NOTICE CONCERNING ITS ISSUE ON 
 NOVEMBER 4, I9IO. 
 
 193 
 
194 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 This class of document should be the more acces- 
 sible to collectors from the little interest attached to 
 them by the officials to whom they are generally 
 sent. How little they appreciate their evidential 
 value was brought home to me in a painful dis- 
 appointment a year or so ago. Having been on the 
 Continent for a few days, I returned to find among 
 my correspondence an offer from an elderly man who 
 had kept a post-office for a long period of years, and 
 he had saved in a series of portfolios all the printed 
 notices sent out from the General Post Office to 
 postmasters from the 'fifties until the end of the 
 nineteenth century. I had had some curiosities from 
 this individual before, which led him to offer me 
 these papers when he came upon them in a clearing- 
 up mood. I was then engaged on a section of my 
 history of the English stamps, and wrote off im- 
 mediately upon my return home. To my utter 
 dismay he replied that, not having heard from me, 
 after a few days of waiting he had burnt the lot 
 to get rid of them ! 
 
INTRODUCTION OF 
 
 CEflRCE V. POSTAGE S TAMPS 
 
 SALE OF LETTER CARDS, THIN POST-CARDS AND 
 BOOK S OF STAMPS AT FACE VALDE. 
 
 REDDCTIOS IN PRICES QF EMBOSSED ENVELOPES A WRAPPERS 
 
 Halfpenny and Penny adhesive Postage Stamps of new design bearing 
 the eflBgy of His Majesty King George, and registered letter envelopes 
 and thin post-cards bearing impressed stamps with the same effigy, 
 will be placed on sale on the 22nd of June, the' day of His Majesty s 
 Coronation, at all Post Offices open on that day At other Post Offices 
 they will first be sold on the 23rd of June, or, at Offices which are closed 
 on that day also on the 24th of June New adhesive stamps of other 
 denominations and other articles of stationery bearing impressed 
 stamps of new design will be issued ets soon as possible afterwards 
 
 Adhesive postage stamps and stamped stationery of the present 
 issue will also be on sale at Post Offices until the remaining stocks 
 are exhausted. All Edward VII postage stamps and all stamps of 
 previous issues which are at present available in payment of postage 
 will still be available 
 
 The following reductions in the priced of the principal articles 
 of stamped stationery WHICH WILL APPLY TO ARTICLES BOTH 
 OF THE PRESENT AND THE NEW ISSUES, will tak!e effect on 
 Coronation Day:-?- 
 
 POST-CARDS.--Thin post-cards bearing id. stamp*4d, each (Swjut 
 post-cards will c«ntinue to be sold at 6d a packet of 11, or fd. for 
 a single card) 
 LETTER CARDS bearing Id. stamp—lch eack 
 
 BOOKS OF STAMPS— Books containing eighteen Id. and twelve 
 id. stamps of George V design will be issued at an early date— price 
 2s. each. Pending their issue the present books, containing eighteen 
 Id. and eleven *d stamps of Edward Vn. design, will, on and after 
 the 22nd of June, be sold for Is 11 id instead of 2s. as at present. 
 ESiBOSSED ENVELOPES - 
 
 Court size (bearing Id. stampr==ls a packet of 11 
 Commercial size (bearing Id. stamp)— 2s a packet of 23 
 Foolscap size (bearing *a stamp)--»ls. a packet of 21. 
 Commercial size (bearing ^d stamp)— Is. a packet of 22. 
 NEWSPAPER WRAPPERSr-(Bearing id stamp)— la. a packet of 22. 
 (Bearing Id. stamp)-*2s a packet of 23. 
 All cards, envelopes and wrappers are sold in any quantities less 
 than a complete packet at proportionate prices. Full tables of these 
 prices will appear in the Post Office Guide issued on the Ist of July. 
 
 "•^"•^iS-h iJ ^'iaT"^^ By Command of the Postmattter general. 
 
 THE OFFICIAL NOTICE OF THE ISSUE OF THE NEW STAMPS OF 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN FOR THE REIGN OF KING GEORGE V. 
 
 195 
 
VI 
 
 ON LIMITING 
 A COLLECTION 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ON LIMITING A COLLECTION 
 
 The difficulties of a general collection — The unconscious trend to 
 specialism — Technical limitations : Modes of production ; Printers 
 — Geographical groupings : Europe and divisions — Suggested 
 groupings of British Colonies — United States, Protectorates and 
 Spheres of Influence — Islands of the Pacific — The financial side 
 of the *' great" philatelic countries. 
 
 To the child in stamp-collecting the boundless world 
 is small; he will seek to bring into his net stamps 
 from everywhere, postage and fiscal, exhibition labels, 
 trading stamps, and all that has the shape or 
 semblance of what he conceives to be subjects for 
 his collecting. The collector of fuller experience 
 knows that he must make a lesser world of his own. 
 To attempt the whole wide world, even in what 
 I may term "ordinary" postage-stamps, is a task 
 which can scarcely attain even approximately to 
 completion in these days, and the collector on such 
 a scale would lose much of the advantage that comes 
 of specialisation in particular directions. He would 
 know little of the world's postage-stamps except in a 
 superficial way, that would never bring him a 
 
 199 
 
200 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 bargain, and would probably make him a frequent 
 victim of the unscrupulous. 
 
 It is well enough that the beginner should first 
 flounder in a sea of stamps, to learn the first rudi- 
 ments of the study. The specialist needs a general 
 education as a groundwork in stamp-collecting, just 
 as he does in any other pursuit. But it is almost 
 unavoidable that the tendency must come to the 
 advancing collector to reserve his strength in the 
 direction which most attracts him, or for which he 
 enjoys special advantages. 
 
 It is in the defining of these limitations that many 
 collectors are constantly seeking for guidance. " Can 
 you tell me a good country in which to specialise ? " 
 is an ever-recurring query. The answer should, of 
 course, be extracted from the experience of the 
 individual who sets the question. It may be laid 
 down as a maxim that the general collector is not 
 yet ripe for specialism until his general experience 
 has turned his inclinations to some well - defined 
 speciality. The trend of one's inclinations may be 
 clearly reflected in the general collection, where it is 
 seen that one country has been by some — possibly 
 unconscious — bias developed beyond all others. 
 Every stamp-lover knows that there are some stamps 
 which exert over him personally a peculiar fascina- 
 tion. It may be due to some interest in the country 
 of their issue, or to some special attractions in their 
 style of production, and indeed to a variety of other 
 causes. 
 
 It was a solitary — rather bilious-looking — stamp 
 that first obsessed me, a good many years ago now. 
 
ON LIMITING A COLLECTION 201 
 
 It was the 3 cents Sarawak, 1869, printed in brown 
 on yellow paper, which was in the collection of my 
 schooldays, and I had always wanted to make it the 
 nucleus of a special collection. But, before the 
 opportunity came for realising this ambition, a 
 different interest had arisen in that adventure-story 
 republic of Hayti, which led me first to try to 
 specialise its stamps, which having done, after my 
 notions of specialising at that period, the next start 
 was made with my early friend the peculiar yellow- 
 brown label which a Scottish firm lithographed for 
 the Rajah of Sarawak. I suppose the spice of 
 adventure suggested by both Hayti and Sarawak, 
 and subsequently China and Abyssinia, was respon- 
 sible for turning one's specialistic tendencies into 
 definite channels. 
 
 But whatever the influence may be with some, the 
 question is so constantly being put that it may be 
 useful to outline some skeleton plans, which are all 
 capable of providing good scope for the exercise of 
 philatelic talent. 
 
 The close study of detail, and particularly the 
 increasing interest taken by collectors in the manner 
 of production, has led some students to devote them- 
 selves to the stamps produced by a particular firm of 
 manufacturers. The finest collection on these lines 
 would be that dealing with the stamps produced by 
 Messrs. Perkins, Bacon & Co. during the period of, 
 say, 1840-80. This would include the low-value 
 English stamps of the line-engraved series, the early 
 imperforate and perforated Ceylons, which in them- 
 selves afford ample scope for a big collection, those 
 
202 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 old favourites the triangular Capes, the majority of 
 the stamps of the West Indian Islands, a few from 
 Mauritius and Natal, the most interesting of the 
 issues for New Zealand, and several of the Australian 
 States, some of our North American possessions, 
 with many others, not forgetting Chili's early issues. 
 The stamps in such a collection would all be line- 
 engraved. 
 
 Messrs. De La Rue & Co., the greatest stamp- 
 printers in the world, would also provide an interest- 
 ing sphere for special study, embracing line-engraved 
 stamps from the old Perkins- Bacon plates, printed 
 in a superb series of pigments, distinctive from 
 those of the earlier printers, and also the long 
 range of surface-printed stamps for which this firm 
 has been noted. 
 
 There are other printers whose work could be 
 dealt with by the collector in a like manner, and 
 the would-be specialist on these lines has an oppor- 
 tunity of choosing a very small field or a very 
 large one, the two I have expressly mentioned 
 being capable of treatment on a very large scale 
 indeed. 
 
 A more general limitation begins with political or 
 geographical grouping. "Europeans" are in con- 
 stant demand, as there are many collectors who 
 confine themselves to the stamps of the European 
 States as a group. It is, however, a very large group, 
 and few could hope to successfully cope with the 
 whole of it on anything approaching specialist lines. 
 The Castle- Mann collection, sold in 1906 for nearly 
 ;f 30,000, was limited to European stamps. But Europe 
 
ON LIMITING A COLLECTION 203 
 
 for the collector naturally subdivides into lesser 
 groups, e.g.^ the German States, Italian States, Balkan 
 States, &c., and these in their turn yield single 
 countries, many of which will provide in them- 
 selves an abundance of work and study for the 
 enthusiast. 
 
 The fashion which has for many years kept the 
 stamps of the British Empire in constantly increasing 
 demand is rather curious, in that what may be attri- 
 buted — at least partly — to patriotism at home has 
 yet. prevailed in foreign countries, where British 
 Colonials are collected even more than the national 
 products. In the United States, for example, the 
 collector has until quite lately somewhat neglected 
 the grand series of beautifully engraved stamps of 
 the Republic and has followed the crowd of collectors 
 of British Colonials. This may be explained in some 
 measure by the shrewdness of the American investor, 
 whose confidence in the security of his money in 
 good old British Colonial stamps is still unbounded. 
 At the same time philatelic experience is that every 
 country is gradually being taken by the students and 
 getting its turn, so that as the United States has a 
 growing family of its own, it is not unlikely that in 
 due course we shall find more United States collectors 
 working out their philatelic salvation on their own 
 lines on a national, or American, basis. The American 
 field is a particularly fine one and offers the most 
 virgin philatelic soil. Nearly every other group has 
 been pretty well collected and studied, though not 
 exhaustively. The United States itself has had 
 much attention, but Mexico and South and Central 
 
204 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
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ON LIMITING A COLLECTION 205 
 
 America, Cuba, Hayti, the Dominican Republic are 
 comparatively fresh soil, and the student can invest 
 at present prices with a good assurance that, as 
 United States expansion and influence become more 
 overwhelming in the Western Hemisphere, all these 
 countries will enjoy increased popularity with the 
 stamp-collector. 
 
 The foregoing British Empire groups are given as 
 examples of how this great division may be sub- 
 divided. 
 
 Of the stamps of the great English-speaking 
 Republic and the countries now or lately under her 
 protection or looking to her for financial help groups 
 may be formed : — 
 
 United States : The General Issues :— 
 
 (a) With Of without — 
 
 The Postmasters' stamps. 
 The Carrier's stamps. 
 Confederate States, General issues. 
 Confederate States, Postmasters' stamps. 
 
 (b) With or without — 
 
 Cuba (since 1899). 
 
 Guam (since 1899). 
 
 Hawaii (since 1898). 
 
 Panama Canal Zone (since 1904). 
 
 Philippine Islands (since 1899). 
 
 Porto Rico (since 1898). 
 
 (c) With or without — 
 
 Dominican Republic. 
 Haytian Republic. 
 
 (d) With or without — 
 
 Liberia. 
 
206 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Other suggested groupings may be taken from : — 
 
 The Pacific Islands. 
 
 (a) British. 
 
 Aitutaki. 
 British Solomon 
 
 Islands. 
 Cook Islands. 
 Fiji (after Sept., 1874). 
 Gilbert and Ellice 
 
 Islands. 
 New Hebrides 
 
 (Condominium). 
 Niue. 
 Papua. 
 Penrhyn. 
 Tonga. 
 
 (b) French. 
 New Caledonia. 
 New Hebrides 
 
 (Condominium). 
 Oceanic Settlements. 
 Tahiti. 
 
 (c) German. 
 Caroline Islands. 
 German New Guinea. 
 Marianne Islands. 
 Marshall Islands. 
 Samoa (since 1899). 
 
 (d) United States. 
 Guam. 
 
 Hawaii (since July, 1898). 
 Philippine Islands (since 
 1899). 
 
 Each of these, and the numerous other groupings, 
 political, geographical, &c., which they will readily 
 suggest to the reader, is capable of subdivision 
 down to single countries or colonies, or into periods, 
 just as others are capable of expansion if larger 
 groups be desired. 
 
 In making his choice the collector will do well 
 to give free scope to his tastes and inclinations, 
 but he should not be disregardful of the financial 
 side of the question, which is apt to confine the 
 limitations of a speciality rather more closely than 
 would his inclinations. It is well to realise from 
 the start that some capital will be required to 
 tackle a large group, and if the collector wants 
 to specialise in the first issues of British Guiana, 
 
 * The Oceanic Settlements comprise the more easterly French 
 islands, administered by a Governor, with Privy and Administrative 
 Councils, &c., the seat of government being at Papeete, in Tahiti, 
 
ON LIMITING A COLLECTION 207 
 
 the "Missionaries" of Hawaii, the "Post Offices" 
 and "Post Paids" of Mauritius, the "Gold Diggings" 
 of New South Wales, the "circular" Moldavias, he 
 will have to loosen wide the strings of a bounteously 
 filled purse. Happily for the stamp collector, the 
 interest and charm of his hobby is its broad 
 adaptability to all requirements, and it cannot be 
 gainsaid that the joys of the hunt for stamps are 
 more real and stimulating to the collector of modest 
 means, who personally knows and loves his stamps, 
 than to the magnate who deputes the " collecting " 
 to a secretary. In many instances, of course, the 
 secretary is a desideratum; the vast collections of 
 modern times practically necessitate an expert 
 assistant, especially where the owner is a busy 
 man ; but in the really great collections of postage- 
 stamps it is good to see the evidences of the personal 
 attention and study of the owner. Philately is 
 indeed fortunate in the number of wealthy stamp- 
 lovers who build up monumental collections, at 
 great personal labour and expense, and are ever 
 ready to show portions of them at exhibitions and 
 societies' meetings, and, indeed, to publish the results 
 of their researches for the benefit of their fellow- 
 students. 
 
 11 
 
VII 
 
 STAMP- 
 COLLECTING 
 AS AN 
 INVESTMENT 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 STAMP-COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 
 
 The collector, the dealer, and the combination — ^The factor of 
 expense — Natural rise of cost — Past possibilities in British 
 "Collector's Consols," in Barbados, in British Guiana, in 
 Canada, in "Capes" — Modern speculations: Cayman Islands — 
 Further investments : Ceylon, Cyprus, Fiji Times Express, 
 Gambia, India, Labuan, West Indies — The "Post Office" 
 Mauritius — The early Nevis, British North America, Sydney 
 Views, New Zealand — Provisionals : bond fide and speculative — 
 Some notable appreciations — * ' Booms. " 
 
 If we define the philatelist as a lover of postage- 
 stamps, we may very properly express the view that 
 his affections should be chiefly centred upon their 
 historic and philatelic associations. Stamp-collect- 
 ing for most of us is a recreation and a respite from 
 the anxieties of the money-market, and many 
 collectors are quite content with the joys of collation 
 and research. At the same time we are not out of 
 sympathy with the individual who, 
 
 "Whatever thing he had to do 
 He did, and made it pay him too." 
 
 He represents one of the strongest influences in 
 an 
 
212 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 the collecting world, and is no doubt a tower of 
 strength, imparting stability to the stamp-market. 
 The term " amateur " is little used in connection with 
 our pursuit, and the quibbles which seem inseparable 
 in other pursuits, from the endeavour to draw an 
 imaginary line round the amateur to separate him 
 from the professional, are all but non-existent in 
 philately. 
 
 We use the terms "collector" and "dealer," but that 
 one is not the negation of the other is clear from the 
 admission of the compound term " collector-dealer," 
 which combination applies to a very great proportion 
 of the more promiscuous portion of the philatelic 
 world. The mere vending of postage-stamps would 
 not, I think, convert the collector into the collector- 
 dealer, as by the ingenious and widespread system 
 of stamp-exchanges collectors are obliged to put a 
 price upon their duplicates, and cash is the universal 
 medium of exchange. 
 
 In a broad sense the collector-dealer class is 
 composed of collectors who are glad to enjoy 
 their hobby, but are under the necessity, or have 
 the desire, to make their hobby pay for itself, and 
 perhaps yield an addition to their regular income. 
 
 It is perhaps due to the all-absorbing character of 
 the hunt for rare stamps that collectors and dealers 
 enjoy unrestrained intercourse in most of the societies, 
 though in the Royal Philatelic Society the rules forbid 
 the admission of regular dealers to membership. 
 
 Among the best dealers we find some of the most 
 advanced students of philately, who when it comes to 
 research have many a time risen above considerations 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 213 
 
 of commerce. Some of the most valuable contribu- 
 tions to the literature of philately have come from 
 their unaccustomed but painstaking pens, and most 
 of the dealers of repute take a pleasure in assisting 
 the student to unravel a problem. In whatever 
 spirit we form our collections, and with no matter 
 what object in view, it is but human to nourish the 
 hope, even if some shrinking from the admission of 
 pecuniary motives never permits us to express it, 
 that the collection formed with loving care and a 
 considerable expenditure of money shall not, if 
 parted with, result in a loss, or if retained suffer a 
 heavy depreciation. If we desire to interest others 
 we must be prepared for the motif of the primary 
 questions of the uninitiated, " What is it worth ? " 
 " What did you give for it ? " though one can never 
 hope to satisfy the ingenuous folk who ask the 
 collector of many years' standing " How many 
 stamps have you got? " and " I suppose they ought 
 to be worth pots of money — how much do you 
 think?" 
 
 There are several factors in the stamp trade which y^ 
 are worth noting, as they have contributed in no small 
 measure to the prosperity of the business, and they 
 must increase our confidence in the security of our 
 collections as investments. A world-wide market is 
 open to the vendor of rare stamps ; it is convenient 
 of access beyond all other markets for bric-h-brac^ 
 because the rarest stamp in the world may be safely 
 transmitted anywhere, within an envelope, through 
 the post. The adaptability of the postage-stamp to 
 effective and convenient arrangement is not of more 
 
214 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 importance to the collector than the portability of 
 his goods, rare or common, is to the dealer. It 
 involves no more trouble to sell a rare stamp in 
 Yokohama than it does over a counter in that 
 thoroughfare of stamp-dealers, the Strand. Nor is 
 there the risk of damage that would attend the 
 transmission of a bulky article of vertu to a 
 customer in a remote country. 
 
 It is this same portability which is constantly 
 increasing the demand for good and rare stamps 
 from collectors. For the majority, almost any form 
 of collecting brings with it a serious problem of 
 space, arrangement, and security. We may display 
 our collection of old English porcelain about the 
 house, and beautify our surroundings, but it is at 
 the cost of no little risk from the philistine fingers 
 of the abigail. We may bring together a great 
 array of ornithological specimens, but the cabinet 
 space taken up by a collection of but moderate 
 proportions is out of all comparison to the compact 
 album, which may contain a large and portable 
 collection of stamps. I would not be understood 
 to even cursorily enter upon comparisons of different 
 hobbies, but it is useful to mention the comparative 
 facility with which transactions in rare stamps can 
 be negotiated to indicate the cumulative effect this 
 convenience must have in the value of old stamps. 
 
 Another important factor is the comparative 
 standardisation of stamp values. No person of 
 average intelligence need ever be totally in the 
 dark as to the approximate selling value of the 
 majority of old postage-stamps, for in nearly every 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 215 
 
 language, excepting some of the Oriental tongues, 
 there are standard price-lists of the leading dealers 
 which serve as guides to the majority of both buyers 
 and sellers, for these works are accessible both to the 
 dealer and the collector. 
 
 When we come to consider the supply of old 
 postage-stamps, we cannot but recognise a further 
 important factor in their security as an investment 
 The majority of the rare, medium and common 
 postage-stamps have been issued with the Govern- 
 ment imprimatur; re-issues and reprintings are 
 known, but they are the exception. Generally 
 speaking, a stamp is no sooner obsolete than it 
 commences to soar in the stamp-dealers' price-lists. 
 In the cases of stamps of the larger countries which 
 have had a long period of currency the rise is slow, 
 but the frequency of the occurrence of unusual cir- 
 cumstances which cut short the life of a stamp on 
 the active postal list has introduced a sporting 
 element into even the collecting of current stamps. 
 But it is inevitable that, with the retirement of a 
 postage-stamp from use, there must come sooner 
 or later a stoppage in the supply at the normal 
 rates prevailing during its period of currency. The 
 older stamps, most of the early issues of all countries, 
 have for fifty years past been gradually absorbed in 
 the great collections, some of them extremely limited 
 in their original use, now withdrawn from the market 
 into the stable repositories of national museums, and 
 the supply is the one serious difficulty with which 
 the dealer has to contend. This difficulty has its 
 value to the collector, for to replenish their stocks the 
 
r 
 
 216 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 dealers have to buy back from the collector, and 
 they compete keenly for the acquisition of collections 
 formed by private individuals, if they contain the 
 right class of stamps. My endeavour in this chat 
 will be to indicate the character of the stamps which 
 have risen in the philatelic period 1862 to 191 1, all 
 of which may be classed as " Collector's Consols," 
 but most of which are at this date and at present 
 prices likely to yield an excellent return in the 
 future. 
 
 To take our own country first, for here purchases 
 would have been made at first-hand, that is, at the 
 post-office, there are many stamps, some of com- 
 paratively low facial value, that would have formed 
 most desirable investments if one had only been able 
 to prophesy, and prophesy correctly. 
 
 The most notable examples amongst British 
 stamps of rapid and great appreciation in value are 
 the Twopence Halfpenny of 1875, with error of 
 lettering, the Two Shillings, orange-brown, the Ten 
 Shillings and One Pound of 1878-83, the Five 
 Pounds — both telegraph and postage in the earliest 
 shade — and certain " Officials " : there are, of course, 
 others which show an even greater appreciation on 
 their original face-value, but the reason in that case 
 is that small printings were made of certain stamps 
 from a particular plate or on certain paper — 
 "abnormals" to give them their usual name — and 
 such stamps were not obtainable except by accident. 
 
 The Twopence Halfpenny error, though not known 
 to the philatelic world until 1893, ^^.s present in 
 every sheet printed from Plate 2 of that value, to the 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 217 
 
 number of no less than 35,000, and yet, in mint 
 unused condition, it is a very scarce stamp, probably 
 worth £2^. And yet none amongst the thousands 
 who purchased and used one of these errors thought 
 — even if he noticed the fact — that a mistake in one 
 of the corner letters would some day cause a great 
 rise in value. 
 
 Another well-known example is the Two Shillings, 
 brown : issued originally in 1867, the first colour of 
 that value was blue ; but in 1880, to avoid confusion 
 with other stamps, it was changed to orange-brown. 
 It is said that only 1,000 sheets, or 240,000 stamps, 
 were printed, a large number certainly, but com- 
 paratively small when it is remembered that of some 
 stamps many millions were issued ; small, too, when 
 it is considered that the minimum charge on tele- 
 grams was a shilling, and foreign postal rates were 
 high. An early price in dealers' catalogues was 
 seven shillings and sixpence ; now a fine unused 
 copy realises more pounds than it formerly did 
 shillings. 
 
 The desiderata of British stamps— ignoring the 
 " abnormal " varieties of plate and paper — are the 
 Ten Shillings and One Pound of 1878-83. Few 
 among the great multitude of collectors purchased 
 the two stamps, each on Cross pat^ paper and each 
 on that watermarked with a Large Anchor, when 
 current. But those few who did, and who kept them 
 through the years when the rise in value was very 
 slight, ultimately realised at the top of the market — 
 say, £>ITS to ;^200 — towards the end of the 'nineties. 
 The £1 " Anchor" on bluish paper, which one could 
 
218 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 have bought in 1882 for twenty shillings, is now 
 priced at ;^8o, showing a profit which makes many 
 a collector in these days sigh over lost oppor- 
 tunities. 
 
 Five Pounds is a high facial value, but that sum 
 invested in the purchase of the telegraph-stamp, or 
 of the postage-stamp which superseded it, would now 
 be represented approximately by ;^ioo ; but in the 
 case of the Five Pounds postage-stamp, the paper 
 must be " blued " — " naturally," and not through the 
 medium of the blue-bag — and the colour should be 
 of a vermilion almost merging into orange, and not 
 the scarlet-vermilion in which this stamp finished its 
 career in 1902. 
 
 In a somewhat different category are the various 
 Official stamps, but as they were obtainable up to 
 about 1 890 by any respectable applicant at Somerset 
 House, the earlier varieties may fairly be included. 
 Sets bought during the 1884-90 period appreciated 
 very little until towards the close of the last century, 
 when they attained high prices, the One Pound 
 " I.R. Official" in brown-violet, on Imperial Crown 
 paper, being the rarest, even rarer than the similar 
 stamp on the Orb paper, which without the Official 
 overprint is rarer than the normal variety. 
 
 Of subsequent Official stamps, not obtainable for 
 the asking, special mention should be made of the 
 three high values of the Edwardian issue — Five 
 Shillings, Ten Shillings, and One Pound : in 1903 
 mint PAIRS of the three stamps were sold for forty 
 guineas, and single sets for ^25. Nowadays, pairs 
 — the particular ones above referred to were sub- 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 219 
 
 sequently severed — would probably fetch a sum 
 running into four figures. 
 
 It may be interesting to record a few of the notable 
 rises in value, in the space of a comparatively short 
 period, of stamps issued in one or other of the British 
 colonies, or in some foreign country. 
 
 In March, 1878, there was an unexpected shortage 
 in Barbados of the then current One Penny stamp, 
 and the island Post Office authorities supplied the 
 deficiency by means of a provisional : they perforated 
 the large Five Shillings stamp down the centre, sur- 
 charging each half " id." These makeshifts in due 
 course reached England, and orders were duly sent 
 out for a supply for the stamp-market ; one dealer's 
 order was actually held back by the Barbados post- 
 master until the arrival of a further supply of the 
 ordinary One Penny, when a supply of that stamp 
 was sent him. Other dealers and collectors probably 
 fared as badly, and an unused pair, or even a single 
 copy, of this rare stamp supplies an example of un- 
 earned increment which would delight a Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer on the look-out for more subjects 
 for taxation. What a nice little nest-egg would a 
 shilling's-worth of those stamps now represent ! 
 
 Of the circular British Guiana stamps of 1850-51 
 it is hardly fair to speak, as they were issued and 
 became obsolete before even the oldest philatelist 
 ever thought of collecting; but if any far-seeing 
 individual had then invested the modest sum of 
 thirteenpence in the purchase of an unused copy of 
 each of the four values, and had had them "laid 
 down " until the present year of grace, or even until 
 
220 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 so comparatively far back as 1890, the sum they 
 would realise in open market would not fall far short 
 of ;£"2,5oo. So, too, with the very rare large oblong 
 type-set stamps of 1856, one of which — the One 
 Cent, black on magenta — is literally unique. 
 
 The smaller stamps of 1862, printed from ordinary 
 type with a frame of fancy ornaments, and issued on 
 a shortage of One, Two, and Four Cents stamps, 
 were for some considerable time fairly common, 
 being obtainable for a few shillings, or sometimes, if 
 one were fortunate, for pence ; now a used set of the 
 commonest variety of each value costs nearly £^0. 
 
 Canada provides a rarity, dating back to 185 1. A 
 stamp — and it is a beautiful piece of work — of the 
 apparently peculiar value of Twelve Pence was 
 issued, but for some reason a very small portion of 
 the large supply was sold, the remainder disappear- 
 ing without a trace, never to be found even to this 
 day : that stamp is now worth two thousand times 
 its original cost. The reason for the value being 
 expressed somewhat quaintly was that, whereas 
 " One Shilling " was a fluctuating amount according 
 to locality, " Twelve Pence " was the same every- 
 where. 
 
 It goes without saying that it is the rarities which 
 have appreciated the most, and therefore a list of the 
 stamps which ought to have been secured as an 
 investment is practically a list of the rare and scarce 
 stamps. 
 
 Beautifully engraved, of chaste design, and of 
 quaint shape, the Cape " triangulars " are, and always 
 have been, favourites ; but they have been out- 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 221 
 
 distanced, as regards profitable investment records, 
 by the two roughly-executed stamps, of similar design 
 and shape, printed from hurriedly made stereotyped 
 blocks to meet a temporary shortness of the ordinary 
 One Penny and Fourpence. 
 
 These provisionals, erroneously called (as they 
 always will be) " wood-blocks," were issued early in 
 1 86 1, and the ordinary specimens are of considerable 
 scarcity even used, and very difficult of acquisition 
 unpostmarked ; much more then are the errors, 
 caused by the unintentional inclusion in the group of 
 stereotypes of each value of one block of the other 
 denomination. 
 
 These two stamps — the One Penny in blue, and 
 the Four Pence in red, instead of vice versd — are 
 well-known rarities used, and there are only three 
 known copies in an unused condition ; one of these, 
 obtained by its owner during the period when the 
 wood-blocks were in issue at " face," realised five-and- 
 thirty years later no less than ;!S"SOO. " Prodigious," 
 but true ! 
 
 Another desirable Cape stamp owes its rarity to 
 having been printed in a small quantity on a paper 
 in use for a short time only — the Five Shillings, 
 orange-yellow, of 1883, on paper watermarked with 
 a Crown and " CA ". For some three to four years, 
 1883-87, these stamps were purchasable unused at 
 the post-office ; and now — ;£"ioo, perhaps. 
 
 Cayman Islands, that hotbed of official speculation 
 and jobbery, furnishes a more modern instance — 
 instances would be more correct — of sudden and 
 excessive rise in price, if not in philatelic worth ; 
 
222 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 certain provisionals, made by surcharging higher 
 value stamps to meet the usual, and often avoidable, 
 shortage. Fortunate, indeed, from the investors* 
 point of view, are those who, subscribing to some 
 " new issue " service, managed to obtain even single 
 copies of these scarce labels at a small percentage 
 over face. 
 
 Ceylon I The name raises a vision of the gorgeous 
 East, and, to the philatelist, of rare imperforates, 
 issued in the early days before Philately was. Who 
 in the end of the 'fifties would have thought of 
 investing in, say, a block of four of the Fourpence, 
 dull rose, and, having held it for forty years, receiving 
 the handsome return of — what shall I say ? — £7 SO ? 
 And yet it would be so. 
 
 Another Ceylon which has appreciated at a rapid 
 rate is the Two Rupees Fifty Cents issued in 1880; 
 for long it was catalogued and obtainable at 7s. 6d., 
 but on suddenly becoming obsolete (through a 
 change of postal rates) its price began to rise by 
 leaps and bounds, until it is worth about twice as 
 many shillings as it formerly was pence. 
 
 A glance at the catalogue prices of the first Cyprus 
 set of Edwardian stamps, which were printed on 
 paper known to philatelists as "Single Crown CA" 
 — z.e.f one entire watermark to each stamp — is a mild 
 example of the abnormal rise which took place in 
 nearly all colonial stamps, bearing the head of King 
 Edward and printed on this "single" paper, when 
 the unexpected change was made in 1904 to a 
 " multiple " paper — that is, one in which the water- 
 marks were arranged very closely together, so that 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 223 
 
 each stamp must show parts of three or four of the 
 devices. Stamps sold in 1902 or 1903 at a little over 
 their original cost jumped up and up in price until 
 they fetched, even at auction, 700 or 800 or even 
 1,000 per cent, over "face": small fortunes were 
 made ; but, as has happened, the rise was permanent 
 and still continues. 
 
 The quaint " Fiji Times Express" stamps, produced 
 by private enterprise, and which were the forerunners 
 of a most interesting series of stamps, many rare, 
 were issued within the memory of many collectors — 
 One Penny, Three Pence, Six Pence, and One 
 Shilling — and yet that set of four stamps, dating 
 from only 1870, is worth five hundred times "face," 
 a fair return even for a wait of forty years. Certain 
 stamps of a subsequent (1874) issue are now also 
 very scarce ; but they are varieties as distinguished 
 from the normal printings, and scarcely come within the 
 category of stamps obtainable by the casual purchaser. 
 
 The pretty embossed Gambias, particularly those 
 printed on the old "Crown CC" paper, afford another 
 instance of unearned increment : the set of seven 
 values was, say in 1885, to be bought for 3s. or 4s. — 
 now it is valued at about £6. 
 
 The reward of any far-seeing investor who had 
 happened to purchase the Four Annas, red and blue, 
 issued in India in 1854, would have been a rich one 
 had he noticed an inversion of the Queen's head 
 as regards its frame — copies of this rarity are known 
 on the entire original envelope, so evidently they 
 were, even if noticed, regarded merely as the results 
 of carelessness. It would have been a (perhaps fatal) 
 
 12 
 
224 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 shock to any specialist in Indian stamps who had 
 happened to purchase one of these rare errors still 
 on the original, to find that he, by the irony of fate, 
 had addressed and presumably stamped that very 
 envelope thirty or forty years previously. The stamp 
 bought originally for a few pence would have repre- 
 sented to-day, say, ;^I30 unused, £yo used. 
 
 The purchase of a few copies of the Two Cents 
 and Twelve Cents of the first issue of Labuan, in 
 1879, some years before the advent of the handsome 
 " labels," all happily now obsolete, would not have 
 proved a matter for regret, seeing that the prices 
 have for some years been well over ;f 10 for the two. 
 
 At present, the current Five Shillings stamps of 
 Montserrat, Sierra Leone, Southern Nigeria, &c., are 
 catalogued, unused, at about 25 per cent, over face, 
 as once were the Two Rupees Fifty of Ceylon, the 
 Five Shillings St. Vincent, and the Five Shillings 
 Victoria, blue on yellow; without recommending it 
 as an investment, it is by no means impossible that 
 within twenty years from now a Montserrat Five 
 Shillings may be worth ;^io or even £1^. 
 
 Incomparable as regards romantic interest and 
 actual value, the first two stamps of Mauritius have 
 been, ever since their discovery in the 'sixties, the 
 desiderata of every collector. 
 
 Other stamps — and there are several — may be 
 rarer ; but, as examples of a genuinely necessary 
 issue, small in quantity, the One Penny and Two- 
 pence "Post Of^ce" of sixty-four years ago will 
 always be looked upon as the ultimate, even if 
 seldom attained, goal of the Philatelist. 
 
v-iTWO PK Net 
 
 THE king's copy OF THE TWO PENCE 
 '• POST OFFICE " MAURITIUS. 
 
 T'<rsiACf~S ^^^H pPOSTAcr® 
 
 THE MAGNIFICENT UNUSED COPIES OF THE ONE PENNY 
 AND TWO PENCE " POST OFFICE " MAURITIUS 
 STAMPS ACQUIRED BY HENRY J. DUVEEN, ESQ., OUT 
 OF THE COLLECTION FORMED BY THE LATE SIR 
 WILLIAM AVERY, BART. 
 
 225 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 227 
 
 Originally looked upon as errors of engraving — 
 "POST OFFICE" instead of "POST paid"— on the 
 sheets of what is now known to be the second issue 
 of Mauritius, it was many years before they took 
 their position as a rare and distinct emission ; now 
 something under thirty copies are known, and their 
 status is firmly established. 
 
 From philatelic records we learn that the first- 
 known copies changed hands for the merest trifle : 
 to-day they are catalogued at ;£"i,ooo and £1^200 
 respectively, in used condition. 
 
 In 1894 3. firm of stamp-dealers acquired a well- 
 known collector's unused mini copies of these stamps 
 at what would now be the very low price of ^680 : 
 they went into the collection of the late Sir William 
 Avery, and have now passed to another famous 
 collector at the record price of ;£^3,500 for the two. 
 
 For romance, however, nothing approaches what 
 occurred early in 1904. A collector, visiting a friend 
 resident in the north-west of London, mentioned his 
 hobby to his host, who, remarking that he once 
 collected stamps, brought out his almost- forgotten 
 schoolboy album. Looking casually through the 
 old collection, the guest saw, to his amazement, what 
 proved to be the finest known unused copy of the 
 Twopence " Post Office," purchased by its owner 
 forty years previously for a few pence : this stamp 
 was sold shortly afterwards at auction for ;^i,45o, 
 and now adorns the fine collection of Mauritius 
 stamps owned by King George V. 
 
 The quaintly designed stamps of Nevis, printed at 
 first direct from line-engraved plates, and subse- 
 
228 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 quently from lithographic stones, show a wonderful 
 increase in value, from a few shillings each in 1880 
 to three or four times the same number of pounds at 
 the present time ; then, the stamps were only just 
 obsolete, and most collectors were satisfied with one 
 or two single copies ; now, the demand is for entire 
 sheets of twelve varieties, or, failing these, from the 
 not very large supplies printed, for plates " made up " 
 from singles, pairs, and blocks, arranged in their 
 respective proper places. 
 
 The handsome " pence " issue of New Brunswick, 
 some of the similar stamps of Newfoundland, and the 
 first emission of Nova Scotia, all supplied by Messrs. 
 Perkins, Bacon & Co., those unrivalled producers of 
 postage-stamps, were, within the memory of many 
 collectors, obtainable at very low figures ; now many 
 of the values, notably the One Shilling, realise, 
 especially when " mint," very high prices indeed. 
 As an instance, it may be mentioned that a young 
 collector of thirty years ago, submitting his stamps 
 to a well-known expert, had a nice unused copy of 
 the One Shilling Nova Scotia valued at 25s., the 
 present valuation of which would be £ss- 
 
 It is related, on excellent authority, that, long ago, 
 a dealer, learning that there was a small stock of 
 these One Shilling stamps at one of the Nova Scotia 
 post-offices, forwarded a remittance to secure them : 
 he was successful in his desire, du^ the postmaster 
 had applied to each stamp a fine impression of the 
 local obliterator, possibly as a concession to the 
 then collector's presumed preference for postmarked 
 copies. 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 229 
 
 " Sydney Views," as the stamps of the first (1850) 
 issue of New South Wales have been, and probably 
 always will be, known to philatelists, afford another 
 instance of unearned increment. 
 
 Far back in the 'sixties, the period of unappreci- 
 ated but now regretted opportunities for wonderful 
 bargains, " Sydney Views " were a few pence a dozen 
 used, and about £1 a copy if unused — whether singles, 
 strips, or blocks did not matter then ; now, post- 
 marked copies are worth several times the old 
 price of unused specimens ; and for the unused, 
 from £2$ to ;^50, according to condition and absence 
 or presence of the original gum, is not unreasonable. 
 And yet, despite this enormous increase in value, at 
 a recent meeting of the Royal Philatelic Society a 
 total of 2,363 of these now scarce stamps were pro- 
 duced from the collections of fourteen members for 
 purposes of study. 
 
 Other stamps there are of New South Wales, 
 showing a great increase in value during recent 
 times, but none to compare in interest or demand 
 with the famous " Sydney Views." 
 
 New Zealand has issued many stamps, even in 
 fairly modern times, which have greatly appre- 
 ciated : a famous collector, who has recently 
 parted with most of his treasures, had sent him 
 years ago a quantity of stamps at one penny each — 
 one of them, on an examination some time after- 
 wards, turned out to be the rare perforated One 
 Penny, brown, of 1872, watermarked "NZ", and 
 now worth some £'^0 used. 
 
 Of provisional issues, limited in quantity, 
 
230 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 ephemeral of use, and the prey of speculators, 
 there are many instances ; but, though the rise 
 in value, from the original cost at the post-office, 
 is often sharp, such stamps can hardly be looked 
 upon as investments one has missed, because they 
 were never obtainable by the public at large, as 
 were the great majority of stamps now rare and 
 much sought after. 
 
 An instance of this limited and speculative 
 creation of so-called " provisionals " occurred in 
 the Niger Coast Protectorate, at the end of 1893, 
 when a very few copies of the current One Shilling 
 were surcharged " 20/-," one or two {literally) in 
 one colour, three or four in another, and so on. 
 Possibly these proved to be good speculations, 
 but they were not investments open to the man- 
 in-the-street, gifted with the most prophetic of 
 philatelic spirits. 
 
 In 1 88 1, a bond fide shortage of the Fourpence 
 stamps occurred in St. Vincent, and a small 
 quantity of the current One Shilling was over- 
 printed "4d": for some time the quotation for 
 unused copies was about thirty shillings, but now 
 the price is nearer ;^20. Other provisionals were 
 issued in St. Vincent about this time, and most of 
 them have similarly appreciated in value ; but 
 collectors little realised, even in 1881, that what 
 was then considered a full price — and grumbled 
 at as such — would ever attain to its present day 
 dimensions. The very handsome Five Shillings 
 stamp was priced five-and-twenty years ago at 
 7s. 6d. : now it costs about £1^ 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 231 
 
 Sierra Leone afforded an instance, in 1897, by 
 issuing Twopence Halfpenny provisionals, made 
 by surcharging certain fiscal stamps of the value 
 of Three Pence, Six Pence, One Shilling and Two 
 Shillings : only fourteen years ago, and yet a 
 sheet of thirty of the " 2jd." on Sixpence, costing 
 6s. 3d., is now catalogued at nearly £g^ whilst the 
 set of five varieties surcharged on the Two Shillings 
 stamp, originally costing is. ojd., is now worth £y:>. 
 
 The great rarity of South Australia is the 
 Fourpence, specially printed in blue in 1870-71, 
 to be surcharged " 3-PENCE ", but from a sheet (or 
 possibly part of a sheet) of which the new value 
 was accidentally omitted. Very few copies are 
 known, and all but two are used : the two being 
 in a " pair." 
 
 The first issue of Tasmania, then known as 
 " Van Diemen's Land," affords an instance of a 
 substantial rise during the last thirty years ; but, 
 although substantial, it is not abnormal. The 
 Fourpence, blue, of 1870-71, would have proved a 
 satisfactory investment to the purchaser of a moderate 
 quantity at its original cost, for it is now catalogued 
 at £^. 
 
 Owing to the greater part of the stock of the 
 Sixpence, stone, 1884, of Tobago, with watermark 
 of Crown " CA", having been used for a provisional 
 surcharged Halfpenny, that stamp rose from its 
 first catalogue price of about is. 3d. to its present 
 value of £'j los. No dealer seems to have obtained 
 more than a small supply of this Sixpence, and 
 the subsequent consignments from London to 
 
232 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Tobago were printed in a totally different colour, 
 orange-brown. 
 
 Practically all the stamps of the Transvaal have 
 greatly appreciated, and large sums have been 
 made by the fortunate holders of stock acquired 
 at the old 1882 figures. In an old, but well- 
 known catalogue, thirty-five stamps are priced in 
 unused state, varying from 3d. to los., the latter 
 being for a One Penny in red, on Sixpence, black, 
 of May, 1879: and sixty- four used, ranging from 
 6d. to 7s. 6d., and including amongst the inter- 
 mediate prices those of four of the May, 1879, 
 provisionals. A glance at Gibbons will show, even 
 taking the commonest varieties, a great rise all 
 round, sufficient even to satisfy a greedy investor. 
 Of minor Transvaal varieties there are many, and 
 several of these show an abnormal rise in price : 
 on the other hand, some have appreciated very 
 little. How, therefore, is the would-be speculator- 
 investor to know what to take? 
 
 In the old catalogue above referred to, some of 
 the 1 88 1 Turks' Islands provisionals are priced 
 from 6d. to 2s. each unused — presumably the 
 commonest varieties : now these stamps vary from 
 1 25. to £s for the "J", from £^ to ;^30 for the 
 "2j", and from 30s. to £7 for the "4". The One 
 Shilling, lilac, of 1873-79, largely used for the 
 above provisionals, has increased some twelve-fold 
 in value since 1882. 
 
 If the reverend gentleman who, by the help of 
 a typewriter, evolved the earliest of the 1895 
 issues of Uganda, had only a few remainders on 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 233 
 
 hand, he should reap a handsome return for his 
 original outlay of two or three hundred cowries : 
 but most probably he did not keep any, conse- 
 quently the stamps are, and will remain, scarce 
 and expensive. 
 
 The Five Shillings, Victoria, blue on yellow, is 
 a striking stamp, and its present value is somewhere 
 about £i^ unused : a very famous collection contains 
 several mint copies, which the owner once remarked 
 were " Not bad at 7s. 6d. each." 
 
 Mr. Stanley Gibbons's well-known half-sheet 
 of the Twopence, Western Australia, printed in 
 1879, in mauve, the colour of the Sixpence, affords 
 a fitting close to this cursory list of good invest- 
 ments in British Colonies : acquired at 6d. each, 
 the price to the collector was 5 s., then raised to 
 £2, and now it stands at over ;f 20. 
 
 Space precludes a similarly long list of foreign 
 stamps which have greatly appreciated ; but the 
 following examples, with early prices (as indicated) 
 and those at present asked, may be interesting, 
 showing the rises in many of the medium stamps : — 
 
 Egypt — 1st issue, set, 6s. 3d. (in 1882), now 
 £6 2s. 6d. 
 
 Oldenburg — ist issue, ^q thaler, is. (in 1882), 
 now £2. 
 
 Oldenburg — 1859-61 issues (in 1882), from 9d. 
 each ; now 4s. is the lowest, I2s. the next, and the 
 highest ;^ii. 
 
 Schleswig-Holstein — the pretty little stamps of 
 1850 were (in 1882) 9d. and is. 6d. each: they 
 have now risen to 28s. and 50s. 
 
234 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Holland — ist issue, Qd., 6d., and is. respectively 
 for the three values, unused : now 15s., 20s., and 30s. 
 
 Of the following, most, if purchased twenty years 
 ago, would now show a very handsome profit, even 
 after allowing 5 per cent, compound interest. 
 
 The Swiss Cantonals, first issue Roumania (Mol- 
 davia), tete-beche pairs of France, inverted U.S.A., 
 Paris prints of Greece, early Uruguays, some Brazils, 
 early Japans, middle-period Hawaiian Islands, Italian 
 States, early Spain and Colonies, first Samoas, first 
 Shanghais, &c. 
 
 Concerning the inverted U.S.A., it is said — though 
 these stories are often more interesting than true — 
 that a purchaser of a quantity of one of these errors 
 took them back to the post-office and had them 
 exchanged for normally printed stamps. If true, 
 the present feelings of the purchaser (if he survives) 
 on being reminded of his neglected opportunity 
 would be interesting. 
 
 Instances might be multiplied almost indefinitely 
 by comparing the prices in old and present catalogues, 
 but the instances given are sufficient to show the 
 great profits which might have been made by the 
 judicious investment of small amounts in the proper 
 stamps : large amounts would probably lower prices. 
 
 A purchase in 1882 of twenty £1 "Anchor" would 
 not lower the market if now offered for sale, but 
 ;£"500 worth would probably result in a slump. 
 
 However, it is generally a case of Hinc illce lacrymce^ 
 for the would-be traveller on the royal road to ease 
 and great wealth has either never invested at all or 
 has selected stamps which show a marked deprecia- 
 
COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT 235 
 
 tion as the years roll on — e.g.y the Fourpence Half- 
 penny of Great Britain, which was going to rise 
 abnormally, but which has been "unloaded" at, or 
 even under, " face." Only a trifling instance, but it 
 serves to show the risks of investment in stamps 
 when current or just obsolete ; it is safer to buy 
 those which have during a period of some years 
 shown an inclination to rise steadily — but then 
 investors and speculators are generally impatient 
 and won't wait. 
 
 During the late South African War, there was an 
 excessive speculation by the uninitiated among the 
 soldiers and the populace in the provisional stamps 
 overprinted "V.R.I." and " E.R.I." ; thousands ap- 
 peared to think that a few pounds invested during 
 the war would enable them to retire on reaching the 
 Strand with their booty. They all bought to sell, 
 and genuine collectors, finding the supply so exces- 
 sive, have only required a little patience to benefit 
 their pockets by acquiring at " greatly reduced prices," 
 much under " face," from the would-be get-rich-quicks 
 who wouldn't or couldn't wait. As a rule, however, 
 it is the early bird who catches the worm, and only 
 at such rare seasons of extraordinary national excite- 
 ment are excessive booms possible ; and the early 
 bird must have some solid ground of knowledge and 
 intelligence to guide him to the worm. 
 
vra 
 
 FORGERIES, 
 FAKES, AND 
 FANCIES 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 
 
 Early counterfeits and their exposers — The " honest " facsimile — 
 ** Album Weeds" — Forgeries classified — Frauds on the British 
 Post Office — Forgeries "paying" postage — The One Rupee, India 
 — Fraudulent alteration of values — The British los. and £l 
 ''Anchor " — A too-clever "fake" — Joined pairs — Drastic tests — 
 New South Wales "Views" and " Registered "—The Swiss 
 Cantonals — Government "imitations" — "Bogus" stamps. 
 
 Mr. Edward L. Pemberton, whose early writings 
 on Philately will always be regarded as little short of 
 inspired from the marvellous intuition which led him 
 to the precise and the accurate, wrote a booklet on 
 " Forged Stamps, and How to Detect Them " in 1863. 
 Already in the history of this new hobby the forger 
 had been at work catering for collectors ; it was, of 
 course, from still earlier times that the unscrupulous 
 had endeavoured to relieve Governments of some 
 portions of their revenues by counterfeiting what is 
 a kind of paper currency. Pemberton was not the 
 first author on this subject, but I turn to him because 
 he was the best of several contemporary writers in 
 this as well as in other directions. Of this superiority 
 he was not entirely unconscious, for in his " Introduc- 
 
240 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 tion " he says : " We have tested the usefulness of 
 the only English work on the ' Falsification of Postage 
 Stamps,' having gone through it carefully, and after 
 an impartial reading, feel convinced that, from the 
 vagueness of the descriptions, both of the forgeries 
 and genuine stamps, many persons testing stamps 
 from them would select the forgery as genuine, and 
 vice versd." 
 
 To satisfy (in some measure) the curiosity of his 
 readers, our early authority gives some particulars 
 of the forgers. The "first and foremost" in the 
 nefarious practice was a Zurich forger, whose pro- 
 ductions — Swiss Cantonals, Modena, Romagna, &c. 
 — had the largest circulation in Mr. Pemberton's 
 time. This gentleman (evidently well known to the 
 author) had an agent for the sale of his wares at 
 Basle, the prices of these latter being quoted at " for 
 most of the Swiss 80 cts. each used, or unused 
 I franc ; for the Orts Post and Poste Locale 50 cts. 
 each ; for Modena and Romagna 80 cts." 
 
 The dealer who occupied the second position of 
 dishonour in the estimation of this philatelic Sherlock 
 Holmes was a Brussels individual, whose provisional 
 Parma, Modena, Naples, and Spain sold largely and 
 were well executed. 
 
 These two appear to have been the leaders of the 
 counterfeiting of their time, " those indeed who have 
 made almost a trade of it " ; but there was also a 
 Brunswick dealer who " tried his hand at the Danish 
 essays," and a few forged stamps were supposed to 
 hail from Leipsic. 
 
 A couple of years later John Marmaduke Stourton, 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 241 
 
 in a brochure " How to Detect Forged Stamps," 
 gives evidence of a swarm of forgers cropping up in 
 even our own country at Glasgow, Manchester, New- 
 castle, and London, in Hamburg and New York, as 
 well as the Swiss and Belgian forgers who still plied 
 their traffic. The Glasgow productions were of the 
 " facsimile " class, and were possibly manufactured 
 with the well-intentioned but unwise endeavour to 
 provide approximately correct coloured facsimiles of 
 stamps which were too scarce to be readily accessible 
 to all collectors. The "facsimile" has no doubt 
 often been produced with the best of intentions by 
 firms of high repute, but the protecting word " fac- 
 simile " or " Falsch," or other sign by which the true 
 nature of the copy may be identified, has so often 
 been removed for fraudulent purposes after it has 
 left honest hands that there is no alternative in these 
 days of later and fuller experience to define "fac- 
 simile," so far as it relates to Philately, as, in the 
 words of my glossary, " a euphemism for a forgery." 
 It is, however, to be borne in mind by the student 
 that in the beginning of Philately there was not 
 entirely the same attitude towards the production of 
 legitimate (if any could so be called) or honest fac- 
 similes, and, indeed, a writer in one of the early 
 journals, in proposing the formation of a philatelic 
 society, suggests that one of the duties such an 
 institution could properly fulfil would be the repro- 
 duction of choice editions (copies) of rare stamps for 
 limited circulation ! Also in the Stamp Collectof^s 
 Magazine^ whose proprietors and engravers were as 
 free of just reproach as Caesar's wife, we find the 
 
 13 
 
242 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 engraver so pleased with the illustration he has pro- 
 duced for that jotirnal of the Nicaragua stamp of 
 1862 that he announces: — 
 
 " NiCARAGUAN STAMP.— Will be ready in a week. 
 A beautiful proof of the Nicaraguan Stamp (equal 
 to the original) will be sent for 13 postage-stamps. 
 Only 75 proofs of this will be taken ; each proof will 
 be numbered, and then the block burnt. An early 
 application is really necessary, 25 copies being already 
 sold. Address . . ." 
 
 These " proofs," rarer, no doubt, than the originals, 
 were endorsed editorially, and collectors unable to 
 procure the original stamp were told they " would do 
 well to provide themselves with one of these fac- 
 similes." The astute Mr. Pemberton, however, took 
 a very different view. " Although he tells every one 
 that they are merely facsimiles and not the real 
 stamps, we cannot but help thinking that he is acting 
 wrongly; for less scrupulous dealers than himself 
 will sell them as genuine. . . . Again, these imita- 
 tions are by far the best executed of any we have 
 seen. The regularly forged stamps are wretched in 
 comparison with these, and therefore all the more 
 caution will be required to detect them." So he 
 proceeds to a detailed description of the small 
 differences existing between genuine and imitation. 
 
 There is no royal road by which the collector 
 can attain to the accurate and ready discrimina- 
 tion between the right and the wrong copies of 
 stamps. Forgeries have multiplied enormously be- 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 243 
 
 tween 1863 and 191 1, so that now the standard 
 handbook by the Rev. R. B. Earee is a master- 
 piece of detail entitled " Album Weeds," occupying 
 two large volumes containing nearly 1,300 pages of 
 text. It would be idle to pretend that even the 
 expert has every description contained therein "at 
 his fingers' ends." Yet the expert is rarely deceived 
 in a stamp, even when he has not access at the 
 time to Mr. Earde's work or other references. I 
 remember an early instruction, the only one that 
 covers the subject, but I forget whence it comes. 
 It was that if you study your stamps an imper- 
 ceptible sense will come to you that will enable 
 you at once to acclaim the true and to suspect 
 if not denounce the false. 
 
 Beyond this I can only advise the reader that, 
 as a complete novice, he would be unwise to 
 purchase costly rarities and valuable stamps from 
 unknown and irresponsible persons. The novice 
 will remain a novice in these matters, unless he 
 acquires some knowledge of the differences (generally 
 readily distinguishable) between a stamp that is from 
 an engraved plate and a forgery that is, say, litho- 
 graphed or from a wood-cut. It is important to 
 remember also — at least for the new collector — 
 that strange though it may seem to him, stamps 
 really do fetch what they are considered to be 
 worth by collectors and dealers of experience, and 
 that if rare stamps are offered much below the 
 current quotation by individuals supposed to know 
 their true worth, it may often be, and generally 
 is, that the wares they have for sale are either 
 
244 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 forgeries or carefully mended copies of damaged 
 originals. 
 
 There is little danger of the collector being 
 much at the mercy of the forger if his transac- 
 tions are confined to the reputable dealers, for these 
 latter have done more to purify the honest trade 
 in stamps than can, I think, be said of the dealers 
 in the objects of other forms of collecting. They 
 have expert knowledge on their staff, and access 
 to highly specialised opinions and advice in the 
 various branches of the subject. 
 
 Personally, I do not consider the forgery question 
 nearly so serious an obstacle in Philately as in 
 other crafts. Most active stamp-collectors are com- 
 panionable with other students of the same subject, 
 and there would be little opportunity for an 
 Affaire Vrain-Lucas^ in which during a period of 
 several years a French autograph collector accumu- 
 lated 27,000 autographs for about ;£"6,ooo, mostly 
 forgeries, and all from the same source, or for such 
 a string of incidents as was exposed in the recent 
 china case in Great Britain. 
 
 Forgeries of stamps are made either for the 
 purpose of defrauding the Government or else for 
 rifling the pockets of the stamp collector ; these 
 may be classed in two groups: (i) where a stamp 
 is a forgery either in its entirety or in some added, 
 as distinguished from " altered," material detail ; 
 and (2) where a genuine stamp is so altered as 
 to apparently convert it into some other stamp. 
 The first group are generally covered in the term 
 " forgeries," the second being specially distinguished 
 
A GENUINE "PLATE 6. 
 
 THE FAMOUS "STOCK EXCHANGE" FORGERY OF THE ONE SHILLING GREEN STAMP OF ( 
 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 One specimen was used on October 31, 1872, and the other on June 13 of the next year 
 enlargements betray trifling differences in the details of the design as cornpared w 
 genuine stamp above. 
 
 845 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 247 
 
 as " fakes." There is another class dubbed " bogus," 
 or sometimes more elegantly timbres de fantasia^ 
 which comprises labels which are a pure invention, 
 and never had any genuine existence at all. 
 
 The first attack on the Post Office revenue of 
 which there is any record is the subject of a letter 
 from Downing Street, London, dated September 
 2, 1840, and addressed to the late Sir (then Mr.) 
 Rowland Hill : — " Mr. Smith has just called and 
 informed me that a forgery of the Penny Label 
 was yesterday detected in his office. The letter 
 bearing the forged stamp has been handed over 
 to the Stamp Office to be dealt with by them . . . 
 the forged stamp is a wood-cut. . . ." An entry 
 a few days later in Mr. Hill's diary reads : — 
 " At the Stamp Office I saw the forged label. 
 It is a miserable thing and could not possibly 
 deceive any except the most stupid and ignorant." 
 
 The above seems to have been an almost 
 isolated attempt to defraud the revenue, but it is 
 interesting as being the earliest known forgery, 
 appearing, as it did, within four months of the issue 
 of the first postage-stamp. 
 
 A far more romantic forgery, and one of almost 
 colossal magnitude, was discovered in 1898. About 
 that time, a large quantity of British One Shilling 
 stamps — those of the 1865 type in green, with 
 large uncoloured letters in the corners — came on 
 the market, though, as they had been used on 
 telegram forms, they ought to have been destroyed : 
 probably the guilty parties relied on this official 
 practice, not always honoured in observance, as 
 
248 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 offering a security against not merely the tracing 
 of the offence but the discovering of the fraud 
 itself. 
 
 Anyhow, after a lapse of twenty-six years, it was 
 found that amongst these one shilling stamps there 
 was a large proportion of forgeries (purporting to 
 be from plate 5), all used on July 23, 1872, 
 at the Stock Exchange Telegraph Office, London, 
 E.G. More recent discoveries show that the fraud 
 was continued for over twelve months,^ and, as 
 an indication of the precautions taken by the 
 forgers, plate 6 (which came into use in March, 
 1872) was duly imitated, although the change of 
 the small figures was a detail probably never 
 noticed by members of the general public. 
 
 According to calculations, based on the average 
 numbers used on several days, the Post Office 
 must have lost about ;^50 a day during the period 
 mentioned above. Who were the originators and 
 perpetrators of the fraud will probably never 
 be known : poss^'bly a stock-broker's clerk (or a 
 small " syndicate " of those gentlemen), or, more 
 probably, a clerk in the Post Office itself It 
 was an ingenious fraud, well planned and cleverly 
 carried out at a minimum of risk, and, but for 
 the market for old stamps, it would never have 
 been discovered. 
 
 Amongst foreign countries, Spain has been the 
 
 greatest sufferer from forgery: her numerous, and 
 
 until recent times almost yearly, issues were mainly 
 
 necessitated by the circulation of counterfeits, which 
 
 * See Thi Postage Stamps vi. 153. 
 
FOEGEEIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 249 
 
 appeared on letters within a very short time after 
 each new series of stamps had been put on sale. 
 
 Some of the old Italian States, particularly 
 Naples and the Neapolitan Provinces, were defrauded 
 of part of their revenue by numerous forgeries of 
 some of their stamps ; and in these cases, as in 
 that of Spain, letters survive on which the postage 
 has been entirely, or in part, " paid " by means 
 of counterfeits. 
 
 An ingenious fraud on the Indian Post Office 
 was discovered in 1890, through the care with 
 which collectors frequently examine their stamps. 
 The One Rupee, slate, of the 1882-88 issue, very 
 cleverly imitated, was found to be frequently 
 coming to this country on letters from Bombay, 
 and police inquiries, made on the information of 
 a well-known philatelist, led to the detection of the 
 culprit ; he, it seems, engraved a facsimile on box- 
 wood, and printed his stamps, one by one, on 
 paper as similar as possible to the genuine, but 
 without watermark ; the perforation he effected by 
 placing the printed label between two plates of 
 thin metal each with holes corresponding to the 
 intended perforations, and then, by the aid of a 
 blunt wire, punching out the small circular pieces 
 of paper ! 
 
 Other instances have been noted, but those 
 given are the best known, and serve as good 
 examples of frauds against Post Offices, so far as 
 forgery of the entire stamp is concerned ; but, of 
 recent years, a new kind of fraud has come into 
 vogue — the alteration of a genuine stamp into one 
 
250 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 of a much higher denomination, affecting British 
 Colonies only. 
 
 The possibility of this has resulted from the 
 desire of the authorities to print the majority of 
 colonial stamps, available for postal or fiscal 
 purposes, in two colours — one being distinctive of 
 the particular value, and the other a purple or 
 green, very susceptible to any attempt to remove 
 an obliteration or cancellation, whether by the 
 Post Office or by a member of the public : by the 
 latter, in writing-ink. 
 
 The modus operandi is ingenious — a stamp is 
 selected, of which nearly the whole design is, say, 
 in green, the name and (low) value being in some 
 distinctive colour ; the original value and name 
 are removed by chemical means, the name and 
 new (high) value being substituted in a colour 
 applicable to the higher denomination — ^result, if 
 the work be carefully done, a stamp which would 
 deceive not only the ordinary official (who is 
 seldom of real philatelic inclinations) but even, at 
 first glance, the average collector, unless he is on 
 the look-out for such " fakes," which, as a matter 
 of fact, have been made for his delectation also. 
 
 As has been remarked, the number of forgeries 
 made to deceive collectors has been immeasurably 
 greater than of those prepared for defrauding the 
 Revenue ; and it has been endeavoured to select 
 some of the most daring, and often successful, 
 attempts to palm off a clever forgery as a genuine 
 — generally rare, but sometimes quite common — 
 postage-stamp. 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 251 
 
 In 1903, taking our own country first, an attempt 
 was made to place on the market unused copies 
 of the rare Ten Shillings and One Pound stamps 
 of 1878-83, printed on Large Anchor paper, and 
 perforated 14 : these were almost at once discovered 
 by Mr. Nissen, the same philatelist who first 
 noticed the One Shilling (plate 5) counterfeits used 
 at the Stock Exchange Post Office, to be ex- 
 ceedingly clever forgeries. They were, save for a 
 slight lack of finish in the finer details, practically 
 of design identical with that of the original stamps ; 
 the colours were well matched, and, most deceptive 
 of all, the paper and perforation were undoubtedly 
 genuine. This timely discovery nipped the forgers' 
 schemes in the bud, but, some eight years subse- 
 quently, the lower of these two forged stamps 
 came agam on the market, this time provided with 
 a neat, though fraudulent, postmark. 
 
 So far as can be judged from the examination 
 of specimens of this forgery, the paper used was 
 that on which were printed certain " Inland 
 Revenue " stamps — probably the Threepence, 
 which alone was watermarked and perforated as 
 were the two stamps imitated ; but possibly other 
 fiscals also were used — the colour being chemically 
 removed, leaving a blank piece of paper, properly 
 and genuinely watermarked and perforated, all 
 ready to receive the fraudulent imitation. An 
 undoubtedly clever, but almost unsuccessful, fraud 
 on collectors ; though rumour has it that a well- 
 known philatelist, usually credited with capability 
 to protect himself, was a victim for a substantial 
 sum, as the price of an unused " Pound Anchor " 1 
 
252 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 A recently attempted fraud — this time of the 
 kind known as a " fake " — has been, it is hoped, 
 successfully exposed. As is well known, especially 
 to collectors of British stamps, the first Twopence 
 Halfpenny stamp, issued in 1875, shows an error 
 of corner-lettering on plate 2 : the twelfth and last 
 stamp in the eighth horizontal row should have 
 been lettered " L.H- — H.L." but, through want of 
 care, actually bore the letters " L.H. — F.L." This 
 error, especially in unused condition, is scarce, and 
 the faker has naturally made an effort to supply 
 the deficiency. 
 
 Obviously, the easiest way to manufacture this 
 error is to select a stamp from plate 2 with the 
 lettering of " L.F. — F.L." (the last stamp in the 
 sixth row), and alter the first "F" into "H", with 
 hope of probable success because the collector's 
 criticism would naturally (if wrongly) be concen- 
 trated on the incorrect letter in the lower left-hand 
 corner. Unfortunately for the "fake," which was 
 very well executed, its creator, wishing no doubt 
 to enhance its value, had left the "error" in pair 
 with the eleventh stamp in the same row: result, 
 a very nice pair from the sixth row, lettered 
 *' K.F.— F.K.", " LH.—F.L.", showing (as a con- 
 sequence of being in pair) a mistake — " H " for " F " 
 in the upper right-hand corner. This, of course, 
 condemned the error at once, but the example 
 serves to show how very careful one must be, and 
 how necessary it is to examine and consider every 
 circumstance in connection with the particular 
 stamp under observation. 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 253 
 
 There are two varieties of stamps, differing from 
 the normal through some slip in the process of 
 manufacture — bicoloured stamps, in which the 
 portion printed in one colour is inverted as regards 
 the remainder of the design, caused by carelessness 
 in " feeding " the partly-printed sheet wrong way 
 up into the press, for the second impression com- 
 pleting the design ; and pairs of stamps, which, 
 each quite normal if severed, are when se tenant 
 inverted in respect to each other, a condition 
 philatelically termed tete-beche. 
 
 The fraudulent manipulator has turned his atten- 
 tion to these, generally scarce and frequently very 
 rare, eccentricities, cutting out from the bicoloured s, 
 stamp the part printed in one colour and replacing 
 it with great care, but upside down ; and, as to 
 the tete-beche pairs, manufacturing them by means 
 of two single copies, a strong adhesive mixture 
 and heavy pressure. 
 
 Sometimes, so well have these frauds been made 
 that nothing short of several hours' boiling has 
 sufficed to dissolve the illegal union of the two 
 pieces of paper — a drastic test, and one somewhat 
 detrimental to the value of such copies as are 
 enabled, by their genuineness, to survive the ordeal. 
 The possible result to, say, a mint imperforate 
 Fourpence, Ceylon, suspected of having recently 
 acquired its otherwise desirable " margins," reminds 
 me of the test given (not advocated) by a famous 
 philatelist for the detection of forgeries of early 
 Cashmere stamps, which were printed in water- 
 colour — " Put them in water ; if the colour is * fast * 
 
254 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 the stamp is a forgery ; if it comes off, leaving a 
 blank piece of paper, the stamp is genuine " ! 
 
 A famous forgery was put on the market some 
 years ago, the stamp imitated being the One Penny 
 value of the well-known first issue of New South 
 Wales, commonly called "Sydney Views." This 
 stamp was issued in sheets of twenty-five, each repe- 
 tition of the design being separately engraved on the 
 plate and so giving twenty-five minor varieties ; and 
 subsequently the entire plate was re-cut, doubling 
 the number of varieties for the specialist. The forger 
 engraved his fraudulent wares and printed the labels, 
 as were the originals, direct from the plate, in a very 
 good imitation of the ink used in 1850 and on 
 similar paper; and these reproductions, often in 
 pairs, were affixed to old envelopes and cancelled 
 with forged postmarks. 
 
 So well executed were these forgeries that sus- 
 picions as to their character were not raised until an 
 endeavour was made to ascertain the original posi- 
 tions on the sheet of these desirable (?) specimens : 
 then it was found that the details of design did not 
 tally with those of any of the known varieties, and 
 the career of yet another forgery was brought (some- 
 what tardily) to an untimely end. 
 
 Watermarks in the paper were for many years a 
 stumbling-block to the counterfeiter, and practically 
 all the old and generally poorly lithographed forgeries 
 were on plain paper : nowadays, however, the water- 
 mark is imitated by actually thinning the paper 
 where necessary, or by impressing it with a die cut 
 to resemble the design, or by painting the "water- 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 255 
 
 mark " on the back with an oily composition which 
 renders the paper slightly transparent, and so 
 apparently thinner. 
 
 In a comparatively recent forgery of the Registra- 
 tion stamp of New South Wales sent by a corre- 
 spondent, the counterfeit was produced by the same 
 process (from line-engraved plates) as the original ; 
 the watermark showed very distinctly when the label 
 was placed face down, but was not visible at all when 
 held up to the light : it was a " paint " mark in a 
 very faint tint of the ink used for printing that part 
 of the forgery where it appeared. 
 
 Occasionally, but it must be admitted not very 
 often, forgeries are so inscribed. A notable instance 
 is the series of large handsome stamps issued by the 
 United States during 1875-95 for payment of the 
 postage on newspapers, singly or in bulk, and ranging 
 from one cent to the high value of one hundred 
 dollars : on each of these particular counterfeits the 
 word " Falsch " was engraved as part of the design, 
 and " Facsimile " was printed across the central por- 
 tion of the stamp. 
 
 Practically the same course was adopted in the 
 native manufacture of forged sets of the early 
 Japanese stamps, the counterfeits (which were pro- 
 duced by the same process as the originals) being 
 marked in the design with two microscopic characters 
 signifying " facsimile " : unfortunately for the honest 
 intention of the forger to give due notice of the 
 spuriousness of his productions, the incriminating 
 letters are so small that a carefully applied post- 
 mark is apt to completely hide them. 
 
256 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Some stamps have been very extensively forged : 
 for instance, of the 2j rappen issued in the Swiss 
 Canton of Basle, in 1845, no less than seventeen 
 distinct counterfeits have been detected. The stamp, 
 of which an embossed dove carrying a letter in 
 its beak is the central part of the design, is 
 tricoloured — pale greenish blue, dull crimson and 
 black — and, in common with most of the other Swiss 
 Cantonals, is becoming rare. Copies have also been 
 faked by thinning down card proofs of the genuine 
 impression and adding gum. 
 
 Of the rarest Cantonal stamp, usually known as 
 the " double Geneva," and consisting of two stamps 
 of 5 centimes each, joined at the top by a long label 
 inscribed with the aggregate value of 10 centimes, 
 fifteen (probably more) forgeries are known ; and as 
 the entire stamp is priced at £'j^ unused and £2Z 
 used, it is naturally worth the counterfeiter's while to 
 persist in the improvement of his imitations, with 
 little hope, however, of attaining a perfection sufficient 
 to defy discovery. 
 
 Individuals, however, are not the only forgers of 
 postage-stamps : Governments, too, in their anxiety 
 to provide so-called "reprints" for sale to dealers 
 and collectors, have not hesitated to supply the 
 necessary dies and plates, replacing those originally 
 A. ^ used and long since cancelled ; and some have sunk 
 so low as to deliberately manufacture counterfeits, 
 and sell them as genuine stamps out of a supposed 
 stock left on hand ! 
 ^^r*^ A reprint is an impression from the old original 
 
 die, plate, or stone, taken after the stamp has become 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 257 
 
 obsolete ; but prints from a new die, however faithful 
 a copy it may be, can only be correctly given one 
 name — forgery. 
 
 In 1875, the United States Government, desiring to 
 exhibit a complete series of their postage-stamps, and 
 finding that the original dies and plates used for 
 production of the Five and Ten Cents, 1847, were not 
 available, ordered new dies to be cut : impressions 
 from these, though closely approaching the originals, 
 can be distinguished therefrom by certain minute but 
 well-defined differences in the design. 
 
 The first issue of Fiji — a series printed from 
 ordinary printers' type at the office of a local 
 newspaper, and known amongst philatelists as the 
 " Fiji Times Express " stamps — has been twice " re- 
 printed " from a special setting-up of similar type ; 
 but, as the original printing forme had been "dis- 
 tributed," even a re-setting of the actual type would 
 produce little less than a forgery of a class euphem- 
 istically described as " official imitations." 
 
 The greatest sinners in this respect were the 
 officials at Jassy, Roumania, who, in response to 
 numerous applications for copies of the four very 
 rare stamps of July, 1858, caused to be made, at 
 different times, no less than three varying types of 
 the 54, 81, and 108 paras — which they sold as 
 genuine. It was only in the late 'seventies that this 
 official fraud was thoroughly exposed. 
 
 As I have indicated, it is impossible, within the 
 limits of a single chapter, to do more than touch the 
 fringe of the subject of forgery and " faking," and the 
 dissection of a few skilful imitations would not 
 
258 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 materially add to the warning which the previous 
 few pages will have conveyed — that the interest 
 taken by the forger in Philately is a purely mercenary 
 one, detrimental to our scientific hobby and damaging 
 to our pockets ; the collector must always be on the 
 defensive and on the look-out for pitfalls, not relying 
 too much on a guarantee of genuineness (which only 
 secures reimbursement of money paid) to prevent the 
 admission into his album of a forgery or clever fake. 
 
 The prevalence of forgery — and the almost equally 
 reprehensible "reprinting" — should be no insur- 
 mountable obstacle to the collector ; rather it should 
 be a spur to prick the sides of his intent to intimate 
 study and patient research. By collecting in a 
 thorough and scientific manner, the collector will so 
 impress on his memory the general features of the 
 majority of the world's issues, together with the 
 details of the safeguards afforded by paper, water- 
 mark and perforation, that the first glimpse at a 
 forgery or fake will reveal a something which at once 
 rouses suspicion that the particular label is not the 
 legitimate offspring of the Post Office. 
 
 The " bogus " stamp, that is, the fraudulent label 
 which has never existed as an original, is not to be 
 feared : standard catalogues of the present day con- 
 tain a practically accurate list of the designs of all 
 issued stamps, and information as to new issues is so 
 widely disseminated by the philatelic press that the 
 chances of successfully placing a bogus stamp or 
 issue are very small. 
 
 There have been frauds of this kind, but they are 
 so few, and their character is so easily ascertained 
 
FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES 259 
 
 from the perusal of any catalogue deserving of the 
 name, that it will suffice to merely mention two or 
 three countries which have had bogus issues foisted 
 on them. 
 
 A place supposed to be named Sedang and said to 
 be ruled by a Frenchman was credited with a set of 
 stamps for its non-existent Post Office ; Brunei, in 
 1895 or thereabouts, was reported to have issued a 
 set of stamps, which eventually turned out to be the 
 private speculation of some European trader ; and 1 
 Cordoba (a province of Argentina) had her two 
 legitimate stamps of 5 and 10 centavos supplemented 
 by four higher values of similar design made for the j 
 delectation of collectors. 
 
 There are a good many more, including the so- 
 called issues for Clipperton Island, Torres Straits, 
 Principality of Trinidad, Counani (the character of 
 these last named is, I believe, still contested), Spits- 
 bergen ; and certain labels purporting to hail from 
 Hayti, Hawaii, German East Africa, and Mozambique. 
 
 For the novice it may be well to add that the 
 absence of a variety of a known stamp from the 
 catalogue does not necessarily signify that it must be 
 so rare in that particular form that it is unknown to 
 the cataloguer. It may, of course, be a new dis- 
 covery, but it is not less likely to be a variety which 
 has been built up by some one interested in beguiling 
 you with a fancy of his own. Forgers have been 
 known to add new denominations to the sets of 
 stamps they have been counterfeiting, that is to say, 
 bearing face values unknown in the genuine series, 
 and sometimes fictitious overprints or surcharges are 
 
 14 
 
260 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 applied to genuine stamps. The most remarkable 
 instance of the latter I can recall is the " Two Cents " 
 overprint on the 3 cents brown on yellow Sarawak, 
 which even the local authorities had come to believe 
 in as having been applied by an up-country official 
 in need of Two Cents stamps, but which were sur- 
 charged in London, where the dies of the surcharge 
 and the very genuine-looking combinations of post- 
 marks were subsequently found during an important 
 cause celebre. 
 
IX 
 
 FAMOUS 
 COLLECTIONS 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 
 
 The "mania" in the 'sixties — Some wonderful early collections — 
 The first auction sale — Judge Philbrick and his collection — The 
 Image collection — Lord Crawford's ** United States " and '* Great 
 Britain" — Other great modem collections — M. la Renotiere's 
 "legions of stamps" — Synopsis of sales of collections. 
 
 To fail to emphasise the broadly democratic 
 character of the world of stamp collectors would 
 be to overlook an important aspect of the popularity 
 of this science, or, as it is to the majority, the 
 " hobby " of stamps. I have already indicated the 
 dual side of the collecting in the 'sixties, when 
 the boy-collector predominated in numbers, but the 
 adult student had the influence that gave " Philately" 
 or " Timbrologie " a permanent place among the 
 recreative studies. A note on the " Postage Stamp 
 Exchange " in The Express^ in April, 1 862, indicates 
 the benevolent toleration on the part of the out- 
 side public and the press concerning the new " mania." 
 "... We may mention that the mania has been 
 increased in such a degree as to lead to the for- 
 mation of a postage-stamp exchange, the locality 
 being Change Alley, leading out of Birchin Lane. 
 
264 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 There every evening about fifty boys, and some men^ 
 tooy may be seen industriously exchanging old dis- 
 figured stamps, most of which are carefully fastened 
 in books. The earnestness and assiduity with 
 which the * trade ' is carried on is very remarkable." 
 
 "'Some men, too,'" says Mr. Mount Brown in 
 sending me the paragraph, "is very lovely." It 
 would be idle to disguise the fact that the mantle 
 of bare toleration of the " mania " has not been 
 entirely discarded by the uninitiated, and it has 
 been a very disconcerting privilege to have for 
 chairmen at lectures on postage-stamps, at literary 
 and scientific institutions, gentlemen who have in- 
 troduced the subject by confessing that they had 
 once been collectors themselves, but that was when 
 they were at school. The press, however, has shown 
 a greater respect for the substantial basis of scientific 
 interest which underlies the hobby, and to-day 
 The Daily Telegraphy which has led the modern 
 journalism in the matter of regular specialised 
 articles, has its column of " Postage Stamp " notes 
 every week, and so too has The Evening News. 
 
 To-day, the press frequently discusses interesting 
 new issues of stamps, and much publicity is now 
 given to that argumentum ad populum^ the remark- 
 able prices which are constantly being realised in 
 the stamp-market. Considering that stamp-collect- 
 ing can scarcely be regarded as having started prior 
 to 1 860-6 1, the prices of stamps quickly attained 
 respectable proportions. In The Young Ladies' 
 Journal of December 14, 1864, there is this 
 paragraph : — 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 265 
 
 " We had almost heard nothing of late of the 
 postage-stamp collecting mania, till suddenly the 
 formidable announcement is made by advertisement 
 that an amateur is ready to sell his collection — 
 for what sum would it be thought? — nothing less 
 than ^250." 
 
 Had the doubting Thomas ^ (for I dare say 
 gentlemen edited ladies' papers in those days, much 
 as they undertake the duties of " Aunt Molly " and 
 the " Editress's Confidences " in the ladies' journals 
 of to-day) had the foresight to buy a collection worth 
 ;^250 in 1864, it would have been worth not less 
 than, say, ;^25,ooo, probably more, to-day. 
 
 The collecting of stamps has at all times in the 
 history of Philately been enjoyed by young and 
 old, by men and women of all ranks and stations. 
 Kings have shared this pastime with the humblest 
 of their subjects, and do so to this day. His Majesty 
 King George V. once wrote of stamp-collecting 
 to a friend that " it is one of the greatest pleasures 
 of my life." A letter "enthusing" on the delights 
 of stamp-hunting reached me the other day from 
 a correspondent who claimed to be "only a work- 
 
 * Earlier in the same year this boudoir gossiper had answered no 
 fewer than three correspondents, '* Mercury," *' Daniel," and '* Milly " 
 at one shot thus ; '* We cannot encourage * exchanging foreign stamps,' 
 for we do not see the smallest good resulting from it. This foreign 
 stamp-collecting has been a mania, which is at length dying out. 
 Were the stamps works of art, then the collecting them might be 
 justified. Were they, in short, anything but bits of defaced printing, 
 totally worthless, we would try to say something in their favour. There 
 are now so many lithographic forgeries in the market that he is 
 the cleverest of the clever who can detect the spurious stamps from 
 the true." — The Young Ladies' Journal^ April 27, 1864. 
 
286 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 ing-man.'* There are few old stagers amongst 
 collectors who have not encountered, and perhaps 
 even been stimulated by, the boastful eagerness 
 with which a youngster in his 'teens tells you of 
 bargains got from Gibbons's books, or of a rare 
 "snap," an unnoticed variety priced as the normal 
 from Peckitt. For the Strand is full of bargains 
 to-day, to the personal hunter who has the right 
 knowledge. 
 
 Having alluded to the wide differences in ages 
 and in stations of collectors throughout the phila- 
 telic period 1862-1911, it will be interesting to 
 follow the more notable collections in their vicissi- 
 tudes. M. Alfred Potiquet, one of the very earliest 
 collectors, whose catalogue is of extreme rarity in 
 its first edition, was probably an almost solitary 
 example of the collector of unused stamps only, 
 in the first days of the hobby. It is strange that 
 in these later days the collectors on the Continent, 
 almost to a man, prefer used stamps. But to 
 return to Potiquet : he was probably the first 
 collector of importance to sell his collection out- 
 right, which he did about the time the second 
 edition of his catalogue was issued by Lacroix. 
 The collection was a small one, about five hundred 
 stamps, all unused, and he sold the lot to Edard 
 de Laplante in 1862 for five hundred francs, of which 
 sum the purchaser had to borrow one half to complete 
 the deal. But, if the reader considers that five 
 hundred francs represents approximately ;£^20, he 
 will appreciate the purchaser's bargain when told 
 that the collection included the New Brunswick is. 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 267 
 
 (representing to-day £70) ; the Nova Scotia is. 
 {£SS~£^S to-day) ; the Natal 3d. and 6d. embossed 
 in plain relief, which now are almost unattainable, 
 except as reprints ; Tuscany's 60 crazie (now 
 worth ^35) and the i soldo {£7 to £%)\ and the 
 4 and 5 centimes " Poste Locale " stamps of the 
 transitional period of Switzerland, which catalogue 
 at £100 and £10 respectively ; and add to these 
 many of the early issues of the Americas, the 
 prices ot which are now leaping up in the 
 catalogues, and of which we know Potiquet to have 
 had a good number, including the very rare error, 
 the half-peso of Peru, printed in rose-red instead 
 of yellow, through a transfer of that denomination 
 getting mixed up in the making up of the litho- 
 graphic stone for the i peseta. The above error 
 is priced £1^ used, but an unused copy would be 
 worth very considerably more. He had also the 
 I real and 2 reales of the Pacific Steam Naviga- 
 tion Company stamps, on blued paper. 
 
 Who was the amateur whose collection was 
 referred to in the Young Ladies' Journal in 1864? 
 It was possibly the " long cherished album " of 
 that "worthy embodiment of Christian and gentle- 
 man," the Rev. F. Stainforth, the chief gems of which 
 passed about this time into the possession of Mr. 
 Philbrick. What price the reverend invalid (he 
 survived the sale but eighteen months) received 
 has not been handed down to us, but as Mr. Stain- 
 forth had been in the swim from the beginning, 
 as he was a ready and high bidder for "any real 
 or supposed rarity," and as his album was a general 
 
268 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 reference collection at the Saturday afternoon 
 rendezvous at the rectory of All Hallows, London 
 Wall, it goes without saying that it was rich in 
 stamps that to-day would be of the greatest value. 
 At least two of the St. Louis Postmaster stamps 
 were included. The first " Patimus " British Guiana 
 known was in the Stainforth collection, a rarity 
 with the motto of the colony Damns petimusque 
 vicissim^ wrongly spelt "patimus," an error which, 
 as Mr. Edward L. Pemberton pointed out, laid 
 the colonists open to " the charge of selecting that 
 which was beyond their ability to spell," but which 
 was purely an engraver's error. The Stainforth 
 collection was also rich in the American locals, 
 and it was to this collection that Mr. Mount Brown 
 was indebted for the useful lists of these stamps 
 in his catalogues. From the little we know of 
 the reverend gentleman's collection, we may be sure 
 it would have well justified the remarkable price 
 of ;£'25o even in 1864 or 1865. 
 
 Few — very few — collectors of that period, and 
 indeed of later times, withstood the temptations of 
 a rapidly rising market or the emergencies of 
 pecuniary embarrassments ; many sold their col- 
 lections when prices seemed to be great but were, 
 as events have proved, still in their early stages. 
 One collector retained his collection from 1859 to 
 1896: its owner, Mr. W. Hughes-Hughes, of the 
 Inner Temple, started collecting in the former year, 
 but ceased active collecting in 1874, from which 
 time his album was latent until 1896 — with the 
 exception of some items lent for display at the 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 269 
 
 London Exhibition of 1890. Happily for our 
 instruction, Mr. Hughes-Hughes was one of those 
 methodical men who keep a strict account of 
 expenditures, and he had spent £6(^ on his stamp- 
 collection in those fifteen years. In 1896 he sold 
 that collection for ;£"3,ooo. It was then cheap at 
 the latter price, for it contained among its 2,900 
 varieties a yellow Austrian " Mercury " unused ; a 
 4 cents British Guiana of 1856, on blue "sugar" 
 paper; the I2d. black of Canada unused; plate 77 
 of the id. Great Britain unused ; and, mirabile dictUy 
 an unused copy of the 4d. red " woodblock " error 
 of the Cape of Good Hope, a stamp which afterwards 
 fetched ;^50o. One could go on to the rare used 
 stamps, and so " pile on the agony," but let it suffice 
 for the present to say that the collection contained 
 many gems, especially in those classic early issues 
 of Victoria, Trinidad, Mauritius, France, Reunion 
 (the 15 centimes), Mexico, Naples (the J Tornese in 
 both types), Tuscany, Saxony, &c., the very names 
 of which countries conjure up for the present-day 
 philatelist visions of pocket-money for millionaires. 
 Hying back to the Continent, the troubles in 
 France led to considerable disruption of the phila- 
 telic life, and no doubt many collectors and their 
 albums were parted. M. Oscar Berger-Levrault 
 was the producer of the earliest privately printed 
 lists of stamps. His firm of typographical printers, 
 which had been established in Strasburg (the city 
 of Gutenberg associations), had to move from Stras- 
 burg to Nancy, as a result of the German annexa- 
 tion of Alsace and Lorraine. The work of setting 
 
270 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 up, in a new centre, establishments for his four 
 hundred workmen left M. Berger-Levrault no time 
 for stamps from 1870 to 1873, and this lapse in the 
 continuity of his collection was so serious a gap 
 that he decided to sell, especially as he had to 
 undertake long bibliographical researches into his 
 family history. He has told us something of his 
 collection, but not the price it realise^! in 1873. 
 Here is a brief statistical outline : — 
 
 Contents of the collection, September, 1861 . 
 
 .. Stamps 673 
 
 „ „ „ August, 1862 
 
 „ 1,142 
 
 „ „ „ April, 1863 
 
 „ 1.553 
 
 July, 1864 ... 
 
 „ 1,857 
 
 These figures are without counting varieties of 
 shade. In 1870 the collection contained 10,400 
 stamps in all, including 6,300 unused, and more than 
 1,400 genuine essays. " I was only short of fifty 
 postage-stamps known at that date," he writes, 
 " as also a certain number of Australian stamps, with 
 their various watermarks, which I had begun to 
 study towards 1866, with my old friends and col- 
 laborators, F. A. Philbrick and Dr. Magnus." ^ 
 
 Here indeed was a collection, probably as near 
 to the collector's elusive ideal of completeness as 
 has ever been attained in a general collection. 
 Writing from memory, in January, 1890, he gives 
 the following list of special items he remembers to 
 have been amongst the 6,300 unused stamps : — 
 
 ' The pseudonym of Dr. Legrand. 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 
 
 271 
 
 Bergedorf 
 
 .. Nov. I, 
 
 186I 
 
 ... J sch. violet. 
 3 sch. rose. 
 
 Saxony 
 
 ... 
 
 1850 
 
 ... 3pf. 
 
 Great Britain 
 
 ... 
 
 1840 
 
 ... id.V.R, 
 
 Switzerland : Zurich 
 
 ... 
 
 1843 
 
 ... 4 rapp. 
 
 >j j> 
 
 
 M 
 
 ... 6 rapp. 
 
 „ "Vaud" 
 
 ... 
 
 — 
 
 ... 4 centimes. 
 
 »> »» 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 ... 5 
 
 Tuscany 
 
 ... 
 
 1849 
 
 ... I soldo. 
 
 )) 
 
 ... 
 
 M 
 
 ... 2 soldi. 
 
 >> 
 
 ... 
 
 J) 
 
 ... 60 crazie. 
 
 Naples 
 
 
 i860 
 
 ... ^T. arms. 
 
 >» 
 
 ... 
 
 »i 
 
 ... J T. cross. 
 
 Reunion 
 
 ... 
 
 I85I 
 
 ... 15 centimes. 
 
 »> 
 
 ... 
 
 »> 
 
 ... 30 centimes. 
 
 "Indies" 
 
 
 1854 
 
 ... J anna red. 
 
 New Zealand 
 
 ... 
 
 1855 
 
 ... IS. 
 
 New Brunswick 
 
 ... 
 
 1857 
 
 ... IS. 
 
 Nova Scotia 
 
 ... 
 
 1857 
 
 ... IS. 
 
 British Guiana 
 
 ... 
 
 1856 
 
 ... 4 cents carmine. 
 
 Peru 
 
 ... 
 
 1858 
 
 ... i peso. 
 
 Buenos Ayres 
 
 ... April 
 
 1858 
 
 ... 3 pesos. 
 
 »» >» 
 
 »» 
 
 t) 
 
 ... 4 pesos red. 
 
 »» »> 
 
 >» 
 
 »» 
 
 ... 4 „ brown. 
 
 >> >» 
 
 »i 
 
 )» 
 
 ... 5 „ orange. 
 
 >> >> 
 
 Oct. 
 
 n 
 
 ... 4 rl. brown. 
 
 )> a 
 
 >> 
 
 >> 
 
 I peso brown 
 (:IN Ps). 
 
 j> j> 
 
 Jan. 
 
 1859 
 
 ... ipesoblue(:INPs) 
 
 »> >> 
 
 if 
 
 >> 
 
 I „ „ (TOPS) 
 
 " On the other hand, Spain, without its colonies, 
 was represented in my collection for the period of 
 1850 to the end of 1856 by 79 unused stamps, 80 
 postmarked stamps, 8 essays of the Madrid stamp 
 (bear), and was very complete." Even on the ex- 
 tenuated scale of the modern Gibbons catalogue, 
 the total of varieties of the issues 1850-56 only 
 numbers 125. 
 
272 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 The first four-figure price for a stamp collection 
 was obtained in 1878, when the magnificent collec- 
 tion of Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart, K.C.M.G., was 
 transferred to the ownership of Mr. Philbrick, Q.C., 
 for ;£'3,ooo. Sir Daniel's public career, chiefly in con- 
 nection with the promotion of "Advance, Australia ! ", 
 is still well remembered, but it is significant of the 
 character of the assemblages at Mr. Stainforth's 
 rectory that this distinguished Australian should 
 have been one of their most active promoters in 1861 
 and the following years. He was, with Mr. Philbrick, 
 one of the founders of the Philatelic Society in 
 1869, and was the first of the line of distinguished 
 occupants of the presidential chair of the now 
 Royal Philatelic Society. It is only natural that, 
 with his intimate associations with Australia, 
 the early stamps of that continent and of New 
 Zealand should figure strongly in his collection. 
 It was he who supplied the data which enabled the 
 young philatelic giant, Mr. E. L. Pemberton, to 
 announce the existence of a pre-Rowland Hill 
 stamped envelope in New South Wales, leading 
 to the discovery of the embossed letter-sheets of 
 Sydney, 1838. 
 
 On March 18, 1872, there was held the first 
 auction of rare postage-stamps at the rooms of 
 Messrs. Sotheby, in Wellington Street, London. 
 The experiment was made with what was described 
 as a portion of an American collection, and the only 
 reason the whole collection was not offered was that 
 the time of the public was too valuable to spread 
 over three days ! A criticism in the columns of 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 273 
 
 The Philatelical Journal oi April 15, 1872, attributes 
 some of the prices, even then considered low, to the 
 distrust of amateurs when the owner was bidding. 
 I give a few of the prices realised. Lot 6 was the 
 IS cents error, United States, 1869, with the frame 
 inverted : " This fetched a good priced' in the opinion 
 of the contemporary philatelic writer, being knocked 
 down to Mr. Atlee for 36s. My friend, Mr. E. B. 
 Power, in his priced work " United States Stamps," 
 1909, prices this stamp at $2,500 unused, $150 
 used. Lot 12 was a 5 cents Brattleboro : " a beauty, 
 was bought in at £1 ; it would have sold well but 
 for the owner's bidding," &c. I suppose a Brattle- 
 boro, especially " a beauty," would find ready com- 
 petition in three figures to-day. Other lots bought 
 in were : — 
 
 Lot 15, St. Louis, all three varieties of the 5c. ... £2 13s. 
 
 Lot 16, „ „ „ „ IOC. ... £2 7s. 
 
 Lot 17, „ 20c., "unique" ... £(). 
 
 Lot 1 8, „ 20 c, "variety not unique" ... ;[^8 12s. 
 
 The 5 cent St. Louis used is now catalogued at 
 ;f 25, and the 10 cent at £10 ; a pair of the 
 20 cents, these stamps being part of the treasure- 
 trove of the celebrated find of 1895, was sold in 
 the 'nineties for ;£'i,026. Some of the Blood locals 
 were bought in, but Mr. Pemberton secured for £^ 
 a copy of the very rare pink Jefferson Market P.O. 
 stamp. 
 
 " Here," says our chronicler, " occurred something 
 amusing ; the auctioneer probably fancied that as 
 this was unique and exciting competition, it was a 
 
274 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 handsome stamp, so as the bidding rose described it 
 as 'beautifully engraved,' which created great 
 laughter, for it was a foully hideous thing, and the 
 engraving apparently done by a blind man with 
 a skewer." Altogether there were many rare 
 American locals, the majority of which fell to Sir 
 Daniel Cooper, Mr. Atlee, and Mr. Pemberton. 
 Then came "some miscellaneous lots, sets of 
 used, &c., of which some fetched exorbitant prices, 
 for instance, four varieties of 5 cents, green, eagle, 
 Bolivia, were sold for 14s., the 5 cent lilac for 23s., 
 the 10 cent brown for 17s. The early Luzons 
 (Philippines), used, were good lots and the 5 and 
 10 cent 1854, with i and 2 rs., fetched in the aggregate 
 £6 9s., so they were no bargain." 
 
 Lot 1 50 was the J T. Naples, arms type, bought in 
 for 40s., and the cross type was bought in for 9s. 
 Lot 160 was "a remarkably good 13 cent of the 
 commoner type of the 1852 figure Sandwich Islands, 
 which the owner boldly started at £6 and bought in 
 for an additional ten shillings, a very full price 
 indeed!' Nevertheless it would have cost £go or 
 more to-day. 
 
 The record of this sale deserves more attention 
 than I am able to give it here : the event was cer- 
 tainly one of extraordinary interest, though it was 
 considered at the time something of a failure, and 
 was not repeated. The next auction sale of stamps 
 did not take place until sixteen years later. But I 
 . must spare a few lines for my chronicler's peroration. 
 
 " The results of this sale are so far satisfactory that 
 they prove that Philately is not yet on the wane, and 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 275 
 
 never will be. It is a young science, but before many 
 years pass, we shall regard £^ for a valuable stamp 
 as calmly as we do now the pound sterling for an 
 ordinary specimen; and those who have been the 
 mainstays of the dealers will undoubtedly find that 
 their outlays, however extensive, will produce at 
 least cent, per cent. What are we to think of the 
 matchless collections of Mr. Philbrick, Sir Daniel 
 Cooper, Mr. Atlee, Baron Arthur de Rothschild, E. J., 
 and others, gathered together with unflagging toil 
 and patience, but all of which contain practically 
 unattainable things ? And will not these in the 
 course of years inevitably become of fabulous 
 value ? " 
 
 Four years after the Cooper collection was sold for 
 ;f 3,000, Mr. Philbrick, to the deep regret of all his 
 British colleagues, sold his general collection (not the 
 Great Britain portion) to M. la Rdnotiere in Paris, 
 for the then record price of £Zfyoo, At his death, 
 which occurred so recently as Christmas, 1910, it 
 would have represented the comfortable fortune of, 
 say, ;^50,ooo! It would be a shorter task to say 
 what was not in this truly wonderful collection than 
 to attempt a list of its gems, for the absentees were 
 almost nil. The best idea of the strength of this 
 collection must be gathered from the valuable papers 
 Philbrick contributed to The Stamp Collectof^s Maga- 
 zine and The Philatelic Record^ chiefly under the 
 pseudonyms " Damus petimusque vicissim," " An 
 Amateur," and several " By the author of the 'Postage 
 Stamps of British Guiana,' " and by his collaborated 
 work with the late Mr. W. A. S. Westoby, "The 
 
 15 
 
276 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Postage and Telegraph Stamps of Great Britain." 
 Here I may fittingly place on record a souvenir I 
 recently acquired of this collaboration and close 
 friendship between these two most renowned of the 
 students of stamps, whose work is a classic in the 
 literature of Philately, and is still constantly referred 
 to, being only in some respects superseded by later 
 authorities. The letter itself amply justifies publica- 
 tion in entirety here, as it throws an interesting light 
 on the philatelic evidence before the Joint Committee 
 on Postage Stamps appointed by the Postmaster- 
 General, the " confidential " report of which was 
 printed in 1885 ("Bibl. Lindesiana," p. 159). 
 
 " II, Earl's Avenub, Folkestone, 
 
 " December igth. 
 
 *'My Dear Philbrick,— 
 
 " After seeing you on Saturday I wrote a letter to Mr. Jeflfery 
 saying that you had told me the substance of what passed, and that I 
 most thoroughly endorsed what you had said about forgery. It was 
 not the difficulty of forging a stamp which constituted their protection, 
 so much as the difficulty of disposing of the stamps when forged. 
 
 *' I further said that if they determined on having a surface printed 
 series not combined with embossing they must allow me to point out 
 what I considered to be a fatal error in all Messrs. De La Rue's designs, 
 and this was the introduction of a lined background, the lines of which 
 were almost coincident with the lines of shading in the head. The 
 merit of Bacon's design was that he had a light head thrown up by a 
 dark background, and I could scarcely point out an instance where 
 surface-printed stamps had not either a solid background or none at 
 all, like the Hungarian of 1872. As they would possibly not like a 
 solid background I suggested to them to adopt a standard profile of the 
 Queen's head, and for all the stamps up to is. to reduce it by photo- 
 graphy to the size of the head on the 2d., and for those above they 
 might reduce it to a larger size, so as to keep the same likeness through 
 all, and to put it on a plain white ground, and I sent them a 2d. from 
 which I had removed the lined background like as I have done in the 
 id. annexed. 
 
 " That if they would excuse my making a further suggestion it would 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 
 
 277 
 
 be that for all the stamps up to is. about four colours would suffice, if 
 the framings were made different and distinctly visible, . . . thus : — 
 
 Green 
 
 id. 
 
 Ijd. 
 
 3d. 
 
 pink 
 
 like the 
 
 present 5s. 
 
 fid. 
 J 2d. 
 (4d. 
 
 blue 
 ike the 
 
 2S. 
 
 2id. 
 5d. 
 
 olive 
 
 " I have had a very courteous reply from Mr. Jeffery, thanking me 
 much for the letter, and saying he would lay it before the Committee 
 at the next meeting. 
 
 " I forgot to mention one thing I said. That I knew that stamp 
 collectors were not regarded with too much favour by the authorities, 
 who were inclined to regard them as too curious and desiring to look 
 into mysteries into which even angels were forbidden to look, but that 
 they ought to take a very different view, for we were the greatest pro- 
 tectors against forgeries of stamps that they could have. Not one 
 came out, but was immediately denounced in the publications circu- 
 lating amongst collectors and the forger's trade stopped. 
 
 *' I have written you a long lot of twaddle, but I have tried to sound 
 the trumpet of the Philatelist — what Bunhill Row will think I do not 
 know nor care ; I said their manufacture was good — the best — but that 
 the least said about their designs and colours the better. I also said 
 that as to the lettering I agreed with you that it was practically useless 
 if the stamp was properly obliterated and the saving slips done away 
 with. 
 
 " The kind of stamp I suggested that they should have the design 
 made of as a trial was the 2d. head turned the other way, when they 
 could see the effect. 
 
 " Ever yours very affectionately, 
 
 "W. A. S. Westoby." 
 
 I am not entering upon any details of the Philbrick 
 collection, for the most I could give would be a bald 
 citation of an almost untold list of rarities. Imagine 
 — if you can — a complete list of all known stamps 
 up to 1880, imagine also some of the rarities not 
 merely in duplicate or triplicate, but in the course of 
 advanced plating of the settings (especially in 
 British Guiana), and you may get some idea of 
 
278 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 what was in this great collection — and is still pre- 
 served in the collection of M. la R^noti^re. His 
 two used " Post Offices " of Mauritius were the first 
 known copies of these rarities, and were at first 
 considered to be an error of the inscription "Post 
 Paid" of 1848, instead of a distinct issue of 1847. 
 They came from the correspondence of a M. Borchard, 
 whose widow found no fewer than thirteen of the 
 twenty-five copies now known. The first pair was 
 exchanged for a couple of " Montevideos," which had, 
 in the eyes of the lady, so M. Moens tells us, " the 
 supreme advantage of having a place indicated for 
 them in the Lallier album, where the ' Post Office,' 
 like many other stamps, were not indicated." The 
 two stamps were used on one envelope, and were 
 postmarked together with one impression of the 
 "Inland" handstamp, the id. specimen having the 
 left upper corner defective. M. Albert Coutures, 
 a youngster of twenty, secured the stamps in the 
 "swap," and afterwards (October, 1865) parted with 
 them to M. Moens through the medium of a 
 Bordeaux merchant, M. E. Gimet. The price 
 Moens paid must have been a mere trifle, as he 
 parted with them to Mr. Philbrick on February 15, 
 1866, for a few pounds. The record of these stamps 
 Nos. I and 2 in Moens's " A History of the Twenty 
 Known Specimens, &c.," is therefore briefly — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Owner. 
 
 1847 
 
 Borchard. 
 
 1864 (?) 
 
 Coutures. 
 
 1865 
 
 Gimet. 
 
 1865 
 
 Moens. 
 
 1866 
 
 Philbrick. 
 
 1882 
 
 La Renotiere. 
 
C'-ii ^\ 
 
 s^ 
 
 S o 
 
 Is 
 
 c < 
 
 ■< en 
 O 
 
 a, 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 ._^ 
 
 a 
 
 X 
 H 
 
 279 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 281 
 
 To-day their "weight in gold" would, of course, repre- 
 sent but an infinitesimal fraction of their market value. 
 
 The Image collection was sold in the same year 
 as the Philbrick albums. Mr. W. E. Image was 
 yet another of the vieille garde of Philately, though 
 he ploughed a lone furrow during the early years 
 of his collecting, which began in 1859. His collec- 
 tion, sold for ;^3,ooo in 1882, deserves to be 
 especially noted, as it was in one sense the basis 
 of the great national collection now at the British 
 Museum. The late Mr. T. K. Tapling, M.P., was 
 the purchaser, and so magnificent was his new 
 acquisition that he at one time thought of parting 
 with his own and continuing the Image collection. 
 At this juncture, the death of Mr. Tapling's father 
 enabled him to amalgamate the two collections, 
 his own with that of Mr. Image, and to launch out 
 upon the grandly conceived collection bequeathed 
 in 1 89 1 to the nation. 
 
 Mr. Image at first compiled his collection almost 
 entirely by correspondence, and did not see the 
 inside of a dealer's shop until the 'seventies. He 
 is said, however, to have never refused a good 
 specimen of a stamp he lacked, save on one 
 occasion, an historic one. Moens offered him for 
 ;^240 the two Post Office Mauritius, but he declined, 
 as he hoped to get another chance at a more 
 moderate figure. That was in the 'seventies. Image 
 lived to the advanced age of ninety-six (b. 1807), 
 and within a few months of his death a copy of 
 the 2d. Post Office alone was sold by Messrs. 
 Puttick and Simpson for £i,^lo. 
 
282 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 But if he lacked the " Post Offices," there was 
 an abundance of other rarities. Philbrick travelled 
 to Bury St. Edmunds to see Image'? wonderful 
 unused 6d. orange of Victoria (" beaded oval "), a 
 stamp which in the Mirabaud sale (1909) fetched 
 ;6"i40. The copy from the Avery collection 
 attained in 19 10 a price still higher. British 
 Guiana, Guadalajara and the American locals were 
 amongst the specially strong sections of this 
 collection. 
 
 There have been so many really important col- 
 lections formed since the Philbrick collection that 
 almost any entry into details becomes invidious 
 in a brief review. The collections of to-day are, as 
 I have indicated, on a more broadly historical basis 
 than was general in the early days of the study, 
 though even the collections of Dr. Gray, Sir Daniel 
 Cooper and Judge Philbrick, and others, were on 
 a sound basis of historical research. Philately has 
 had no more precise or more able historians than 
 Judge Philbrick and his collaborator, Mr. W. A. S. 
 Westoby, while to Dr. Gray we are indebted for 
 the history of most of the English essays of the 
 first period. 
 
 But the collections of Lord Crawford have 
 carried the historical and scientific aspects of 
 Philately to more profound depths, and the stamps 
 have been collected on a more lavish scale to 
 provide ample reference material not only for 
 present but future study. Condition, too, has 
 received more attention, and is now a primary 
 consideration. The collections are mostly arranged 
 
r* 
 
 ifelClOCKidOQOaQ 
 
 ooooootujoooa 
 
 u-,^.^ ■■ .' -. ■ ■ .. . . .... ^. .. - .. ..— .ja^a^u ..-JJ.M.. .m^^i^^ 
 
 odooooyooaaa 
 
 QpoaoQaaaaiH 
 aoQaaoaaaaoii 
 
 TBBI^ ^MHIF ^■Hir ^hlBBr' ^wWPf^ ^^Wln TWBH^ ^*WWw^ ^WW^ ^^^*c ^wi^w^ ^^^^ 
 
 aonoaaaiiociaQ 
 
 ^mHDT "^w^^r '^■^IW^ ^WWr "sWHB^ ^^tHWSt ^HBBBr ^JlflW^ ^jf^wr viuwsi wmwu T^m^at 
 
 aaaaaaaoaaaa 
 aoaaaaaaaaaa 
 aaaaaaaaaaaa^ 
 
 009000000000*^ 
 
 f i i f 
 
 aaaaaaaaaa 
 aaaaaaa 
 
 
 PART SHEET (175 STAMPS) OF THE ORDINARY ONE 
 PENNY BLACK STAMP OF GREAT BRITAIN, 184O. 
 
 {From the collection of the Earl of Crawford, K. T^ 
 
oaagaaaaaQaa 
 
 aaaaaaaaaaaa 
 aaaaaaaaaaaa 
 aaaaaaaaaaaa 
 
 aaaaaaaaaaaa 
 
 aaaaaiaaaaaa 
 
 naar 
 
 in 
 
 ii9i9iii<iBaa 
 aaaaaaaaraaa 
 
 aaaaaaaaaaaa 
 
 aaaaaaaaaa 
 aiBaaaaa 
 aaoaaaaa 
 
 NEARLY A COMPLETE SHEET (219 STAMPS OUT OF 240) 
 OF THE HIGHLY VALUED ONE PENNY BLACK " V.R." 
 STAMP, INTENDED FOR OFFICIAL USE. 
 
 {From the collection of the Earl of Crawford, K.7.) 
 285 
 

 
 w^ 
 
 it^. 
 
 SQOOOOO 
 
 QQdOQQG 
 
 tH^^^ tWSOBw aiSlI^ ^(^W^ ^^?!W^ ^*f5^R^ ^'t^ . 
 
 IIQOQQQC 
 QQOQQQt? 
 
 itf f fitri 
 
 iyuu«ii 
 
 ^' I ^-^fMihrnt, 
 
 tldOdOCICIyOi 
 
 QmmmQUB 
 
 f f 
 
 .?i>.Mvi: 
 
 PART SHEET (LACKING BUT SIX HORIZONTAL ROWS) OF 
 THE SCARCE TWO PENCE BLUE STAMP "WITHOUT 
 WHITE LINES" ISSUED IN GREAT BRITAIN, 184O. 
 
 {From the collection of the Earl of Crawford, K.T.) 
 287 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 289 
 
 in countries or groups, and few suspect the wealth 
 of material as yet not disclosed, among the 
 sections which have not yet been publicly dis- 
 played. The United States collection, when shown 
 to the New York Collectors' Club a few years ago, 
 opened up a new aspect of Philately to the col- 
 lectors in the States, and gave an effective 
 stimulus to the serious side of collecting in America. 
 The collection is very fully written up in the 
 Earl's own writing, much of which was done 
 on board his yacht, the Valhalla. The collection 
 contains practically all that could be got together 
 to illustrate the postal history of the United States, 
 and makes the mention of particular items useless. 
 The unique envelope of Annapolis, however, is 
 especially noteworthy, and also the lo cents, 
 black on white, adhesive stamp of Baltimore, of 
 which but three copies are known. 
 
 Of Great Britain, too. Lord Crawford has a 
 large number of well-filled albums, including some 
 extraordinarily large blocks ("part sheets" would 
 describe them better) of the imperforate line- 
 engraved stamps. There is nearly a complete 
 sheet of the id. black "V.R." (219 stamps out of 
 the 240), a part sheet of the ordinary id. black 
 (175 stamps), and all but six rows of a sheet of 
 the scarce 2d. blue, "no lines," which was the 
 companion stamp of the id. black, and was issued 
 on May 6, 1840. 
 
 The collections of Mr. Leslie L. R. Hausburg, 
 have, next to those of the Earl of Crawford, 
 attracted widespread attention and the unstinted 
 
290 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 admiration of philatelists. They have hitherto 
 dealt chiefly with the Australasian portions of the 
 British Empire, but latterly have been extended 
 to a number of foreign countries. Mr. M. P. 
 Castle, J.P., has formed several great collections, 
 as will be noted in the list of sales which con- 
 cludes this chapter, and Mr. Henry J. Duveen has 
 one of the three finest collections of Mauritius, 
 including the superb "Post Offices," both unused, 
 from the Avery collection, and a matchless block 
 of four, unused, of the id. Post Paid, for which 
 wonderful item its possessor paid ;^i,ooo. These 
 "Post Offices" are the ones which in 1910 carried 
 the record price for this popular pair of rarities 
 up to ;^3,500. Mr. Duveen's Switzerland collec- 
 tion is also a very notable one, and contains the 
 block of double Genevas, and the part sheet of 
 "large Eagles" from the Avery collection, and 
 the beautiful block of fifteen Basle "doves," which 
 was the subject of a recent find in Berne. Baron 
 Anthony de Worms is the owner of a fine collec- 
 tion of Great Britain and the collection par 
 excellence of Ceylon. Mr. Harvey R. G. Clarke's 
 collection of New South Wales is justly celebrated, 
 and in the less costly countries the honours of 
 possessing the most perfect collections are dis- 
 tributed by no means exclusively among the very 
 wealthy. In stamp-collecting the personal search 
 is often more productive than lavish expenditure 
 without personal effort. 
 
 In America there are some collections of great 
 note. That of Mr. George H. Worthington has 
 
i iiA<\,', 
 
 
 t'i'/' / , /f/i 
 
 ^ 
 
 »v. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 THE UNIQUE BLOCK OF THE "DOUBLE GENEVA" STAMP, THE RAREST OF THE SWISS 
 
 "CANTONALS." 
 
 Formerly in the ^' Avery'' Collection^ but now in the possession of Henry /. Duveen, Esq 
 
 291 
 
XJ 
 
 
 SJ 
 
 O 
 
 
 "§ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 •1?* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ss 
 
 z 
 
 
 1 
 
 •v 
 
 o 
 
 . 
 
 e 
 
 
 c^ 
 
 5-v' V 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^tV 
 
 $ 5 
 
 
 «^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 5^ 
 
 f •^■ 
 
 '^^ 5 
 
 <^ 
 
 ■^-<'»' 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 i 1 
 
 
 
 ^ s 
 
 ■ 1 
 
 o 
 
 -*-• 
 
 - § 
 
 §^^ 
 
 *> 
 
 
 -li 
 
 
 
 
 
 >: ;l 
 
 ■ ■> ^ 
 
 ^-^•3 
 
 '^ "^ 
 
 5 ^ 
 
 ^1 
 
 s 1 
 
 
 
 s '^ 
 
 O 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 s § 
 
 
 »5 5 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ '^ 
 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 295 
 
 been referred to elsewhere. Mr. Henry J. Crocker, 
 a San Francisco magnate, had the misfortune to 
 lose about ;^ 15,000 worth of his stamps in the 
 disastrous fire which followed the earthquake of 
 1906. This included eleven out of forty-three of his 
 albums, but luckily his greatest work, the Hawaiian 
 collection, was safely in England at the time of 
 the catastrophe. A wonderful collection of Japanese 
 was completely destroyed. Mr. Crocker has no 
 fewer than sixteen of the Hawaiian " Missionaries" ; 
 outside of the British Museum, his is the only copy 
 of the 2 cents. Type I. ; he has four used copies 
 of the 5 cents, two of them being on the entire 
 envelopes ; and there is a unique item in an 
 unbroken strip of three 1 3 cents " Hawaiian 
 Postage " on entire. Two of the stamps are Type L 
 and the other Type H. ; he has also an unused and 
 two used copies of each type. Of the " H.I. & U.S. 
 Postage" 13 cents stamp there are two specimens, 
 one of each type used together.^ 
 
 Of other American collections, that of Mr. Francis 
 C. Foster, of Boston, impressed me as much as any 
 that I have seen across the Atlantic. Mr. Foster 
 has been interested in stamps probably longer than 
 any other living collector in the United States, and 
 his collection now comprises the United States, 
 the possessions, and British North America. In 
 the general issues of the Republic he has a superb 
 set of the premieres gravures^ and all the early 
 
 ^ See further " Postage Stamps of the Hawaiian Islands in the 
 Collection of Henry J. Crocker," described and illustrated by Fred 
 J. Melville, London, 1908. 
 
296 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 issues are extensively shown, together with the 
 beautiful proofs and essays associated with them. 
 The Confederate States Postmasters' stamps 
 include the 5c. Athens used on the envelope ; the 
 5c. and IOC Goliad ; and the Livingston, Alabama. 
 The late Mr. Thorne, an old New York collector, 
 showed me his collection in 1906, which was of 
 great proportions and was exclusively composed 
 of blocks of four, a state in which he had the 
 greatest difficulty in obtaining even many modern 
 stamps. His collection, or some of it, has been 
 disposed of by auction in America. The late 
 Mr. J. F. Seybold, of Syracuse, had the credit of 
 fostering the cult of collecting the used stamps on 
 the entire envelope or letter, which from the his- 
 torical point of view is extremely useful. His 
 collection, however, was bought for about ;^5,ooo 
 by Mr. J. T. Coit, and subsequently realised nearly 
 £7^000 at auction. 
 
 Of the great collections of the Continent, that of 
 M. Philippe la R^notiere is the greatest ever brought 
 together, but its owner has not been in the habit of 
 exhibiting it, and the number of living philatelists 
 who have seen even portions of it must be extremely 
 few. He has certainly got together in the aggregate 
 a collection greater than the Tapling one, and he has 
 absorbed in the process the albums of Sir Daniel 
 Cooper and Judge Philbrick, and has had the pick of 
 all the greatest collections which have come on the 
 market for many years. It was estimated years ago 
 that he must have spent a quarter of a million of 
 money on the collection,^ and as he commenced 
 
 » "The Stamp Collector," by W. J. Hardy and E. D. Bacon, 1897. 
 
/>,. / 
 
 
 .^^ \ ^'^ 
 
 I %#^^fif$i. 
 
 A PAGE OF THE 5 CENTS AND I3 CENTS I HAWAIIAN "^MISSIONARY " 
 
 STAMPS. 
 
 {From the ''^Crocker'''' Collection^ 
 297 
 
\.< 
 
 4 
 
FAMOUS COLLECTIONS 301 
 
 about 1864, the extent of his treasures has brought 
 him to be regarded as a philatelic Comte de Monte 
 Cristo. The unique British Guiana i cent stamp 
 of 1856 is in this collection, together with five Post 
 Office Mauritius, including one of the two known 
 copies of the id. unused. Other great rarities are 
 mostly represented by several copies. 
 
 The collection of the late M. Paul Mirabaud, a 
 wealthy Parisian banker, was exceptional for the 
 beauty of the condition of the stamps it contained, 
 and at the auction sale many of the stamps fetched 
 prices much beyond the standard quotations of the 
 catalogues. The Swiss portion, which formed the 
 basis of a most sumptuously illustrated work written 
 in collaboration by M. Mirabaud and the Baron A. 
 de Reuterskiold, was sold privately. 
 
 The following synopsis of the chief sales of 
 collections (whether by auction or privately) covers 
 only those which are known to have realised 
 £\,0QO and upwards; there are many more which 
 have doubtless been sold for amounts well into four 
 figures, but the transactions, or at any rate the 
 amounts, have not been disclosed. The amounts 
 given below must not in every case be taken as the 
 exact purchase price ; where not exact they are 
 approximate. 
 
302 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Year. 
 
 Collection. 
 
 Character. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 1878 
 
 Cooper. 
 
 General. 
 
 £ 
 3>ooo 
 
 1882 
 
 Philbrick. 
 
 General. 
 
 8,000 
 
 1882 
 
 Image. 
 
 General. 
 
 3,000 
 
 1885 
 
 Burnett. 
 
 General. 
 
 1,000 
 
 1890 
 
 Caillebotte. 
 
 General. 
 
 5,000 
 
 1891 
 
 Colman. 
 
 British Colonies. 
 
 2,000 
 
 1894 
 
 Winzer. 
 
 General. 
 
 3,000 
 
 1894 
 
 Castle. 
 
 Australia. 
 
 10,000 
 
 1894 
 
 Philbrick. 
 
 Great Britain. 
 
 1,500 
 
 189s 
 
 Harrison. 
 
 United States. 
 
 1,330 
 
 1895 
 
 Harbeck. 
 
 General. 
 
 3,000 
 
 189s 
 
 W. Cooper. 
 
 General. 
 
 
 1895 
 
 J. E. Wilbey. 
 
 General. 
 
 — 
 
 1896 
 
 Hughes-Hughes. 
 
 General. 
 
 3,000 
 
 1896 
 
 Ehrenbach. 
 
 Germany. 
 
 6,000 
 
 1896 
 
 Earl of Kingston. 
 
 British Empire. 
 
 1,800 
 
 1896-7 
 
 Blest. 
 
 New South Wales, New Zea- 
 land, and Queensland. 
 
 4,750 
 
 1897 
 
 F. W. Ayer. 
 
 General (dispersed gradually). 
 
 45,000 
 
 1897 
 
 Dr. Legrand. 
 
 Part of General. 
 
 12,000 
 
 1898 
 
 Russell. 
 
 General (unused, strong in 
 British Colonies). 
 
 4,600 
 
 1898 
 
 H. L. Hayman. 
 
 General. 
 
 4,000 
 
 1899 
 
 Pauwels. 
 
 General. 
 
 4,000 
 
 1900 
 
 M. P. Castle. 
 
 Europe. 
 
 27,500 
 
 1901 
 
 W. T. Willett. 
 
 Great Britain (with Nevis). 
 
 2,000 
 
 1902 
 
 Major-Gen. Lamb- 
 ton. 
 C. Hollander. 
 
 British Colonies. 
 
 3,400 
 
 1902 
 
 South Africa. 
 
 1,500 
 
 1903 
 
 J. N. Marsden. 
 
 General. 
 
 2,350 
 
 1903 
 
 E. J. Nankivell. 
 
 Transvaal. 
 
 3,000 
 
 1904 
 
 P. Fabri. 
 
 General. 
 
 3,000 
 
 1904 
 
 A titled collector. 
 
 Selection of great rarities. 
 
 4,700 
 
 1904 
 
 Prince Doria Pam- 
 
 philj. 
 M. P. Castle. 
 
 General. 
 
 2,000 
 
 1905 
 
 Australia. 
 
 5»75o 
 
 1906 
 
 W. W. Mann. 
 
 Europe. 
 
 30,000 
 
 1906 
 
 A. Bagshawe. 
 
 Straits Settlements. 
 
 2,000 
 
 1907 
 
 V. Roberts. 
 
 Cape Colony, Queensland, &c. 
 
 3,800 
 
 1907 
 
 Tomson. 
 
 West Indies. 
 
 6,800 
 
 1908 
 
 P. Mirabaud. 
 
 (Switzerland, ;^8,ooo 
 
 ( Rest of Collection, j^22,ooo j 
 
 30,000 
 
 1909 
 
 Sir W. B. Avery. 
 
 General. 
 
 24,500 
 
 1909 
 
 J. W. Paul, jun. 
 
 General. 
 
 11,400 
 
 1909 
 
 J. F. Seybold. 
 
 General. 
 
 S,(:)<K» 
 
 1911 
 
 Miguel Gambin. 
 
 Argentina. 
 
 6,000 
 
ROYAL AND 
 
 NATIONAL 
 
 COLLECTIONS 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS 
 
 The late Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as a collector — King George's 
 stamps : Great Britain, Mauritius, British Guiana, Barbados, 
 Nevis — The " King of Spain Reprints " — The late Grand Duke 
 Alexis Michaelovitch — Prince Doria Pamphilj — The "Tapling" 
 Collection — The Berlin Postal Museum — The late Duke of 
 Leinster's bequest to Ireland — Mr. Worthington's promised gift 
 to the United States. 
 
 Royalties have been included amongst collectors 
 almost from the beginning of Philately. The late 
 Mr. Westoby, in describing ^ a number of rarities 
 in private albums in Paris in 1869, includes a 
 mysterious rarity of Mexico as being one of which 
 three specimens only are known to exist, "one 
 of them [i.e., one of the remaining two] in the 
 possession of the Princess Clotilde, wife of the 
 Prince Napoleon, and the other in that of the 
 King of Portugal." 
 
 King George V. probably owes some of his early 
 enthusiasm for stamps to his uncle, the late Duke 
 of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As Duke of Edinburgh, the 
 latter had long been a collector before the fact was 
 made publicly known by his cordial support of 
 
 ' The Philatelist y vol. iii. pp. 85, 86. 
 305 
 
306 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 the London Philatelic Exhibition of 1890, which 
 he formally opened. At the lunch which followed 
 the ceremony he said : — 
 
 "To-day Prince George of Wales starts — nay, 
 probably has started — from Chatham in the Thrush^ 
 to the command of which he has been appointed. 
 I am sure you will join me in wishing him a prosper- 
 ous and pleasant cruise. He also is a stamp 
 collector, and I hope that he will return with a 
 goodly number of additions from North America 
 and the West Indies. I am a collector, too, and 
 I have been only too glad to contribute specimens 
 to this fine exhibition." 
 
 The newspaper reports of that Exhibition state 
 that "The Duke of Edinburgh, before leaving, in- 
 timated his intention of again visiting this marvellous 
 proof of civilization and progress." In the same 
 year, H.R.H. became Hon. President of the London 
 Philatelic Society. 
 
 The late Duke's collection was, I believe, on 
 general lines, a large range of countries and colonies 
 being included in his exhibits at the Portman Rooms 
 in 1890. These included a fine lot of Uruguay, 
 and displays of Cyprus, Gibraltar, Heligoland, Ionian 
 Islands, and Malta ; Norway, Denmark, Iceland and 
 Sweden ; Greece, Servia, Bulgaria and Montenegro ; 
 Cuba, Porto Rico and Fernando Po. At the 
 1897 Exhibition, at the galleries of the Institute 
 of Painters in Water Colours, the Duke showed 
 only a few specimens in the class for rare stamps, 
 his exhibit including the 2 kreuzer, orange, of Austria 
 unused ; the 54 paras of Moldavia ; the Half 
 
/«24: 
 
 
 v^.f /X^ ^-^ /./^. 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 f^ '4»;^^rAi^:-TO 
 
 A PAGE FROM THE , KING's HISTORIC COLLECTION OF THE STAMPS OF GREAT 
 BRITAIN, SHOWING THE METHOD OF "WRITING UP." 
 
 307 
 
W/^ /?^rp^ 
 
 //f /T^^^ ^^ 
 
 
 
 '^ 
 
 K Pu /kc^ 
 
 ;i A 
 
 / 
 
 '^.. 
 
 I i^< 
 
 f^ 
 
 -^ 
 
 ' 
 
 B /^<^-<^//vt.<3TL^/^ 
 
 /fr^ 
 
 ^••■•<i^ 
 
 1 
 
 y" 
 
 A^ 
 
 i 
 
 J 
 
 THE THREE COPIES OF THE UNISSUED 2D. " TYRIAN-PLUM " 
 STAMP OF GREAT BRITAIN IN THE COLLECTION OF 
 H.M. THE KING. 
 
 The one on the envelope is the only specimen known to 
 have passed through the post. 
 
 309 
 
ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS 311 
 
 Tornese Naples, cross, unused ; several of the rare 
 2 reales stamps of Spain and the 3 cuartos 
 " bear " stamp of Madrid ; the Swedish 24 skill, 
 bco,, unused ; the so-called " Neuch^tel " stamp 
 of Switzerland, unused ; the 18 kreuzer Wurtem- 
 burg, with silk thread, unused; Buenos Ayres 
 4 pesos, red ; United States, 1856, 5c. red-brown 
 and 90c. blue, perforated ; and some other rarities. 
 Of British and colonials he displayed two of the 
 id. black V.R. stamps; a I2d. black of Canada; 
 Hong Kong 96 cents, yellow-brown ; a small show 
 of rare Nevis, including the 6d. lithographed and 
 the surface-printed 6d. green ; St. Vincent 5s., water- 
 marked star, unused ; an unused id. Sydney View, 
 Plate I., and an unused 6d. "laureated head." 
 
 It will be seen from the wide field covered by 
 his exhibits that the philatelic inclinations of the 
 late Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha were broadly 
 catholic. His royal nephew, King George, has 
 limited his collecting — though not his interest — 
 to stamps of the British Empire. His Majesty's 
 interest in stamp-collecting has been made popularly 
 known by the newspapers, but it is not always 
 realised, I think, that the interest is an appreciative 
 personal one. Of this philatelists have had many 
 gracious proofs. The King is understood to have 
 been consistently collecting since his midshipman- 
 days on the Bacchante^ and his collections to some 
 extent coincide with his travels, several of his finest 
 albums being those which contain the stamps of 
 West Indian colonies. 
 
 There is little collected information on the subject 
 16 
 
312 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 of His Majesty's collections, so I will endeavour 
 to outline a few of the salient points in those sections 
 which have been most nearly completed. 
 
 Great Britain. — The collection contains the original 
 sketch of W. Mulready, R.A., for the famous 
 envelopes and letter sheets of 1840 to which reference 
 has been made.* 
 
 A note accompanies it to the effect that, " From 
 statements made by Mr. Mulready to his friends, 
 it would appear that the original idea for the design 
 was given to him by Queen Victoria and was carried 
 out by the artist in accordance with Her Majesty's 
 suggestions." 
 
 On this point of the origin of the design, Sir 
 Rowland Hill's journal contains an entry which 
 scarcely bears out the legend that the Queen devised 
 the idea together with the Prince Consort. The 
 entry, under April 3, 1840, is: "Mr. B[aring] 
 has sent a proof impression of the cover stamp to 
 the Queen, with a memorandum from Mulready and 
 Thompson [the engraver] explanatory of the 
 design." 
 
 Then there is the historic pair of sketches in water- 
 colours, roughly executed by Sir Rowland Hill 
 to show the approximate appearance of the penny 
 stamp in black and the twopence stamp in blue. 
 This was sent by Hill to the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. 
 
 In the line-engraved series, His Majesty has shown 
 two copies of the id. V.R., and a fine series of 
 imperforates of the id. red. Die I. and Die H., in 
 * Ante^ p. 167. 
 
» ■• •■»■•*.». 
 
 DESIGN FOR THE KING EDWARD ONE PENNY STAMP APPROVED AND 
 INITIALLED BY HIS LATE MAJESTY. 
 
 • I {From the collection of H.M. King George V.) 
 
 313 
 
• ■••'*.*. 
 
 THE COMPANION DESIGN TO THAT ON PAGE 313, AND SHOWING THE 
 CORRECT POSE OF THE HEAD, BUT IX A DIFFERENT FRAME, WHICH 
 WAS NOT ADOPTED. 
 
 {From the collection of H.M. the King.) 
 
 315 
 
ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS 317 
 
 a large range of shades ; id. red with letters in all 
 four corners (plates 132 and 225) ; id. red, in a pair, 
 on Dickinson paper ; Jd. rose-red (plate 9), 2d. blue 
 with four letters (including plate 7), ijd., plate i 
 in bluish lake and plate 3 in brick-red. 
 
 All the Victorian surface- printed series are shown 
 imperforate, including the 3d. with reticulated back- 
 ground ; 3d., plate 3 (" dot ") ; 4d. in lake, water- 
 marked " small garter " ; 6d., plate i on safety paper 
 and plate 3 with hair-lines ; Qd., plate 3 with hair- 
 lines and plate 5 ; lod., plate 2 ; is., plate i on safety 
 paper, plate 3 with hair-lines, 4 in an unissued colour, 
 lilac ; 2s., plate 3 ; los., £if and £^ on blue paper. 
 
 In addition to the scarce items in the Victorian 
 series of official stamps, the King possesses the 
 extremely rare I.R. Official 5s., los. and £1, of 
 the Edwardian issues, in mint corner pairs ; also 
 the almost unique Sixpence of the same set, in 
 similar condition. Of this last stamp, no other 
 unused copy is known, and only three which have 
 been through the post. 
 
 Of the ordinary stamps of King Edward's reign, 
 the Royal collection contains several essays and 
 proofs of great interest. A photograph of a stamp 
 made up from Herr FUchs's original sketch of King 
 Edward's head, enclosed in the newly designed 
 frame and border, deservedly comes first, and bears 
 the late King's written approval : from this, 
 temporary copper-plates were engraved, so that 
 the effect might be noted, and three proofs there- 
 from are included. 
 
 Unfortunately, the final result did not come up 
 
318 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 to the anticipated standard, and there was some 
 talk about having a fresh design prepared, after 
 the style of the then new Transvaal stamps, but 
 this fell through on the ground of expense ; proofs 
 of this also are in the collection, together with various 
 colour-trials of the One Penny value, as adopted. 
 
 Of unissued stamps during the late reign, there 
 are only three instances : the £s value, which did 
 not proceed so far as the completion of the plate ; 
 and a small printing of the Twopence Halfpenny, in 
 the adopted design, but in mauve on blue paper, 
 was destroyed, owing to a decision to print in 
 blue on white paper. Both these stamps, the £$ 
 and the Twopence Halfpenny mauve on blue, together 
 with proofs of the lower value in shades and tones 
 of blue, are in the King's collection. 
 
 The last of the unissued stamps is the Twopence 
 " Tyrian-plum," which, owing to the lamented death 
 of King Edward, the authorities decided not to 
 issue ; his present Majesty possesses an unused pair, 
 and a unique used copy on the original envelope. 
 
 Beyond these, the collection contains proofs of the 
 contractors' designs for three of the new stamps, the 
 One Penny in four types of head and bust, in 
 the old frame of the 1881 stamp, and the Twopence 
 and Fivepence in frames similar to those of the 1887 
 issue ; in all these King Edward is shown in military 
 uniform, the best of these being, so far as the portrait 
 is concerned, the Fivepence. 
 
 A curiosity, for it was not for issue except after 
 severance, is the sheet of one penny stamps as 
 prepared for the booklets on sale at the post-office— 
 
 i 
 
'*':.*, **. ». » •» * 
 
 
 A PAGE OF THE ONE PENNY " POST PAID " STAMPS OF MAURITIUS. 
 {/n the collection of H.M. the King.) 
 
ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS 321 
 
 for convenience in making-up and binding these 
 small books, the stamps were specially printed in 
 four panes of sixty each, in vertical rows of ten, 
 each alternate three rows being inverted, and so 
 producing a certain number of tete-beche pairs. King 
 George's sheet is, outside the printers' establishment 
 and Somerset House, probably unique. 
 
 Mauritius. — In the stamps of this colony the 
 royal collection is particularly strong. There is 
 here the id. red Post Office used, which came 
 from Mr. Peckitt out of the collection of the 
 Earl of Kintore for ;£"850, and the matchless 
 unused copy of the 2d. blue which was purchased 
 in Messrs. Puttick & Simpson's saleroom on January 
 14, 1904, for £i,\^o : it is admittedly the finest known 
 copy of this stamp, and its romantic history has been 
 alluded to in Chapter VII. These two rarcs aves are 
 followed by a grand display of the Post Paid series, 
 including three fine 2d. unused, one with the error 
 " PENOE " for " PENCE," and a wonderful mint block 
 of five, containing the error se tenant with four of its 
 neighbours in the sheet. This block is a com- 
 paratively recent acquisition, having been acquired 
 from Mr. D. Field for ;£'500 in 19 10. There is a 
 considerable number of used copies showing all states 
 of the plates of the 1848 issue, the small head of 
 1849, and the "fillet" of October, 1859. The 4d. 
 green of April, 1854, is represented unused and used, 
 and there is also an unused copy of the perforated 
 IS. deep green of 1862. The collection of this colony 
 is practically complete from beginning to date. 
 
 British Guiana presents probably the most difficult 
 
322 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 set of stamps that any collector ever attempted to 
 get together. The King's collection is representative, 
 but is strongest in the issues of 1860-82 : they 
 formed the basis of a display before the Royal 
 Philatelic Society on March 17, 19 10, and included 
 most of the stamps in a wide range of shades, all the 
 rarities being present, unused, except the 24 cents per- 
 forated 1 2 of 1 860 on thin paper, and the provisional 
 series of 1862, and a few of the " officials." The used 
 portion was practically complete, and in the case of 
 the 1882 provisionals there were entire and also 
 reconstructed sheets, showing all the varieties. 
 
 The Barbados collection, which was shown by His 
 Majesty at the Imperial Stamp Exhibition held by 
 the Junior Philatelic Society in London in 1908, was 
 exceptionally rich in the scarce " id." on 5s. pro- 
 visional, of which there were no fewer than a pair 
 and two single copies, four in all, in the unused 
 condition, and five used pairs and a number of single 
 used copies. 
 
 Hong Kong and Grenada^ Bermuda^ Trinidad and 
 Turks' Islands have also been arranged and exhibited, 
 as well as a small but choice collection of the stamps 
 of Nevis^ which contains, among other items, the 
 beautiful card proofs of the first id. in green, 4d. in 
 dull purple, 6d. in orange, and is. in lake. There are 
 two reconstructed sheets of the id. perforated 13, 
 and the 4d. rose, unused ; the 6d. grey and is. green, 
 used and unused. Of the 1867 set the id. is shown 
 unused, the 4d. both used and unused and the is, 
 used. Of the lithographs there are four mint sheets 
 of the id., a mint sheet of the 4d. and another of 
 
» J 3 J 9 
 
 THE TWO PENCE "POST PAID" vSTAMP OF MAURITIUS. 
 
 ^Unique block showing the error (the first stamp in the 
 illustration) lettered "penoe" for " penxe". 
 
 {In the collection of H.M. the King^ 
 
 323 
 
ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS 325 
 
 the 6d., the is. in h'ght and dark green ; and there 
 are two entire sheets of the id. perforated ii|. 
 
 Comparatively little is known of the stamp-collec- 
 tions of other monarchs, but both King Alfonso of 
 Spain and King Manuel are known to have formed 
 collections of the stamps of their respective realms. 
 The Spanish King's expressed desire to add the 
 stamps of Portugal to his collection led to the 
 reprinting of certain of the obsolete stamps of which 
 the dies were on hand at the Lisbon Mint ; these are 
 the stamps known as the " King of Spain Reprints," 
 a complete set of which was presented by King 
 Manuel to the Reference Collection of the Royal 
 Philatelic Society. 
 
 His Imperial Highness the late Grand Duke 
 Alexis Michaelovitch was a member of the Philatelic 
 Society. His early death lost to Philately a collector 
 with a keen sense of the beauty of condition. 
 Although only nineteen at the time of his death, he 
 had been engaged for some years on a semi-official 
 work on the history of the postal issues of Russia, 
 and his collection was strong in the stamps of his 
 own country and in Russian proofs and essays. His 
 collection covered a very broad field, and he acquired 
 the Peru section of the Koster collection en bloc. 
 When the first Castle collection of Australians came 
 on the market, the young Grand Duke acquired a 
 number of its choicest copies, including some plated 
 items. Some of the rarities he showed in London on 
 the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 
 Philatelic Society (1894) were brilliant used copies 
 of the 2 reales Spain of 1851 and 1852 ; the Poste 
 
326 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Locale of Switzerland unused ; the " i Pranc ", error 
 for" I Franc", on the 37j-centime bistre, Luxemburg; 
 the Hanover lo gr. used ; Oldenburg ^ gr. black on 
 green ; Nevis 6d. lithographed (in two shades) ; 
 Trinidad 1858 6d. and is. unused; Uruguay, Dili- 
 gencias 60c. and 80c. unused ; entire sheets of 
 Bergedorf essays in green of all values ; and a 
 beautiful and much admired group of thirty-two 
 Russian essays. 
 
 Prince Doria Pamphilj, of Italy, is another of the 
 devotees of the " royal " hobby of stamp- collecting, 
 and his British Empire collection contained an 
 Archer roulette and many choice items in English 
 and colonial stamps. Of the stamps of other 
 countries he has also had a very comprehensive 
 collection ; and at the Manchester Exhibition of 
 1899 he displayed some rarities of these, including 
 the United States 1861 30 cents with grille, and the 
 1869 15 cents with frame inverted; the 5 cents 
 Confederate local of Petersburg; Spain, 185 1 10 
 reales unused and 2 reales used, 1865 12c. with 
 inverted frame ; France, 1 849 i franc vermilion ; 
 the double Geneva, types of the Zurich, the 4c. 
 Vaud and the Poste Locale 2J rappen with cross 
 unframed in used condition. The Prince has made a 
 speciality of the Italian States. Although His Royal 
 Highness sold his chief collection in 1904 for £2,000^ 
 he is, I understand, still to be numbered amongst the 
 active philatelists. 
 
 Of National collections. Great Britain possesses the 
 finest, in the bequest of the late Mr. T. K. Tapling, 
 M.P. Mr. Tapling died in 1891, and since then the 
 
• J • • J . 
 
 11 ■ I ■ 
 
 m I 
 
 ■ 
 
 A SPECIMEN PAGE FROM THE "TAPLIXG" COLLECTION AT THE BRITISH 
 
 MUSEUM. 
 
 Probably the most valuable page, showing the Hawaiian " Mis<^ion- 
 aries." The two stamps at the top have been removed from 
 the cases, and are now kept in a safe in the "Cracherode" Room. 
 
 327 
 
ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS 329 
 
 great collection which he had formed of the postage- 
 stamps and postal stationery of the world has been 
 arranged for exhibition purposes, in specially con- 
 structed cases, in the King's Library of the British 
 Museum. It is estimated to contain 100,000 
 specimens, the total market value of which would 
 probably not be much short of ;^ioo,ooo. Since the 
 complete collection has been available to the public 
 for inspection, there has been no one feature at the 
 Bloomsbury institution which has attracted more 
 visitors; and it is good to know that philatelic 
 students are freely using the magnificent oppor- 
 tunities the collection offers for study. Unfortu- 
 nately, there is no comprehensive official guide to 
 this important collection, but by the courtesy and 
 assistance of the officials I was able to compile a 
 fairly detailed index ^ to its beauties, which was 
 published, together with a history of the formation of 
 the collection, by Messrs. Lawn & Barlow. To detail 
 the gems is but to recount the Mauritius, the British 
 Guianas, the Hawaiians (these are particularly fine), 
 the Moldavias, Newfoundlands, Reunions, &c., to 
 most of which frequent reference has already been 
 made in these pages. There is here one of the 
 copies of the famous Fourpence blue of Western 
 Australia with the centre inverted. Unfortunately 
 the copy is a damaged one, but the stamp is rarer 
 than the Mauritius "Post Office," and a celebrated 
 and fine copy fetched ^^"400 at auction. 
 
 It is a very real misfortune to Philately that the 
 
 ' ''The Tapling Collection of Stamps and Postal Stationery at the 
 British Museum," by Fred J. Melville. 
 
330 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Trustees of the British Museum have taken no steps 
 to continue the collection beyond 1890, or to add 
 items which are lacking prior to that date. It is, I 
 understand, simply a question of money, and the 
 Trustees would not be unwilling to allow the 
 necessary space for the growth of the collection if 
 money were forthcoming for that purpose. It is 
 now twenty years since Mr. Tapling died, and the 
 loss of that period in the collection is almost irre- 
 trievable. Yet the collection as it stands is the most 
 comprehensive treasure store of the first half century 
 of stamp-issuing, and students in this country are 
 fortunate indeed in having such a wealth of material 
 at their disposal for comparison and for reference. 
 
 The collection which has been formed by the 
 authorities of the Berlin Postal Museum has been 
 attaining a high rank in recent years. The Museum, 
 which is the finest repository of postal records and 
 curios in the world, was founded by Dr. von Stephan, 
 the first Director of the Posts of the German Empire, 
 and the first to propose the use of post-cards. The 
 stamp collection was based at first on the stamps 
 received at the General Post Office in Berlin from 
 the postal administrations of other countries. But 
 the collection is being built up on philatelic lines, 
 and is not to be compared with the fancy frames 
 devised by decorative fiends for the postal museums 
 of other countries. In Berlin the collection shows 
 essays and proofs, those of the old German States 
 being particularly fine, and most of the prominent 
 rarities have been acquired, chiefly by exchange of 
 duplicate stamps. There is the id. Post Office 
 
ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS 331 
 
 Mauritius used, and the 2d. unused ; the 2 cents 
 circular British Guiana, the 2 cents, 5 cents, and 
 both types of the 13 cents of the Hawaiian 
 " Missionaries " ; pairs of the 27 paras and 108 
 paras of Moldavia, and a set of the 27, 81, and two 
 of the 108 paras all cut round, and all used together 
 on one envelope ; the woodblock errors of the Cape 
 of Good Hope ; the 1 5 cents and 30 cents Reunion ; 
 and a wonderful range of the stamps of all the 
 German States. 
 
 The late Duke of Leinster left his valuable collec- 
 tion to the Irish National Museum ; and there are 
 several instances of bequests and gifts of lesser 
 importance to local museums. In 1910 Mr. George 
 H. Worthington, the owner of the finest collection in 
 the United States, made the announcement that he 
 was going to leave his great collection to the city of 
 Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 It is to be hoped that Mr. Worthington may be 
 spared to continue his collection for many years to 
 come, but on the ultimate fulfilment of the bequest 
 the people of the United States will enjoy the public 
 possession of what is now one of the three largest 
 collections in the world. Mr. Worthington's gems 
 include most of the well-known rarities. He has the 
 Cape woodblock 4d. error in a block with three of the 
 id. stamps all in red, and his entire collection of 
 Capes is extremely fine. Like most of the larger 
 collections in America, the Worthington one contains 
 a strong showing of the Hawaiian stamps and of the 
 United States and Confederate States " Postmasters' " 
 stamps. There is, for example, the only known 2 
 
332 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 cents Hawaiian "Missionary" on envelope. Mr. 
 Warren H. Colson,^ of Boston, records that Mr. 
 Worthington prizes highly the only unused copy 
 known of the United States 15 cents of 1869 with 
 the inverted frame, and as a companion treasure he 
 has the 30 cents in like condition, but of this three 
 other unused copies are recorded. 
 
 The Confederate Postmasters' Provisionals, I gather 
 from the same authority, include all the rare Baton 
 Rouge ; a 10 cent Beaumont, on pink paper ; the 
 Emory, Va. ; Grove Hill, Alabama ; the rare Macons 
 and a particularly fine lot of the Texas locals, in- 
 cluding several Goliads, the Helena, and two very 
 rare Victorias. 
 
 The id. Post Office Mauritius is included in two 
 copies used on the entire envelope; the Sydney 
 Views are a splendid lot, and include a superb unused 
 block of four of the id. plate i with original gum. 
 
 * " Postage Stamps and their Collection," by Warren H. Colson, 
 Boston, 1907. 
 
A SHORT 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 OF 
 PHILATELY 
 
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Catalogue of the Philatelic Library of the Earl of Crawford, K.T. 
 
 By E. D. Bacon. London, 191 1. 
 
 *.• This work constitutes the most complete Bibliography of 
 
 the literature of Philately, giving entries for all known 
 
 printed books and pamphlets published up to 1908, and 
 
 all periodicals up to 1907. 
 
 The following short Bibliography is a handy practical guide to 
 the standard reference works on the special subject, and includes 
 the handbooks and monographs issued up to 191 1. 
 
 GENERAL HANDBOOKS 
 
 The A B C of Stamp Collecting : A Guide to the Instructive and 
 
 Entertaining Study of the World's Postage Stamps. By 
 
 Fred J. Melville. London, 1903. *.• Nineteen plates. 
 A Colour Dictionary. By B. W. Warhurst. 2nd ed. London^ 
 
 1908. 
 Hints on Stamp Collecting. By T. H. Hinton. 3rd ed. London^ 
 
 1908. 
 How to Collect Postage Stamps. By B. T. K. Smith. London, 
 
 1907. '.* Forty-eight plates. 
 How to Start a Philatelic Society. By Fred J. Melville. London, 
 
 1910. 
 A Penny All the Way. The Story of Penny Postage. By Fred 
 
 J. Melville. 2nd ed, London, 1908. 
 Postage Stamps worth Fortunes. By Fred J. Melville. 2nd ed. 
 
 London, 1908. 
 The Romance of Postage Stamps. (An Introductory Lecture.) By 
 
 Fred J. Melville. London, 1910. 
 The Stamp Collector. By W. J. Hardy and E. D. Bacon. Lon^ 
 
 don, 1898. ••• Twelve plates. 
 
336 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 stamps and Stamp Collecting : A Glossary of Philatelic Terms and 
 Guide to the Identification of the Postage Stamps of all 
 Nations. By E. B. Evans. London, 1894. 
 
 What Philately Teaches. (A Lecture delivered February 24, 1899.) 
 By J. N. Luff. New York, 1899. 
 
 GENERAL CATALOGUE (NOT PRICED) 
 
 A Catalogue for Advanced Collectors of Postage Stamps, Stamped 
 Envelopes, and Wrappers. Compiled from the most recent 
 authorities and individual research. By H. C. Collin and 
 H. L. Caiman. New York, 1890-1901. *.• Two hundred 
 and forty-six plates. 
 
 GENERAL CATALOGUES (PRICED) 
 
 These are current, general, illustrated and priced lists of the 
 world's postage-stamps, briefly indicated under the 
 country of publication and under publisher's name. 
 Great Britain. Stanley Gibbons, Ltd. ; Bright & Son ; Whitfield 
 
 King & Co. ; D. Field (Colonials). 
 America. Scott Stamp and Coin Company ; Stanley Gibbons, Inc. 
 France. Catalogue Officiel de la Societe Fran^aise de Tim- 
 brologie ; Yvert et Tellier ; Lemaire ; Bernichon ; Mon- 
 tader ; &c. 
 Germany. Gebriider Senf ; Paul Kohl, Ltd. 
 Spain. Galvez. 
 
 COLLECTIONS 
 
 The Catalogues of Stamp Exhibitions held in London, the 
 Provinces, and abroad are useful for succinct accounts 
 of numerous Collections of interest and importance. I do 
 not, however, include them here, nor do I list the cata- 
 logues of auction sales, which have a similar reference 
 value. 
 The Avery Collection of the Postage Stamps of the World. By 
 W. H. Peckitt. London, 1909. •.• This collection was sold 
 after the death of Sir William Avery, Bart., for ;^24,5oo. 
 Concise Description of the Collection of Essays of Martin Schroe- 
 der. By A. Reinheimer. Leipzig, 1903. •.* Seventy-two 
 plates. 
 (A celebrated Collection of historical value, brought together 
 between the years 1893 and 1902.) 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY 337 
 
 Postage Stamps and their Collection. By Warren H. Colson. 
 Boston, Mass., 1907. '.♦ Seventeen plates. 
 (Chiefly devoted to a description of the Collection of Dr. Wil- 
 liam C. Bowers, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, but containing 
 comparative notes on other American Collections.) 
 
 Postage Stamps of the Hawaiian Islands in the Collection of 
 Henry J. Crocker, of San Francisco. By Fred J. Mel- 
 ville. London, 1908. •.• Eight plates. 
 
 A Priced List of the Rare Stamps in the " Winzer " Collection. 
 Stanley Gibbons, Ltd. London, 1894. 
 ••• A fine Collection formed by Ernst Winzer, of Dresden, 
 and sold for ;^3,ooo. 
 
 The Tapling Collection of Stamps and Postal Stationery at the 
 British Museum : A Descriptive Guide and Index, with 
 Portraits and Illustrations. By Fred J. Melville. London, 
 1905. 
 
 SPECIAL HANDBOOKS 
 
 [For grouped Countries, see under comprehensive title, e.g., 
 Africa, Australasia.] 
 
 Abyssinia. Abyssinia. By Fred J. Melville. London, 1909. 
 
 Afghanistan. The Postage Stamps of Afghanistan. By [Sir] 
 D. P. Masson and B. G. Jones. Madras and Birmingham, 
 1908. *.' Twenty-four plates. 
 
 Africa. The Postage Stamps, Envelopes, Wrappers, Post Cards 
 and Telegraph Stamps of the British Colonies, Possessions 
 and Protectorates in Africa. [The Philatelic Society, Lon- 
 don.] 
 
 I. British Bechuanaland to Cape of Good Hope. London, 1895. 
 
 •. • Eight plates. 
 
 II. Gambia to Natal. London, 1900. •. • Fourteen plates. 
 
 III. New Republic to Zululand. London, 1906. •.• Thirty 
 plates. 
 
 America. The Postage Stamps, Envelopes, Wrappers, and Post 
 Cards of the North American Colonies of Great Britain, 
 [The Philatelic Society, London.] London, 1889. '•" Six 
 plates. 
 
 Argentina. Sellos postales de la Confederacion Argentina. By 
 J. Marco del Pont. Buenos Aires, 1902. •.• Two plates. 
 Sellos postales de la Republica Argentina. (Emision de 11 de 
 Enero de 1862.) By J. Marco del Pont. Buenos Aires, 1895. 
 Timbres de la Republique Argentine et de ses diverses pro- 
 vinces. Two vols. By J. B. Moens. Bruxellcs, 1882. 
 
 17 
 
338 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Valores Postales Argentines. By C. Carles. Buenos Aires, 
 
 1897, 1898. 
 [The work is of a semi-official character, containing specimen 
 
 ("muestra") copies of the Stamps accompanied by the 
 
 official decrees relating to their issue.] 
 Asia. The Stamp Designs of Eastern Asia. By C. A. Howes. 
 
 New York, 1905. 
 Australasia. The Postage Stamps, Envelopes, and Post Cards of 
 
 Australia and the British Colonies of Oceania. [The 
 
 Philatelic Society, London.] London, 1887. ••• Thirty-one 
 
 plates. 
 AUSTRIA. Die Postwertzeichen des Kaisertumes Oesterreich und 
 
 der oesterreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie. By H. Kropf. 
 
 Prag, 1908. •.♦ Thirty-five plates. 
 Baden. Baden (in German). By O. Rommel. Leipzig, 1893-6. 
 
 *.• One plate. 
 Die Abstempelungen der Mar ken von Baden. By A. E. 
 
 Glasewald. Gossnitz, 1898. •.• Two plates. 
 Die Briefmarken von Baden. By C. Lindenberg. Berlin, 
 
 1894. •.* One plate. 
 Die JBriefumschlage von Baden. By C. Lindenberg. Berlin, 
 
 1894. 
 Barbados. The Stamps of Barbados. By E. D. Bacon and 
 
 F. H. Napier. London, 1896. •.• Three plates. 
 Bavaria. Bayern (in German). By O. Rommel. Leipzig, 1893- 
 
 96. •.• Two plates. 
 Die Postwerthzeichen von Bayern. By S. Friedl. Wien, 
 
 1880. 
 Die Briefumschlage von Bayern. By C. Lindenberg. Berlin, 
 
 1895. 
 Der Specialsammler von Bayern nach Abstempelungen. By 
 
 A. Chehus. Munchen, 1900. 
 Belgium. Belgique et Congo Beige. Catalogue special de tous 
 
 les varietes de timbi es-poste, telegraphe, colis-postaux & 
 
 cartes postales. By C. Brandes-Hoffstetter. Bruxelles, 
 
 1897. 
 Les Timbres de Belgique. By J. B. Moens. Two vols. 
 
 Bruxelles, 1880. 
 Bergedorf. Die Postfreimarken des beiderstadtischen Postamtes 
 
 Bergedorf. By H. Krotzsch. Leipzig, 1896. *.• Nine 
 
 plates. 
 Bhopal. Notes on the Postage Stamps of Bhopal. By G. A. 
 
 Anderson. Calcutta, 1899. %* Thirty-two plates. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY 339 
 
 Bolivia, How to Collect Bolivian Stamps. By H. R. Oldfield. 
 
 London, 1898. ••• Six plates. 
 Brazil. Catalogue historique des timbres-poste et entiers du 
 
 Bresil. By C. O. Vieira. Paris, 1893. 
 Catalogue of Postage Stamps issued in Brazil, accurately 
 
 described and formed from the stock of Exemplar Stamps 
 
 collected by C.J. L. of Bahia in Brazil. By C.J. Lindgren. 
 
 Bahia, 1891. 
 Bremen. Bremen (in German). By O. Rommel and H. Krotzsch. 
 
 Leipzig, 1893-6. •.• Six plates. 
 Die Brief umschlage von Hamburg und Bremen. By C. 
 
 Lindenberg. Berlin, 1894. 
 Les Timbres de Brdme. By G. Brunei. Paris, 1907. 
 British Central Africa. British Central Africa and Nyasaland 
 
 Protectorate. By Fred. J. Melville. London, 1909. 
 British Honduras. The Stamps of British Honduras. By 
 
 B. W. H. Poole. London, 1910. 
 British New Guinea. British New Guinea and Papua. By 
 
 Fred J. Melville. London, 1909. 
 Brunswick. Die Postwerthzeichen des Herzogthums Braun- 
 schweig. By L. Berger. Braunschweig, 1893. 
 Die Briefumschlage von Braunschweig. By C. Lindenberg. 
 
 Berlin, 1892. 
 Braunschweig. By O. Rommel and H. Krotzsch. Leipzig^ 
 
 1893-6. *.' Four plates. 
 Campeche. Some Notes on the most remarkable Postage Stamp 
 
 ever issued. By W. C. Bellows. New York, 1909. 
 Canada. The Postage Stamps of Canada. By C. A. Howes. 
 
 Boston, 1911. •.• Fifteen plates. 
 Cape of Good Hope. Cape of Good Hope. By E. J. Nankivell. 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, 1909. 
 Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands : Their Stamps and Post 
 
 Office. By D. Armstrong, C. Bostwick, and A. Watkin. 
 
 London, 1910. '.• Two plates. 
 Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. By E. J. Nankivell. 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, 1908. 
 Ceylon. The Postage Stamps, Envelopes, Wrappers, Post Cards, 
 
 and Telegraph Stamps of British India and Ceylon. [The 
 
 Philatelic Society, London.] London, 1892. 
 Chili. Estudios de la filatelia de Chile. By R. Aguirre Mercado. 
 
 Coquimbo, 1905. 
 Les Timbres du Chili, d'apr^ Rafael Aguirre Mercado, By 
 
 Sigismond Jean. Paris, 1910. 
 
340 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 China. Notes on the Postage Stamps of China, 1878-1905. By 
 
 J. Mencarini (of the Imperial Maritime Customs Service). 
 
 Shanghai, 1906. '.* Four plates. 
 The Postage Stamps of China, with a History of the Chinese 
 
 Imperial Post. By Fred J. Melville. London, 1908. 
 
 *.• Three plates. 
 Colombia. Catalogo de estampillas postales de Colombia : 
 
 emisiones 1859 a 1897. By L. Umana. Cali, 1897. 
 Confederate States of America. Catalogue of the Stamps, 
 
 Envelopes, and Wrappers of the United States of America, 
 
 and of the Confederate States of America. By H. L. Collin 
 
 and H. L. Caiman, with John N. Luff and Geo. L. Toppan. 
 
 New York, 1900. 
 Corea. The Emissions of China, Shanghai, Corea, and Japan. 
 
 By W. A. Warner. Chicago, 1889. 
 Crete. Les nouveaux timbres-poste de I'ile de Crete et les 
 
 modeles des monnaies antiques (translated from the Greek). 
 
 [Direction des Postes Cretoises.] La Canee, 1905. 
 The New Postage Stamps of the Island of Crete. Translated 
 
 from the above. New York, 1905. 
 Denmark. Danske Postfrimaerker 1851-1901. [A semi-official 
 
 jubilee work, containing reprints.] By O. Koefoed. Kjoben- 
 
 havn, 1901. 
 Danemark-Studie. By O. V. Riise. Munchen, 1893. 
 
 ••• Three plates. 
 Dominica. Dominica. By B. W, H. Poole. Tunbridge Wells, 
 
 1909. 
 Dutch Indies. Beschrijving van alle Nederlandsch Indische 
 
 Frankeerzegels, Postzegels. [Nederlandsche Vereeniging 
 
 van Postzegelverzamelaars.] Amsterdam, 1895. 
 Egypt. The Stamps of Egypt. By W. S. Warburg. Tewkesbury, 
 
 Egremont, 1895. 
 De Postzegels van Egypte. By J. C. auf der Heide. 
 
 Amsterdam, 1902. 
 Errors. The World's Stamp Errors. By Miss Fitte. Part I., 
 
 The British Empire. Part II., Foreign Countries. London, 
 
 1910. 
 Europe. The Adhesive Postage Stamps of Europe. By W. A. S. 
 
 Westoby. Two vols. London, 1898-1900. 
 Catalogue-Memento pour servir de Manco List : Europe et 
 
 Colonies. By Paul Morand. Paris, 1909. 
 Falkland Islands. The Postage Stamps of the Falkland Islands. 
 
 By B. W. H. Poole. London, 1909. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY 341 
 
 Fiji Islands. The Postage Stamps, &c., of the Fiji Islands. By 
 
 Charles J. Phillips. London, 1908. •.• Fifteen plates. 
 Finland. Die Ganzsachen von Finnland. By R. Granberg. 
 
 Berlin, 1903. 
 Katalog iiber die Freimarken des Grossfiirstentums Finland, 
 
 [Helsingfors Frimarkssamlare Forening.] 3rd ed. Hels- 
 
 ingfors, 1908. •.* Three plates. 
 Forgeries. Album Weeds, or How to detect Forged Stamps. 
 
 By the Rev. R. B. Earee. 3rd ed. Two vols. London, 
 
 1906-7. 
 France. Catalogue Descriptif Illustre de toutes les Marques 
 
 Postales de la France. By A. Maury. 2nd ed. Paris, 
 
 1899, with supplement, 1905. 
 Catalogue Memento, pour servir de Manco-Liste : France et 
 ^ ses Colonies. By Paul Morand. Paris, 1909. 
 Etude et description des signes de controle sur les timbres de 
 
 la France de 1846-99. By H. Valois. Amiens, 1896. 
 
 •.* Three plates. 
 Histoire des timbres-poste fran^ais. By A. Maury. Two 
 
 parts. Paris, 1907-8. 
 Histoire du timbre-poste frangais. By L. Leroy. Paris et 
 
 Bruxelles, 1891. 
 Les Vignettes postales de la France et de ses Colonies. By F. 
 
 Marconnet. Two vols. Nancy, 1897. •.' Second vol. 
 
 consists of atlas of plates. 
 Notes sur remission provisoire des timbres-poste frangais dits 
 
 de " Bordeaux." By P. Hermand. Paris, 1901. 
 Le Timbre-Poste fran^ais, etude historique et anecdotique de 
 
 la poste et du timbre en PYance et dans les colonies 
 
 frangaises. By Georges Brunei. New ed., with supple- 
 ment. Paris, 1901. 
 Gambia. Gambia. By Fred. J. Melville. London, 1909. 
 Germany and Colonies. Die Aushiilfsmarken von Tsingtau 
 
 und ihre Falschungen. By Gebruder Senf. Leipzig, 1903. 
 Deutsche Reich-Post. By O. Rommel. Leipzig, 1893-6. 
 Illustrierter Spezial-Katalog der Deutschen Kolonialmarken 
 
 und der Deutschen Postamter im Auslande. By Gebruder 
 
 Senf. Leipzig, 1907. 
 Gibraltar. Die Postwertzeichen von Gibraltar seit 1889. By 
 
 W. Breimeier. Leipzig, 1892. 
 Great Britain. Great Britain : Embossed Adhesive Stamps. By 
 
 Fred J. Melville. London, 1910. 
 
342 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Great Britain : King Edward VII. Stamps. By Fred J. Mel- 
 ville. London^ 191 1. 
 Great Britain : Line-engraved Stamps. By Fred J. Melville* 
 
 2nd ed. London, 1910. 
 A History of the Adhesive Stamps of the British Isles. By 
 
 H. E. Wright and A. B. Creeke, Jun. London, 1899. 
 
 •.• Thirty-eight plates. With a Supplement. By A. B. 
 
 Creeke, Jun. London, 1904. • . • One plate. 
 The Postage Stamps of Great Britain. By Fred J. Melville. 
 
 London, 1904, *.• Eight plates. 
 The Postage and Telegraph Stamps of Great Britain. By F. A. 
 
 Philbrick and W. A. S. Westoby. London, 1881. 
 The Postage Stamps of the United Kingdom, 1840-90. By 
 
 W. A. S. Westoby. 2nd ed. London, 1892. 
 Standard Priced Catalogue of the Stamps and Postmarks of the 
 
 United Kingdom. By H. L. Ewen. 6th ed. London, S.E., 
 
 1898. 
 Greece. Les Emissions des Timbres Grecs, By Georges Brunei. 
 
 Paris, 1909. 
 Die Postmarken von Griechenland. By A. E. Glasewald. 
 
 Gdssnitz, 1886-96. •.• Plates. 
 Die Postwerthzeichen von Griechenland. By A. E. Glasewald. 
 
 Gdssnitz, 1896. 
 The Stamps of Greece. By W. D. Beckton and G. B. Duerst. 
 
 Manchester, iSgy. •.• Three plates. 
 Grenada. Grenada. By E. D. Bacon and F. H. Napier. London, 
 
 1900. •.• Nine plates. 
 Griqualand. The Stamps of Griqualand West. By F. H. Napier. 
 
 Manchester, 1903. ••• Two plates. 
 Hamburg. Die Briefumschlage von Hamburg und Bremen. By 
 
 C. Lindenberg. Berlin, 1894. 
 Hamburg (in German). By O. Rommel and H. Krotzsch. 
 
 Leipzig, 1893-6. 
 Die Postwerthzeichen von Hamburg. By E. Heim. Wien, 
 
 1880. 
 Les Timbres de Hambourg. By G. Brunei. Paris, 1911. 
 Hanover. Die Briefumschlage von Hannover. By C. Lindenberg. 
 
 Berlin, 1895. 
 Hannover (in German). By H. Krotzsch. Leipzig, 1893. 
 
 ♦.• Nine plates. 
 Hawaiian Islands. Descriptive Catalogue of the Postage Stamps 
 
 of Hawaii. By W. M. Giffard. Honolulu, 1893. 
 
BIBLIOGEAPHY OF PHILATELY 343 
 
 Hawaiian Numerals. By Henry J. Crocker. San Francisco^ 
 
 1909. *.• Twenty-two plates. 
 History of the Postal Issues of Hawaii. By Brewster C. 
 
 Kenyon. Long Beach, Cal., 1895. ••• Eight plates. 
 Postage Stamps of the Hawaiian Islands in the Collection of 
 Henry J. Crocker, of San Francisco. By Fred J. Melville. 
 London, 1908. • . * Eight plates. 
 Hayti. The Postage Stamps of Hayti. By Fred J. Melville. 
 
 London^ 1905. 
 Heligoland. Heligoland et ses timbres. By J. B. Moens. 
 Bruxelles, 1897. 
 Originaux et Reimpressions de Heligoland. By A. Wulbern. 
 Bruxelles, 1911. •.• Two plates. 
 Holland and Colonies. De Afstempelingen voorkomende op de 
 Postzegels van Nederland. By Schreuders & Co. s'Graven- 
 hage, 1897. •.• Twelve plates. 
 Beschrijving van alle Nederlansche Postzegels. [Nederlandsche 
 Vereeniging van Postzegel-verzamelaars.] Amsterdam, 
 1894-5. •.• Part I. deals with Holland ; II., Dutch Indies ; 
 III., Surinam ; IV., Curasao. 
 Holland. By Fred J. Melville. London, 1909. 
 Perforations Galore. By A. H. Warren. London, 1910. 
 •.•Plates. 
 Hong Kong. Descriptive Catalogue of the Postage Stamps and 
 Cards issued by the Hong Kong Post Office. By J. Mencarini. 
 Amoy (China'), 1898. 
 The Postage Stamps of Hong Kong. By B. W. H. Poole. 
 London, 1908. 
 Hungary. Die Wasserzeichen der Ungarischer Postwerthzeichen. 
 
 By Dr. S. Lengyel. Leipzig, 1890. 
 India. The Adhesive Fiscal and Telegraph Stamps of British 
 India. By C. S. Crofton and W. Corfield. Calcutta, 1905. 
 British Indian Adhesive Stamps, surcharged for Native States, 
 By C. Stewart- Wilson. Part I., Chamba, Faridkot, Gwalior. 
 Calcutta, 1897. •.•Four plates. Part II., Jhind, Nabha, 
 Patialla. Calcutta, 1898. •.• Four plates. (A revised 
 edition by the same author in collaboration with B. G. 
 Jones, was published in one volume. Calcutta, 1904. 
 •.•Nine plates.) 
 The Postage Stamps, &c., of British India and Ceylon. [The 
 Philatelic Society, London.] London, 1892. •.* Twenty- 
 four plates. 
 Notes on the De La Rue Series of the Adhesive Postage and 
 
344 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Telegraph Stamps of India. Supplement to preceding 
 work. By J. A. Tilleard. London, 1896. 
 The Postage and Telegraph Stamps of British India. Part I., 
 Postage Stamps. By L. L. R. Hausburg. Part II., Tele- 
 graph Stamps. By C. Stewart-Wilson and C. S. F. Crofton. 
 London, 1907. •.• Twenty-three plates. 
 Italy. I Francobolli Italiani. By G. Damiani. Milano, 1894. 
 Catalogo Filatelico-Storico dell'Italia dal 1818 a 1901. By G. 
 Rocereto. 2nd ed. Napoli, 1902. 
 Jamaica. Jamaica. By Fred J. Melville. London, 1910. •.• Six 
 plates. 
 Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. By E. J. Nankivell. Tun- 
 bridge Wells, 1908. 
 Jammu and Kashmir. The Stamps of Jammu and Kashmir. 
 By Sir D. P. Masson. Vol. I., Calcutta, 1900. •.* Six 
 plates. Vol. II., Lahore, 1901. '.* Eleven plates. 
 Japan. Dai Nippon Teikoku Ubin Kitte Eukakushi {lit., History 
 of the Postage Stamps of the Great Japanese Empire). 
 [Japanese Postal Department.] Tokio, 1896. *.• This work 
 is illustrated with actual stamps, and is of considerable 
 rarity. A forgery or unofficial imitation of the work has 
 been published. 
 Les Ecritures et la legende des timbres du Japon. By Dr. 
 A. Legrand. Bruxelles, 1878. 
 Leeward Islands. Priced Catalogue of the Obsolete Leeward 
 Isles. By R. HolHck. London, 1895. (See West Indies.) 
 LuBECK. Die Briefumschlage von Liibeck. By C. Lindenberg. 
 Berlin, 1892. 
 Liibeck. By H. Krotzsch. Lei;pzig, iSg^. •.• Forty plates. 
 Die Postwertzeichen von Liibeck. By O. Rommel. Miinchen, 
 
 1895. 
 Les Timbres de Lubeck. By Georges Brunei. Paris, 1911. 
 Luxemburg. Timbres du Grand-Duche de Luxembourg. By 
 
 J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 1879. •.• Plates. 
 Mauritius. Notes sur les Timbres-poste de Maurice. By E. B. 
 Evans. Paris, 1880. 
 Les Timbres de Maurice. By J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 
 1878. 
 Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Die 
 Briefumschlage von Mecklenburg-Schwerin und Mecklen- 
 burg-Strelitz. By C. Lindenberg. Berlin, 1892. 
 Mecklenburg-Schwerin und Mecklenburg-Strelitz. By Hugo 
 Krotzsch. Leipzig^ 1893-6. ••• Seventeen plates. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY 345 
 
 Les Timbres de Mecklembourg-Schwerin et Strelitz. By J. B. 
 Moens. Bruxelles, 1879. 
 Mexico. Catalogue of Mexican Postage and Revenue Stamps, 
 Envelopes, Post Cards, &c. By C. H. Mekeel. 4th ed. 
 St Louis, Mo., 1896. 
 Catalogue of the Stamps, Envelopes, Wrappers, and Postal 
 Cards of Mexico, including the Provisional Issues of 
 Campeche, Chiapas, Guadalajara, &c. By H. Collin and 
 H. L. Caiman, with Albert E. Lawrence. New York, 1895. 
 Los Sobrecargos de los sellos postales de Mexico. By J. 
 Marco del Pont. Buenos Aires, 1903. (See also Campeche.) 
 MoDENA. I Francobolli del Ducato di Modena e delle Provincie 
 Modenesi. By Dr. Emilio Diena. Modena, 1894. *.• Seven 
 plates. 
 The Stamps of the Duchy of Modena and the Modenese 
 Provinces. By Dr. Emilio Diena. Manchester, 1905. 
 •.' Seven plates. (A revised version in English, prepared 
 by the author from his original work in Italian.) 
 Timbres des Etats de Parme, Modene et Romagna. By J, B. 
 Moens. Bruxelles, 1878. 
 Moldavia. See Roumania. 
 Naples. Timbres de Naples et de Sicilie. By J. B. MoSns. 
 
 Bruxelles, 1877. 
 Nevis. Nevis. By Fred J. Melville. London, 1909. 
 New Caledonia. Une reimpression des timbres de la Nouvelle- 
 
 Caledonie. By A. Maury. Paris, 1880. 
 New Hebrides. New Hebrides. By Single CA. London, 1910. 
 New South Wales. A History and Description of the Sydney 
 View Stamps of New South Wales. By R. C. H. Brock. 
 Philadelphia, 1890. 
 History of the Post Office, together with an Historical Account 
 of the Issue of Postage Stamps in New South Wales. 
 Compiled chiefly from the Records, by A. Houison. 
 Sydney, 1890. •.• Fifteen plates. 
 The Postage Stamps, Envelopes, Wrappers, Post Cards and 
 Telegraph Stamps of New South Wales. By A. F. Basset 
 Hull. Two vols. London, 1911. •.• Sixteen plates. 
 The Registration Stamp of New South Wales. By A. Houison. 
 Sydney, 1888. 
 Niger Coast. Niger Coast Protectorate. By E. J. Nankivell. 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, 1909. 
 North German Confederation. Die Briefumschlage des Nord- 
 deutschen Postbezirks. By C. Lindenberg. Berlin, 1893. 
 
346 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Norddeutscher Postbezirk mit Occupations-Freimarken. By 
 H. Krotzsch. Leipzig, 1893-6. 
 Oldenburg. Die Briefumschlage von Oldenburg. By C. Linden- 
 berg. Berlin, 1893. 
 Oldenburg (in German). By P. Ohrt. Leipzig, 1893-6. 
 Orange River Colony. South African War Provisionals. By 
 
 B. W. H. Poole. London, 1901. •.• Six plates. 
 
 Panama. Bartels' Check List of Canal Zone Stamps, By J. M. 
 
 Bartels. 2nd ed. Boston, Mass., 1908. 
 
 Bartels' Check List of the Postage Stamps of Panama, 1907. 
 
 By W. W. Randall and J. M. Bartels. Boston, Mass., 1907. 
 
 A Reference List of the Stamps of Panama. By J. N. Luff. 
 
 New York, 1905. 
 The Stamps of the Canal Zone. By G. L. Toppan. New 
 York, 1906. 
 Parma. Timbres des Etats de Parme, Modene et Romagne. By 
 
 J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 1878. 
 Persia. Die persische post und die Postwerthzeichen von Persien 
 und Buchara. By F. Schiiller. Wicn, 1893. •.* Four 
 plates. 
 La Poste des Califes et la Poste du Shah. By P. Hugonnet. 
 Paris, 1884. .'. Map. 
 Peru. Beredeneerde Geillustreerde Catalogus aller Postzegels, 
 Couverten en Briefkaarten, officieel uitgegeven door de 
 Peruaansche Republiek van af i December, 1857, tot en met 
 31 December, 1887. By A. E. J. Huart. Amsterdam, 1888. 
 Catalogue general et detaille des timbres-poste, enveloppes et 
 cartes postales ofBciellement emis dans la Republique du 
 Perou. [Societe Philatelique Sud Americaine.] Lima, 1887. 
 Peru. Investigaciones sobre la emision de estampillas del 
 coronel seminario en tumbez en Marzo de 1895. By 
 A. T. Lista. Santiago de Chile, 1899. 
 Les Timbres du Perou. By J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 1878. 
 Studie iiber Postwertzeichen von Peru. By Dr. O. Rommel. 
 Munchen, 1890. 
 Philippine Islands. The Postage Stamps of the Philippines. 
 By J. M. Bartels, F. A. Foster and F. L. Palmer. Boston, 
 Mass., 1904. 
 Portugal. Catalogue descriptif et illustre de tons les timbres- 
 poste, &c., du Portugal emis des 1853 a 1895 avec leur 
 differentes denteleurs, papiers, &c. By T. Ramos. Lisbonne, 
 1895. 
 The Dies of the Postage Stamps of Portugal of the Reigns of 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY 347 
 
 Dona Maria II. and Dom Pedro V. By R. B. Yardley. 
 
 Manchester^ 1907. •.* Thirty plates. 
 Portugal. Eine Studie iiber die Ausgaben 1853-76. By L. 
 
 Berger. Berlin, 1898. 
 Portuguese Indies. Portuguese India. By G. Harrison and 
 
 F. H. Napier. London, 1893. *.♦ Two plates. 
 Prince Edward Island, Prince Edward Island. By R. E. R. 
 
 Dalwigk, London, 1910. 
 Prussia. Preussen. By P. Ohrt. Leipzig, 1893-6. 
 
 Les Timbres de Prusse. By J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 1887. 
 Reprints. Handbuch aller bekannten Neudrucke staatlicher 
 
 Postfreimarken, Ganzsachen und Essays. By P. Ohrt. 
 
 Dusscldorf, 1907. 
 Reprints of Postal Adhesive Stamps and their Characteristics. 
 
 By E. D. Bacon. London^ 1899. 
 Roman States. Tinibres des Etats de Toscane et Saint-Marin et 
 
 des Etats de I'Eglise. By J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 1878. 
 Roumania. Die Postwerthzeichen von Rumanien. Moldau, 
 
 Moldau-Walachei, Fiirstenthum Rumanien, Konigreich 
 
 Rumanien. By H. Roggenstroh. Magdeburg, 1894. 
 
 •.* Five plates. 
 Timbres de Moldavie et de Roumaine. By Dr. Magnus, 2nd 
 
 ed. Bruxelles, 1869. 
 Russia. Die Postmarken von Russland. By Dr. E, von Bochmann. 
 
 Leipzig, 1895. 
 Les Timbres de Russie. By J. B. MoSns. Bruxelles, 1893. 
 St. Thomas and Prince Islands. La Guerre aux timbres sur- 
 charges de S. Thome et Principe. By J. A. da Silva. 
 
 Lisbonne, 1895. 
 St. Vincent. Saint Vincent. By F, H. Napier and E. D. Bacon. 
 
 London, iSgS. •.' Two plates. 
 San Marino. Timbres des Etats de Toscane et Saint-Marin. By 
 
 J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 1878. 
 Sarawak. The Postage Stamps of Sarawak. By Fred J. 
 
 Melville. London, 1907. •.• Eight plates. 
 Saxony. Die Briefumschlage von Sachsen. By C. Lindenberg. 
 
 Berlin, 1894. 
 Les Timbres de Saxe. By J. B. Mogns. Bruxelles, 1879. 
 Geschichte der Postwerthzeichen des Konigreichs Sachsen. 
 
 By Dr. P. Kloss. Dresden, 1882. 
 ScHLESWiG - HoLSTEiN. Die Postfreimarken der Herzogtiimer 
 
 Schleswig-Holstein. By A. Rosenkranz. Leipzig, i^<)7. 
 '.' Fourteen plates. 
 
348 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Timbres des Duches de Schleswig-Holstein et Lauenbourg et 
 
 Bergedorf. By J. B. Moens. Bruxellcs, 1884. 
 Seychelles. The Postage Stamps of the Seychelles. By B. W. H. 
 
 Poole. London, 1906. 
 Shanghai. Shanghai. By W. B. Thornhill. London, 1895. •.• 
 
 Eight plates. 
 SiAM. The Postage Stamps of Siam. By A. Holland. Boston, 
 
 Mass, 1904. •.• One plate. 
 Siam : Its Posts and Postage Stamps. By Fred J, Melville. 
 
 London, 1906. 
 Sicily. History of the Postage Stamps of Sicily. By Dr. E. 
 
 Diena. London, 1904. *.• Twenty plates. 
 SiRMOOR. Sirmoor I. By [Sir] D. P. Masson. Madras, 1906. 
 South Australia. South Australia. By F. H. Napier and Gordon 
 
 Smith. London, 1894. *.* Three plates. 
 Spain. Catalogo ilustrado de sellos de correo de Esparia. By H. 
 
 Prats. Barcelona, 1894. 
 Historia de los sellos de correos y telegrafos de Espaiia. By 
 
 M. A. Fernandez. Madrid, 1901-4. 
 Histoire des timbres-poste ... en Espagne. By J. B. Mogns. 
 
 Bruxelles, 1891. 
 Resefia Historico-Descriptiva de los Sellos de Correo de 
 
 Espaiia. By A. F. Duro. Madrid, 1881. 
 Straits Settlements. A Reference List to the Stamps of the 
 
 Straits Settlements, surcharged for use in the Native Pro- 
 tected States. By W. Brown. Salisbury, 1^^. *.• Supple- 
 mental plate. 
 Sudan. Sudan. By E. J. Nankivell. London, 1904. 
 Suez Canal Company. Timbres d'Egypte et de la Compagnie du 
 
 Canal de Suez. By J. B. Moens. Bruxelles, 1880. 
 Sweden. Sveriges Frankotecken, 1855-1905. [Sveriges Filatelist- 
 
 Forening.] Stockholm, 1905. *.• Plates, 
 Die Postmarken von Schweden, 1855-1905. [A prdcis of the 
 
 above in German.] By H. Djurling and R. Krasemann. 
 
 Leipzig, 1908. 
 Switzerland. The Forgeries of the "Cantonal" Stamps of 
 
 Switzerland. By Baron A. de Reuterskiold. Manchester, 
 
 1908. •.* One plate. 
 Spezial-Katalog und Handbuch iiber die Briefmarken der 
 
 Schweiz und Tabellen iiber Abstempelungen der Ausgaben 
 
 1843-81. By E. Zumstein. Bern, 1908. 
 Handbook of the Postage Stamps of Switzerland, from the 
 
 above. By E, Zumstein, London, igio, ••• Six plates. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY 349 
 
 The Stamps of Switzerland, 1843-54. By Baron C. von 
 
 Girsewald. Milnchen, 1893. 
 Les Timbres Cantonaux . . . Suisses de 1843 a 1852, et leurs 
 
 fac-simile a ce jour. By H. Goegg. Geneve, 1893. 
 Les Timbres-poste Suisses, 1843-62 [and in German and 
 
 English]. By P. Mirabaud and Baron A. de Reuterskiold. 
 
 Pans, 1900. ••• Fourteen plates. 
 Tasmania. The Stamps of Tasmania. By A. F. B. Hull. London. 
 
 1890. •.• Nine plates. 
 Thurn and Taxis. Die Abstempelungen der Marken des Thurn 
 
 und Taxis'schen Postgebietes. By A. E. Glasewald. 
 
 Gdssnit2, 1893. •.* Ten plates and two maps. 
 Die Briefumschlage von Thurn und Taxis. By C. Lindenberg. 
 
 Berlin, 1892. 
 Tonga. Tonga. By Fred. J. Melville. London, 1909. 
 Turkey. Croissant-Toughra (Armoiries de I'Empire Ottoman). 
 
 By F. Mongeri. Bruxelles, 1887. 
 Katalog der Postwerthzeichen des ottomanischen Kaiserthums. 
 
 By F. Meyer. Wien, 1878. 
 United States. History of the Postage Stamps of the United 
 
 States. By J. K. Tiffany. 2nd ed. Sf. Lowis, 1893. 
 The Postage Stamps of the United States, By J. N. Luff. 
 
 New York, 1902. •.* Twenty-three plates. 
 The Postage Stamps of the United States. By Fred J. 
 
 Melville. London, 1905. 
 A Tentative Check List of the Proofs of the Adhesive Postage 
 
 and Revenue Stamps of the United States. By G. L. 
 
 Toppan. New York and Boston, Mass., 1904. 
 United States Postage Stamps, 1847-69. By Fred J. Melville. 
 
 2nd ed. Loudon, 1910. 
 United States Postage Stamps, 1870-93. By Fred J. Melville. 
 
 London, 1910. 
 United States Postage Stamps, 1894-1910. By Fred J. 
 
 Melville. London, 1910. 
 Uruguay. A Study of the Stamps of Uruguay. By Hugo Griebert. 
 
 London, 1910. •.• Seven plates. 
 Les Timbres de la Republique Orientale de 1' Uruguay. By 
 
 Dr. E. Wonner. Neuilly, 1887. •.• Map. 
 Les Timbres de I'Uruguay. By S. Jean. Paris, 1908. 
 West Indies. The Postage Stamps, Envelopes, Wrappers, Post 
 
 Cards and Telegraph Stamps of the British Colonies in the 
 
 West Indies, together with British Honduras and the 
 
350 CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS 
 
 Colonies in South America. [The Philatelic Society, 
 
 London.] London, 1891. 
 WuRTEMBERG. Die Briefumschlagc von Wiirttemberg. By C. 
 
 Lindenberg. Berlin, 1895. 
 Les Timbres du Wurtemberg. By J. B. MoSns. Bruxclles, 
 
 1881. 
 ZULULAND. Zululand. By B. W. H. Poole. London, 1909. 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aberdeen University Library, 
 127 
 
 Abyssinia, 201 
 
 Accessories, 136-150 
 
 Acts of Parliament : Commonwealth, 
 63, 159; George III., 67; Uni- 
 form Penny Postage, loi, 159 
 
 "Adhesive Stamps of the British 
 Isles, The," 156 
 
 Africa, 2C4 
 
 "Aids to Stamp Collectors," 
 Booty's, 123, 147 
 
 Aitutaki, 306 
 
 Albino, 23 
 
 Albums, 128, 136, 137, 147 
 
 " Album Weeds," 243 
 
 Alexis Michaelovitch, H.I.H. the 
 Grand Duke, 325 
 
 Alfonso XIII., H.M. King, 325 
 
 All Hallows Staining rectory, 122, 
 268 
 
 Alsace and Lorraine, 269 
 
 Althorp, Lord, 96 
 
 Anderson, Mr. P. J,, 127 
 
 Aniline colours, 23 
 
 Annapolis, 279, 289 
 
 Antigua, £04 
 
 Argentine Republic, 259 
 
 Ashurst, Mr. W. H., loi, 109, 159 
 
 AtheruEUjn^ The, 97, 98, 109, 170 
 
 Atlee, Mr. W. D., 273-275 
 
 Auction sale of stamps, The first, 
 272 
 
 18 
 
 Augustus, Emperor, 59 
 
 Australian Commonwealth, 190, 
 
 202 
 Austria, 60, 61, 71, 269 
 Avery, late Sir W. B., 9, 177, 183, 
 
 225, 282, 290, 291, 302 
 Ayer, Mr. F. W., 302 
 
 Bacon, Mr. E. D., 298 
 
 Baden, 61 
 
 Bagshawe, Mr. A., 302 
 
 Balkan States, 203 
 
 Baltimore, 289 
 
 Barbados, 219, 322 
 
 Baring, Mr. Thomas, M.P., 167 
 
 Basle, 256, 290 
 
 Batavia, Find of old papers in, 85 
 
 Batonn6 paper, 23, 39 
 
 Baton Rouge, 181, 332 
 
 Bavaria, 61 
 
 Beaufort House Press, The, 95 
 
 Beaumont, 332 
 
 Belgium, 179 
 
 Bellman, Origin of the, 67 
 
 Benzine, The use of, 139 
 
 Bergedorf, 271, 326 
 
 Berger-I^evrault, M. F. G. Oscar, 
 
 125, 269-271 
 Berlin Postal Museum, 330 
 Bermuda, 322 
 Billets de port pay e^ 81 
 Birchin-lane, Stamp exchange in 
 
 118, 121, 263 
 
354 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bisected provisional stamps, 23, 37, 
 
 219 
 Blest, Mr. W., 302 
 BleutCy blued paper, 23 
 Blind division, General Post Office, 
 
 57 
 Blocks of stamps, 23, 25 
 Blood locals, The, 273 
 Bogus stamps, 23, 247, 258-260 
 Booty, Mr. Frederick, 123, 124, 147 
 Borchard, Mme. , 278 
 Bourne, Mr. Herbert, 17a 
 Boys^ Own Magazine, The, 127 
 Bradbury, Wilkinson & G)., 172 
 Brattleboro, 273 
 Brazil, 71, 116, 234 
 British Central Africa, 168 
 British Colonial Stamps, 32, 203, 311 
 British Guiana, 53, 219, 268, 269, 
 
 27if 275, 277, 282, 301, 321, 329, 
 
 331 
 British Museum, 97, 98, 134, 160, 
 
 281, 327, 329, 330 
 British New Guinea, 170 
 British North America, 71, 202, 295 
 British Post-offices abroad, 53 
 British Solomon Islands, 206 
 British South Africa Company, 170 
 British West Indies, 71, 202 
 Brown, Mr. Mount, 123, 124, 127, 
 
 264, 268 
 Brunei, 259 
 Brunswick, 61 
 Buenos Aires, 71, 271, 311 
 Bulgaria, 306 
 
 Bulwer, Mr. Edward Lytton, 96 
 Burele, 23 
 Burnett, Mr. M., 302 
 
 Caillebotte, Mm., 302 
 Canada, 176, 220, 269, 311 
 Canary Islands, 71 
 Cancelled to order, Stamps, 23 
 
 Cape Colony, 25, 179, 202, 220, 
 
 269, 331 
 Caroline Islands, 206 
 Cashmere, 40, 253 
 Castle, Mr. M. P., 131, 290, 302, 
 
 32s 
 
 Castle- Mann collection, The, 202 
 " Catalogue of British Colonial and 
 
 Foreign Stamps," Mount Brown's, 
 
 124 
 Catalogues, Stamp, 137 
 Cayman Islands, 221 
 Centimetre, 24 
 
 Ceylon, 201, 222, 224, 253, 290 
 Chalk-surfaced paper, 24 
 Chalmers, Mr. James, c^ Dundee, 
 
 99, loi 
 Chalon, Mr. Alfred Edward, R.A., 
 
 170 
 Change-alley, Stamp exchange in, 
 
 263 
 Charles II., 64 
 Cheverton, Mr. Benjamin, 102, 105, 
 
 159, 160 
 Chili, 71, 179, 189, 202 
 China, 189, 201 
 Christie, Manson & Wood, 167 
 City medal, Wyon's, 163 
 Clarke, Mr. Harvey R. G., 290 
 Cliche, 24, 45 
 Clipperton Island, 259 
 Clotilde, Princess, 305 
 Coit, Mr. J. T., 296 
 Cole, Sir Henry, loi, 102, 106, 
 
 109, no, 167 
 Collections, Sales of, 302 
 Colman, Mr. C, 302 
 Colour trials, 24 
 Coloured postmarks, 186 
 Colours, 23, 28 
 Colson, Mr. W. H., 332 
 Comb perforating machine, 24 
 Commemorative stamps, 24 
 
INDEX 
 
 355 
 
 Commissioners of Post-office in- 
 quiry, loi, 109, 159 
 Commonwealth, posts during the, 
 
 63 
 
 Compound perforations, 24 
 Condition, The Importance of, 8 ; 
 
 Essential details of, 139-142 
 Confederate States of America, 296, 
 
 331 
 Control letters, marks, 24 
 Cook Islands, 206 
 Cooper, Miss Eliza, 160 
 Cooper, Mr. W., 302 
 Cooper, Sir Daniel, 123, 129, 131, 
 
 272, 274, 275, 282, 298, 302 
 Corbould, Mr. Edward Henry, 170, 
 
 I73> 175 
 Corbould, Mr. Henry, 106, 175 
 Cordoba, 259 
 Counani, 259 
 Cousins, Mr. Samuel, 170 
 Coutures, M. Albert, 278 
 Crawford, The Earl of, 105, 131, 
 
 148, 159, 160, 171, 282-289, 279 
 Creased stamps, How to treat, 138 
 Creeke, Mr. A. B., jun., 156, 160 
 Crocker, Mr. Henry J., 295, 297, 
 
 299 
 Cromwell, Thomas, 62 
 Crown Agents for the Colonies, 172 
 Cuba, 205, 306 
 Current-number, 27, 29 
 Cut-outs, cut-squares, 27 
 Cyprus, 29, 168, 222, 306 
 
 Daily Telegraphy The, 264 
 Darius, I., 59 
 David's letter to Joab, 58 
 De la Rue & Co., Limited, i 
 
 202, 276 
 Denmark, 240, 306 
 "De-oxidisation," 138 
 De-sulphurisation of stamps, 138 
 
 Dickens, Charles, 122 
 
 Dickinson, Mr. John, 102, 109, 
 
 159, 160, 164 
 "Dickinson" paper, 27, 41, 109, 
 
 157, 161, 164 
 Dies, postage-stamp, 23, 24, 27, 
 
 3i» 35. 36, 46, 51 
 
 Dilke, Mr., of The Athenaeum, 109 
 
 Diplomata of the Roman Em- 
 perors, 60 
 
 Dockwra, Mr. William, 64-67, 
 82-84 
 
 Dominica, 204 
 
 Dominican Republic, 205 
 
 Doria Pamphilj, Prince, 302, 326 
 
 Double prints, 27 
 
 Dutch East Indian Company, 85 
 
 Dutch Indies, 85 
 
 Duty-plate, 27, 32 
 
 Duveen, Mr. Henry J., 187, 225, 
 290-293 
 
 Earee, Rev. R. B., 243 
 Edinburgh, H.R.H. the Duke of, 
 
 I3i» 305-311 
 Edward VII., H.M. King, 129, 
 
 313. 317, 318 
 Egypt, 233 
 
 Ehrenbach, Mr. R., 302 
 Electrotypes, 27 
 Embossing, 27 
 Engraving, 28 
 Entires, 28 
 Envelope stamps, 28 
 Errors, 28 
 Essays for postage stamps, 28, 103, 
 
 107 
 European stamps, 202, 203 
 Evans, Major E. B., 156 
 Evans, Mrs. John, 161 
 Evans, Mr. Lewis, 160, 161 
 Evening News, The, 264 
 Express, The, 263 
 
356 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fabri, Sr. p., 302 
 
 Facsimiles of postage stamps, 28, 
 241 
 
 " Facts and Reasons," Mr. Ashurst's, 
 loi, 109 
 
 Fakes, 28, 249-253 
 
 " Falsification of Postage Stamps, 
 The," 240 
 
 Fernando Po, 306 
 
 Field, Mr. D., 9, 321 
 
 Fiji, 168, 169, 206, 223, 257 
 
 Fiscal stamps, 28, 45, 48 
 
 Flap ornaments, 28 
 
 ** Forged Stamps and How to De- 
 tect Them," 239 
 
 Forgeries, 28, 31, 239-260 
 
 Forrester, Mr. Samuel, 159, 160 
 
 France, 234, 269, 326 
 
 Francis, Mr. John, 109 
 
 Francis, Mr. John Collins, 109 
 
 French Revolution, 61 
 
 Fuchs, Herr Emil, 317 
 
 Fugitive inks, 28 
 
 Gambia, 37, 204, 223 
 
 Gambin, Sr. Miguel, 302 
 
 Gauge for measuring perforations, 
 
 see ' ' Perforation Gauge " 
 Gauge for use in arranging stamps, 
 
 144-147 
 General Post Office, London, 57, 80, 
 
 195 
 
 Generalising, 31,49, 199, 200 
 Geneva, 256, 290-293, 326 
 George v., H.M. King, 131, 160, 
 
 167, 195, 225, 265, 305-325 
 German East Africa, 259 
 German Empire, 61 
 German New Guinea, 206 
 German States, 61, 71, 179, 203, 
 
 330 
 Gibbons, Mr. E. S., 117, 233 
 Gibbons Stamp Weekly y 156 
 
 Gibraltar, 71, 306 
 
 Gilbert and Ellice Islands, 20 
 
 Gimet, M. E., 278 
 
 Gold Coast, 204 
 
 Goliad, 183, 332 
 
 Government imitations, 31, 256 
 
 Grangerising philatelic monographs, 
 
 155 
 
 Granite paper, 31, 41 
 
 Gray, Dr. J. E., 97, 98, 124, 282 
 
 Great Britain, 25, 31, 32, 45, 53, 62, 
 68, 99, 154-161, 170-173, 177- 
 180, 191, 195, 201, 216-219, 235. 
 244-248, 251, 269, 271, 275, 283- 
 290> 307. 312-321 
 
 "Great Britain: Embossed Adhe- 
 sive Stamps," 160 
 
 Greece, 51, 234, 306 
 
 Grenada, 25, 322 
 
 Griebert, Mr. Hugo, 180 
 
 Grille, The, 31 
 
 Grove Hill, 332 
 
 Guadalajara, 282 
 
 Guam, 205, 206 
 
 Guillotine perforation, 31 
 
 Gum, 36 
 
 Gumpaps, 31 
 
 PIair-lines, 31 
 
 "Hand Catalogue of Postage 
 
 Stamps," Dr. Gray's, 124 
 Hand-made paper, 31, 39 
 Hanover, 61, 326 
 Hansardy 96-98 
 Harbeck, Mr. C. T., 302 
 Hardy, Mr. W. J., 298 
 Harrison, Mr. G. 302 
 Harrow perforating machine, 32 
 Plarwood's envelope, 109 
 Hausburg, M*-. L. L. R., 289 
 Hawaii, 205-207, 234, 259, 274, 
 
 295-299. 327-331 
 Hayman, Mr. H. L., 302 
 
INDEX 
 
 357 
 
 Hayti, 71, 201, 205, 259 
 Haywood, Mrs., 175 
 Head-plate, 32 
 
 Heath, Mr. Charles, 106, 176 
 Heath, Mr. Frederick, 106, 173, 
 
 175 
 Helena, 332 
 Heligoland, 306 
 Henderson, Mr. S., of Dalkeith, 
 
 102 
 Herodotus, 59 
 Herpin, M. G., 127 
 Hill, Mr. Edwin, 160 
 Hill, Mr. John, 64 
 Hill, Mr. Matthew Davenport, 96 
 Hill, Mr. Ormond, 160 
 Hill, Sir Rowland, 71-75, 97-101, 
 
 110-112, 159, 160, 164, 167, 175, 
 
 247, 272, 312 and frontispiece 
 Hinges for mounting stamps, 137, 
 
 140-144 
 Hobson, Tobias, 62 
 Holland, 179, 234 
 Hollander, Mr. C, 302 
 Holstein, 61 
 Honduras, 71 
 Hong Kong, 322 
 
 House of Commons envelopes, no 
 House of Lords envelopes, 93, no 
 ** How to Detect Forged Stamps," 
 
 241 
 Hughes- Hughes, Mr., 123, 268, 
 
 302 
 Humphrys, Mr. William, 170 
 Hungary, 276 
 
 Iceland, 306 
 
 Image, Mr. W. E., 281, 302 
 
 Imperforate stamps, 32, 140, 179- 
 
 18s 
 Imprimatur, 32 
 Imprint, 32 
 India, 223, 249 
 
 Inverted, 32 
 
 Ionian Islands, 306 
 
 Irish National Museum, 331 
 
 Irregular perforation, 32 
 
 Italian States, 118, 171, 203, 234, 
 
 249, 326 
 Italy, 60 
 
 Jaffray, Miss, 167 
 
 Jamaica, 37, 170 
 
 James II., King, 64 
 
 Japan, 234, 255, 295 
 
 Jezebel's forged letters, 59 
 
 Joab, 59 
 
 Johnson, Mr. H. F., 9 
 
 Joint-Committee on Postage Stamps, 
 
 276 
 Jubilee line, 32 
 Junior Philatelic Society, 9, 322 
 
 Kent, H.R.H. the Duchess of, 
 
 170 
 Key-plate, 27, 32 
 King, Mr. S., of Bath, 72, 73 
 King's Messengers, 62 
 Kingston, The Earl of, 131, 302 
 Kintore, The Earl of, 321 
 Knife, 35 
 Knight, Mr. Charles, 96-98 
 
 Labuan, 224 
 Lacroix, M., 266 
 Lagos, 204 
 
 Laid batonne paper, 35 
 Laid paper, 35, 39 
 Lallier, M. Justin, 128, 278 
 Lambton, Major-General, 302 
 Laplante, M. Edard de, 266 
 Lauenburg, 61 
 Lawn & Barlow, 329 
 Leeward Islands, 204 
 Legrand, Dr. A., 126, 270, 302 
 Leinster, The Duke of, 331 
 
358 
 
 INDEX 
 
 L'Epinard, Chevalier Paris de, 82 
 
 Letter-balances, 72-74 
 
 Letter-office of England, The, 63, 
 80 
 
 Letters, The earliest, 58, 59 ; penny- 
 post letter in 1686, 83, 84 ; 
 statistics, 75 
 
 Lincoln, Mr. W. S., 117, 127 
 
 Line-engraving, 35, 46 
 
 Lithography, 35, 46 
 
 Livingston, 183 
 
 Locals, 35, 273 
 
 Louis, Mr., witness, Select Com- 
 mittee, 95 
 
 Luxemburg, 61, 326 
 
 Macon, 332 
 
 MacWhirter, Mr. John, 169 
 Madden, Rev. G. C. B., 186 
 ♦* Magnus," Dr., 270 
 Malta, 71, 306 
 Manila paper, 35, 40 
 Mann, Mr. W. W., 302 
 Manuel, H.M. King, 325 
 Marianne Islands, 206 
 Marsden, Mr. J. N., 302 
 Marshall Islands, 206 
 Matrix, 27, 35, 50 
 Mauritius, 47, 187, 202, 207, 224- 
 227, 269, 278, 281, 290, 301, 
 
 319-323. 329-332 
 Maury, M. A., 81 
 Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 61 
 MekeePs Weekly Stamp News, 189 
 Mercantile Committee, The, lOi 
 Mexico, 189, 203, 269, 305 
 Millbury, 181 
 Millimetre, 35 
 
 Million stamps fable. The, 116 
 Mill-sheet, 35 
 Mint, 35, 141 
 
 Mirabaud, M. Paul, 282, 301, 302 
 Mirror of Parliament, The, 98 
 
 Mixed perforations, 35 
 
 Modena, 240 
 
 Moens, M.J. B., 117, 128, 278 
 
 Moldavia, 207, 234, 306, 329, 331 
 
 Montenegro, 306 
 
 Monthly Advertiser, The, 128 
 
 Monthly Intelligencer and Contro- 
 versialist, The, 128 
 
 Montserrat, 204, 224 
 
 Morocco, 189 
 
 " Mounted " stamps, 36 
 
 Mounting stamps in albums, 137 
 
 Mounts, 137 
 
 Mozambique, 259 
 
 Mulready, Mr. William : envelopes 
 and covers, 109-111, 159, 160, 
 165, 167, I75» 312 
 
 Nankivell, Mr. E. J., 302 
 Naples, 47, 118, 240, 249, 269, 
 
 271, 274 
 Natal, 202, 267, 311 
 Native-made paper, 36, 40 
 Nepal, 40 
 Netherlands, 61 
 Nevis, 204, 227, 311, 322, 326 
 New Brunswick, 176, 228, 266, 271 
 New Caledonia, 206 
 Newfoundland, 228, 329 
 New Hebrides, 206 
 New South Wales, 106, 123, 176, 
 
 207, 229, 254, 255, 272, 290, 3H 
 Newspaper tax, 96 
 New Zealand, 35, 170, 190, 229, 
 
 271, 272 
 Nicaragua, 242 
 Nicholas, Mme., 121 
 Niger Coast Protectorate, 204, 230 
 Nissen, Mr. C., 9, 106, 251 
 Niue, 206 
 
 North, Mr. J. C, 168 
 Northern Nigeria, 204 
 Norway, 306 
 
INDEX 
 
 359 
 
 Nova Scotia, 228, 267, 271 
 Nuncii et Cursores, 62 
 
 Gates, Titus, 64 
 
 Obliterations, 36 
 
 Obsolete, 36, 47 
 
 Oceanic Settlements, 206 
 
 Oil Rivers Protectorate, 204 
 
 Oldenburg, 61, 233, 326 
 
 Original covers, stamps used on, 185 
 
 Original die, 36 
 
 Original gum, 36 
 
 Overprint, 36 
 
 Pacific Steam Navigation Co., 
 267 
 
 Packet-collections, 136 
 
 Pairs, 25, 36 
 
 Palmer, J., 73 
 
 Panama Canal Zone, 205 
 
 Panes of Stamps, 33, 39 
 
 Paper, 39-41 
 
 Papua, 170, 206 
 
 Paraphe, 41 
 
 Parker, Mr. J. W. , loi 
 
 Parliament, Temporary letter- 
 covers for Members of, 93, 109 
 
 Parma, 240 
 
 Patte, 28, 41 
 
 Paul, Mr. J. W., jun., 302 
 
 Pauwels, Mr. J., 302 
 
 Peacock papers, The, iii, 155, 175 
 
 Peckitt, Mr. W. H., 9, 156, 266, 321 
 
 Pellisson, M., 81 
 
 Pelure paper, 40, 41 
 
 Pemberton, Mr. E. L., 123, 127, 
 239, 242, 268, 272, 274 
 
 Pen-cancelled, 41 
 
 Penny post, first proposed, 64 ; in 
 Edinburgh, 67 ; local penny 
 posts, 67 
 
 Penny post of 1680, 4, 82-84 
 
 Penrhyn, 206 
 
 Perazzi, Signor, 112 
 Perce, per9age, 41, 42 
 Perforation, 24, 31, 32, 35, 42-44, 
 
 48, 139 
 Perforation-gauge, 43, 44 
 Perkins, Bacon & Co., 102, 106, 
 
 201, 228 
 Peroxide ofhydrogen. The use of, 138 
 Persia, 24, 59 
 
 Peru, 31, 71, 189, 267, 271, 325 
 Petersburg, 326 
 Petite Foste, 80 
 
 Philatelic Record, The, 82, 88, 275 
 Philatelic Society, The Royal, 105, 
 
 123, 129, 131, 158, 160, 229, 272, 
 
 306, 322, 325 
 Philatelical Journal, The, 272 
 Philatelist, The, 305 
 Philately, Definition of, 7, 44, 127 
 Philately, The higher, 8 
 Philbrick, Judge, 123, 131, 155, 
 
 270, 272, 275-282, 298, 302 
 Philippine Islands, 205, 206, 274 
 Phillips, Mr. Charles J., 168 
 Pin-perforation, 42, 45, 48 
 Plate, 24, 27, 45, 46 
 Plate-number, 29, 45 
 Porto- Rico, 41, 205, 306 
 Portugal, 71 ; King of, 305 
 Portuguese Nyassa, 172 
 Post, Genesis of the, 55-75 
 " Post," Origin of the word, 59 
 " Postage and Telegraph Stamps of 
 
 Great Britain, The," 155, 276 
 ''Postage Charts" proposed in 
 
 Sweden, 91, 92 
 Postage Stamp, The, 189 
 Postage Stamp "chart," A, 119 
 " Postage Stamps and their Col- 
 lection," 332 
 Postal fiscal, 45 
 Postal Stationery, 27, 28, 45 
 Postmarks, 23, 36, 41, 45, 140, 185 
 
360 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Post-office in 1790, 69 
 Posts in early times, 59-75 
 Posts, Master of the, 62 
 Potiquet, M. Alfred, 125, 266 
 Povey, Mr. Charles, 67 
 Power, Mr. E. B., 273 
 Pre-cancellation, 45 
 Presidents and Vice-Presidents of 
 
 The Royal Philatelic Society, 
 
 London, 131 
 Prices of old stamps, 9 
 Printers of postage stamps, 202 
 Printing postage stamps, 46 
 Proofs, 46, 171-179 
 Provisionals, 46 
 Prussia, 61 
 Punchy 116 
 Puttick & Simpson, 281, 321 
 
 Quadrille paper for albums, 147 ; 
 
 for stamps, 39, 46 
 ** Queen's Heads " ; the early use 
 
 of the term, 116 
 Queensland, 175 
 
 Re-cutting, 47 
 
 Re-drawing, 47 
 
 Re-engraving, 47 
 
 Re-issues, 47 
 
 Remainders, 47 
 
 Renotiere, M. la, 275, 278, 296 
 
 Rep paper, 40, 47 
 
 Reprints, 47, 256, 325 
 
 Resetting, 47 
 
 Retouching, 47 
 
 Reunion, 269, 271, 329, 331 
 
 Reliterskiold, Baron A. de, 301 
 
 Revenue, 48 
 
 Reversed, 48 
 
 Ribbed paper, 40, 48 
 
 Roberts, Mr. Vernon, 302 
 
 Romagna, 240 
 
 Roman /(jJzVfl, The, 59 
 
 Rosace, 28, 41, 48 
 Rothschild, Baron Arthur, 275 
 Rough perforation, 48 
 Rouletting, 41, 42, 48; in coloured 
 
 lines, 48 
 Roumania, 234, 257 
 Royal Niger Co. , 204 
 Russell, Mr., 302 
 Russia, 71, 189, 325 
 
 ** Safety " paper, 40, 49 
 
 St. Christopher, 204 
 
 St. Helena, 71 
 
 St. Kitts-Nevis, 204 
 
 St. Louis, 268, 273 
 
 St. Vincent, 224, 230, 311 
 
 Samoa, 206, 234 
 
 Sandwich Islands. See Hawaii 
 
 Sappho, The French, 81, 82 
 
 Sarawak, 201, 260 
 
 Sardinia : Letter sheets of 181 8, 
 
 86-93 
 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, H.R.H. the 
 
 Duke of, 131, 305-311 
 Saxony, 61, 269, 271 
 Schleswig-Holstein, 233 
 Scud^ri, Mdlle., 81, 82 
 Scythia : early communications, 59 
 Sedang, 259 
 Seebeck, Mr. N. F. , 49 
 Select Committee on Postage, 95, 
 
 98-101 
 Serpentine roulette, 49 
 Servia, 306 
 Se tenant, 49 
 
 Seybold, Mr. J. F., 296, 302 
 Shanghai, 234 
 
 Sheet of paper, of stamps, 49 
 Sicily, 118 
 
 Sierra Leone, 204, 224, 231 
 Sievier, Mr. R. W., 102 
 Silk-thread paper, 49 
 Single-line perifomtion, 49 
 
INDEX 
 
 361 
 
 Smith, Mr. Alfred, 127 
 
 Smith, Mr. Stafford, 127 
 
 Societ6 Frangaise de Timbrologie, 
 
 127 
 Somerset House, 154-156, 172, 321 
 South African War provisionals, 
 
 235 
 South America, 49, 203 
 South Australia, 231 
 Southern Nigeria, 204, 224 
 Spain, 60, 71, 172, 234, 240, 248, 
 
 271, 3ii> 325. 326 
 Spandrel, 49 
 Specialising, 49, 200-207 
 Spitsbergen, 259 
 Stainforth, Rev. F. J., 122, 129, 
 
 267, 272 
 ** Stamp Collector, The," 298 
 Stamp Collector's Magazine^ They 
 
 117, 121, 128, 241, 275 
 Stamp Lover ^ The^ 170 
 Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., 9, 266 
 Stationery, 45, 50 
 Stead, Mr.', of Norwich, 102 
 Stead, Mr., of Yarmouth, 95 
 Stephan, Dr. von, 330 
 Stereotyping, 46, 50 
 Stourton, Mr. J. M., 240 
 Strip of Stamps, 25, 50 
 Surcharge, 36, 50 
 Surface-printed, 46, 50 
 Sweden, 71, 91, 306, 311 
 Switzerland, 234, 240, 256, 267, 
 
 271, 290, 291, 301, 311, 325 
 Sydney, Embossed envelopes used 
 
 in, 106, 272 
 
 Tahiti, 206 
 
 Taille douce, 35, 50 
 
 Tapling, Mr. T. K., M.P., 131, 
 
 281, 298, 326-330 
 •* Tapling" Collection of Stamps 
 
 and Postal Stationery, The," 329 
 
 Tasmania, 231 
 
 Taxes on knowledge, 96 
 
 Taylor, Mr. Overy, 124 
 
 Tete-beche pairs, 50, 253 
 
 Thorne, Mr. W., 296 
 
 Thurn and Taxis, Counts of, 60- 
 
 62 
 Timbre- Poste^ Le^ 117, 128 
 Timbrologie i 127 
 Times, The, 115 
 Tobago, 231 
 Tomson, Mr. A. S., 302 
 Toned paper, 50 
 Tonga, 206 
 Torres Straits, 259 
 Transvaal, 232, 318 
 Treasury Competition, The, 102- 
 
 109, 163 
 Treffenberg, Lieut. Curry Gabriel, 91 
 Tresse, 28, 41, 50 
 Trials, 50 
 
 Trinidad, 269, 322, 326 
 Trinidad, Principality of, 259 
 Tuilleries open-air stamp exchange, 
 
 121 
 Tuke, Sir Brian, 62 
 Turkey, 71 
 
 Turks' Islands, 232, 322 
 Tuscany, 118, 267, 269, 271 
 Two-j<?«j post, 80-82 
 Type (design), 53 
 Type-set stamps, 53 
 Typography, 46, 53 
 
 Uganda, 232 
 
 Uniform Penny Postage, 6^, 71-75 
 Union of South Africa, 190, 191 
 United States, 31, 35, 71, 116, 168, 
 171, 189,203,205,234,255,257, 
 273, 279, 289, 295, 311, 326, 331 
 *' United States Stamps," 273 
 Universal Penny Postage, 190 
 Uriah the Hittite, 58 
 
362 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Uruguay, 179, 180, 234, 306, 326 
 Used abroad, 53 
 
 Valette, M. Francois, 126 
 "Vanguard, The," 169 
 Variety, 53 
 Vaud, 271, 326 
 Victor, Mr. Henry R., 127 
 Victoria, 224, 233, 269, 282 
 Victoria, Queen, 73, 170, 312 
 Villayer, Comte de, 80-82 
 Viner, Dr. C. W., 117, 123 
 Virgin Islands, 204 
 
 Walker, Mr. Leslie J., 168 
 Wallace, Mr., M. P., 98 
 Ward, Sir Joseph, 190 
 Watermarks, 37, 53, 254 
 Western Australia, 233, 329 
 Westoby, Mr. W. A. S., 156, 275- 
 277, 282, 305 
 
 Whiting, Mr. Charles, 95, 96, 102 
 Wilbey, Mr. J. E., 302 
 Willett, Mr. W. T., 302 
 Williamson, Mr. Peter, 67 
 Winzer, Mr. E., 302 
 Witherings, Mr. Thomas, 63 
 Woods, Mr. J. J., 127 
 Worms, Baron Anthony de, 290 
 Worthington, Mr. George H., 290, 
 
 331 
 
 Wove batonne paper, 53 
 
 Wove paper, 39, 53 
 
 Wright, Mr. Hastings E., 156, 160 
 
 Writing-up a collection, 148-150 
 
 Wurtemburg, 61, 311 
 
 Wyon, Mr. William, 1 06, 163 
 
 Young Ladies* Journal, Thetl^^t 267 
 Ysasl, Mr. V. G. de, 131 
 
 Zurich, 240, 271, 326 
 
 UNWIN BR0THBR8, LIMITED, THK GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AVD LONDON. 
 
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 I