STAMPS OF SPECIAL INTEREST
Most stamps as they repose in their rows on the pages of the album look
very sober, matter-of-fact, little squares of paper. Some appear
travel-stained, others are in the pink of condition, but all have
undergone an experience--we are speaking of the used copies--which,
could it be related, would make reading matter of a highly interesting
nature. One specimen which lies in the album did duty, say, in the
backwoods of the United States; another carried a letter across the
snowfields of Siberia; a third franked correspondence in the unsettled
land of Mexico; and a fourth brought a message from the battlefields of
Belgium and Northern France. Viewed in this light, every obliterated
specimen which figures in our collection is a curiosity.
There are, however, other kinds of curious stamps which are worth
discussing. Who, for instance, would ever dream that a stamp could cause
serious disturbance among a whole race of some millions of people? Yet
this is what happened quite recently in India. The offending stamp was
the two annas, bearing a profile portrait of King George. The trouble
can be related briefly. The label showed the King attractively arrayed,
and bearing a number of decorations, one of them being the elephant
which denotes an Indian order. Unfortunately, the engraving was a trifle
indistinct, and instead of the creature appearing as an elephant, as it
should have done, it seemed to be an exact representation of a pig. Now,
the latter animal is considered a most unclean thing by all faithful
Mohammedans, and the people of this religious creed were not slow to
suppose that somebody in power had placed the animal on the King's
breast merely to insult them. Had it not been for the tactful assurances
made by the authorities, and the early substitution of another stamp
more carefully engraved, the results would probably have been of a
serious character.
Another curious stamp is the Connell label, emanating from the colony of
New Brunswick. Connell was the postmaster-in-chief of this British
dependency. On one occasion he was requested to journey to New York to
place a contract with a firm of stamp printers. What possessed him
nobody knows. Instead of directing that Queen Victoria's portrait should
appear on all the stamps to be engraved, he ordered that the five cents
value should bear his features, which, to be candid, were not at all
attractive. In due course the stamps arrived, but the authorities, on
discovering Connell's audacity, issued a proclamation declaring the
label to be worthless. The postmaster, so history tells us, became
angry, and rather than appear before a prosecuting council retired
hastily to the States. The Connell stamp, needless to say, is a rare
curiosity, and few copies are known to exist. It is perhaps a little
doubtful, however, whether the label can be reckoned as an authentic
postage stamp, seeing that its use never received official sanction.
Vanity seems to play an important part in the lives of people--at least,
this is the testimony which many of our stamps bear out. Some men like
Connell crave for such notoriety as a postage stamp can afford them, but
there are others--crowned heads--who will not allow their features to be
portrayed upon the labels of their country, lest the obliteration marks
may render them grotesque.
Among conceited Kings of recent times, King Ferdinand of Sicily stands
out pre-eminently in the minds of philatelists. He possessed something
of the Connell weakness, for he evinced a keen desire to have his head
portrayed upon the stamps of his little kingdom; but running counter
with this desire was a strong fear lest the marks of the postal
obliterator should disfigure his none too prepossessing countenance. In
the end, he thought of a kind of compromise. He called in one of the
best engravers of the day and commanded him to execute a fine series of
adhesives bearing his profile. When the issue was ready, Ferdinand
provided the postal authorities with obliterating stamps, each of which
consisted of a circular framework of lines, surrounding an empty space.
The idea was that the lines should deface the edges of the stamp, but
that the empty space should save his profile from disfigurement. What
happened to his overworked officials who chanced to bring their
obliterators down upon the royal countenance by mistake is too awful to
contemplate!
[Illustration: CURIOUS STAMPS
1 Belgium (Brussels) St. Michael encountering Satan
2 Stamp holding record for length of currency
3 Belgian stamp with two Dominical labels
4 Stamp of King Edward issued at the time of his death
5 Spanish stamps with face value of 1-40th of a penny
6 Orange Free State stamp indicating British occupation
7 Austrian stamp overprinted for use in Constantinople
8 King Manoel's stamps overprinted for Republican use
9 Local stamp
10 Indian stamp showing King George wearing the Elephant (Order of
India)]
Not only do some stamps betray the weaknesses of individuals, but others
reveal the characters of nations. Let us look for a moment at the stamps
of Belgium. Each is provided with a small label which bears the words,
"Not to be delivered on Sunday." This label is very insignificant, and
stamp collectors have seen it so often that they are apt to pass it by
unnoticed. But this tiny strip of paper has a deep underlying purpose.
The Belgians, as a nation, are sharply divided on matters of religion
into two great bodies. The Roman Catholic section objects to having its
letters delivered on Sundays, whilst the section of Freethinkers can
see no harm in a postal delivery on the day which we in England set
apart for rest. The Belgians are a tolerant race, however, and the
matter has been settled by providing each stamp with what has been
called a Dominical label. The Catholics use the label with the stamps
they buy, but the Freethinkers detach them. The postmen are instructed
to deliver letters on Sundays only when the footnote is missing from the
stamps.
Another curious stamp is the twopenny plum colour King Edward issue of
Great Britain. Who has ever heard of this adhesive? Who has ever seen
it? The chances are that few collectors know that such a stamp ever
existed, yet a used copy figures in the collection of King George.
The story relating to this stamp is as follows: In the early months of
the year 1910 it was decided to change both the pattern and colour of
the twopenny green and carmine. A rather attractive design was selected
instead, and eventually printed in a hue which the authorities called
"Tyrian plum." Some thousands of these labels were printed and held
ready for issue, but just as they were to be placed on sale, the sad and
unexpected death of King Edward took place. Rather than issue a new
stamp after the King's demise, the whole stock was gathered together and
burned. A few copies, however, were preserved for record purposes, and
one at least was stuck to an envelope addressed to our present
Sovereign, and posted at the East Strand Post Office.
The V.R. penny black is another stamp of the Home Country which every
philatelist should know about. It is a famous label, not because it has
ever made history or fulfilled any important mission, but because people
have grown to look upon it as a rare form of the ordinary penny black.
In reality the V.R. stamps never attained to the dignity of a postal
label, for, although intended for official use, the authorities decided
at the last moment not to make the issue, and destroyed the stock. A
certain number of copies leaked out, and found their way into
collectors' albums, and these command a fair price.
Of late there has been a great increase all over the world in the
picturesque type of stamp, and these have provided a fairly large crop
of pictorial "inexactitudes." As an example, two adhesives of the
well-known United States Columbian issue may be mentioned, seeing that
they have evoked many a smile among philatelists. The stamps in question
are the one and the two cents values. The former portrays Columbus
sighting land, whilst the latter reveals the famous traveller in the act
of landing. As is well known, an interval of but twenty-four hours
separated the two events, yet in the first picture Columbus appears
clean-shaven, whilst in the latter he possesses a beard of ample and
stately proportions!
Another interesting picture stamp of the United States is the one dollar
value of the Omaha issue. The stamp bears the title of "Western Cattle
in Storm," but those of us who know the canvasses of MacWhirter will
recognize it as a reproduction of his painting, "The Vanguard." Mr. F.
J. Melville, a noted philatelist, says in "Chats on Postage Stamps" that
the United States Post Office "literally cribbed" MacWhirter's picture,
apparently without permission or any sort of payment.
Many stamps possess particular interest owing to some speciality in
manner of production. Just now a semi-perforated adhesive is becoming
popular. Its upright sides are imperforated, but top and bottom the
usual perforation marks are present. Such specimens are manufactured in
rolls--not in sheets--for special use in automatic machines. They come
largely from the United States and the Union of South Africa, and are,
of course, only available in the penny and halfpenny, or equivalent,
values. These semi-perforated stamps are of undoubted interest to-day,
though the time may not be far distant when they will completely oust
the usual perforated type.