each sheet of eighty of the 1d., red on blue, of the first British
Occupation. It was evidently discovered before a second lot was
required, as it does not recur in the next printing of 1d., red on
orange. It is a very rare stamp. Used it is worth about £50, but
unused it is one of the great rarities, and has changed hands at about
£150.
[Illustration:]
Ceylon, 1859, 4d. and 8d., imperforate.--Several of the first issues
of this colony, designed and engraved by Messrs. Perkins Bacon and
Co., and issued in 1857-9, are esteemed as great rarities in an
imperforate and unused condition. The 4d., 8d., 9d., 1s., and 2s. are
the rarest. The 4d., so long ago as 1894, fetched £130 at auction.
These stamps are amongst the few great rarities that may be entitled
to rank as works of art, and every year they are more sought after and
more difficult to get in fine condition.
[Illustration:]
[Illustration:]
IX.
The Romance of Stamp Collecting.
The story of the development of stamp collecting, and of the trade
that has sprung up with it, is full of romance.
Our publishers' business, with its world-wide ramifications, was begun
by young Gibbons putting a few sheets of stamps in his father's shop
window. The father was a chemist, and it was intended that the lad
should follow in his father's footsteps; but the stamps elbowed the
drugs aside, and eventually yielded a fortune which enabled this
pioneer of the stamp trade to retire and indulge his globe-trotting
propensities to the full. He sold his business for £25,000, and, still
in the prime of life, retired to a snug little villa on the banks of
the Thames. The business was converted into a Limited Liability
Company, and the Managing Director may be said to be a product of the
original business, for it was a present of a guinea packet of Stanley
Gibbons's stamps that first whetted his appetite for stamp collecting,
and eventually for stamp dealing. Mr. Gibbons had for a great many
years conducted his business from his private house. The new broom
changed all that, and opened out in fine premises in the Strand,
W.C., where the Company now occupy the whole of one house and the
greater part of the adjoining premises. In every room busy hands are
at work all the day long endeavouring to keep pace with a world-wide
business which began with a few sheets in the corner of a chemist's
shop window in the town of Plymouth.
And now, looking back on the humdrum days of the beginnings of the
stamp trade, what opportunities do they not seem to have missed! Could
they but have foreseen the present-day developments, a few
unconsidered trifles, valued at a few pence in those days, put away in
a bottom drawer, would to-day net a fortune. Young Gibbons, amongst
his early purchases, bought from a couple of sailors at Plymouth for
£5 a sackful of triangular Cape of Good Hope stamps, a large
proportion being the rare so-called Woodblocks, with many of the
Errors described in the list of great rarities in another chapter.
Those Errors he disposed of at 2s. 6d. each. They are now worth from
£60 to £75 each. And the ordinary Woodblocks, which were so
plentifully represented in that sackful, are now catalogued at from
50s. to £9 apiece. Strange as it may seem, those were the common
stamps of those days, and they are the rarities of to-day.
A well-known collection, full of rare stamps of the value of from £5
to £50, has been largely formed by the fortunate possessor out of
stamps for which he paid 2s. per dozen just a little over twenty years
ago.
A leading collector once conceived the idea of scouring the
little-visited country towns of Spain for rare old Spanish stamps, and
a most successful hunt he made of it. He secured most valuable and
unsuspected hauls of unused and used blocks and pairs of rare
Portuguese; but before returning home he decided to treat himself to a
trip to Morocco, and during that ill-fated extension of his tour he
lost nearly the whole of his patient garnerings of rare Spanish
stamps, for during an inland trip some very unphilatelic Bedouins
swooped down on his escort in the desert and carried off the whole of
his baggage. He, being some distance ahead of his escort, escaped, and
brought home only a few samples of the grand things he had found and
lost.
In all forms of collecting the hunt for bargains adds zest to the
game, and probably more so in stamps than in any other hobby, not even
excepting old china; and, as in other lines of collecting, the bargain
hunter must be equipped with the expert knowledge of the specialist if
he would sweep into his net at bargain prices the unsuspected gems to
be found now and again in the philatelic mart. Many a keen stamp
collector turns his years of wide experience to good account as a
bargain hunter, and at least one innocent amateur is credited with
netting a revenue which would make many a flourishing merchant green
with envy.
Many a match has probably been due to stamp collecting. Not long ago
we were told of a young lady who wrote to an official in a distant
colony for a few of the current stamps issued from his office. The
stamps were forwarded and a correspondence ensued. There was
eventually an exchange of photographs, and finally the official
applied for leave, returned home, and married his stamp collecting
correspondent.
Truly the scope of the stamp collector for pleasure, for profit, and
for romance is as wide as the most imaginative could desire.
[Illustration:]
X.
Philatelic Societies and their Work.
Most of the great cities of Europe, the British Colonies, and the
United States have their Philatelic Societies. They are associations
of stamp collectors for the study of postage stamps, their history,
engraving, and printing; the detection and prevention of forgeries and
frauds; the preparation and publication of papers and works bearing
upon postal issues; the display and exhibition of stamps, and the
exchange of duplicates.
The premier society is the Philatelic Society of London, which was
founded so long ago as 1869, and has as its acting President H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales. For over thirty years, without a break, this
Society has held regular meetings during the winter months. Its
membership comprises most of the leading collectors in Great Britain
and her Colonies and many of the best-known foreign collectors. On the
membership roll are three princes, several earls, baronets, judges,
barristers, medical men, officers in the Army and Navy, and many
well-known merchants. This society has published costly works on the
stamps of Great Britain, of the Australian Colonies, of the British
Colonies of North America, of the West Indies, of India and Ceylon,
and of Africa. It publishes an excellently-got-up monthly journal of
its own, which now claims shelf-room in the philatelic library for ten
stately annual volumes. It has held two very successful International
Philatelic Exhibitions, one opened by the late Duke of Edinburgh and
the other by the Prince of Wales, then Duke of York. At its
fortnightly meetings, papers are read and discussed on various matters
relating to the hobby. Other meetings are held for the friendly
exchange of duplicates.
In the provinces, the principal societies are those of Manchester and
Birmingham. The Birmingham Society possesses a collection of its own,
which it keeps up to date, as a work of reference for its members.
Several of the societies hold periodical exhibitions, in which members
compete for medals, and in many other ways they lay themselves out to
encourage and promote the collection of postage stamps as a popular
pastime.
The names of the various societies and the addresses of the
secretaries are published at the commencement of each winter season in
Stanley Gibbons' _Monthly Journal_.
Apart from their pleasant sociability, these societies are of immense
help to the collector, especially to the beginner. At each meeting
papers are read and discussed, in which the most experienced
collectors retail, for the benefit of the less experienced, the result
of their latest researches, and eminent specialists display their
splendid and carefully-arranged collections for the inspection,
edification, and enjoyment of their fellow-members. This continual
meeting and comparing of notes, this concentration of study upon the
issues of a particular country, gradually ripens even the veriest tyro
into an advanced and experienced collector.
Under such conditions difficulties are cleared up, and the way made
plain for wise and safe collecting. In too many lines of collecting
the specialist carefully guards his knowledge for his own ultimate
personal profit. The Philatelist, on the other hand, is more
frequently than not generously and candidly helpful to his less
advanced fellow-collector, especially if he happens to be a
fellow-member of the same philatelic society.
[Illustration:]
[Illustration:]
XI.
The Literature of Stamps.
Few hobbies, if any, can boast of such a varied and extensive
literature as stamp collecting. Expensive works have been published on
the postal issues of most countries. They have been published in
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish.
Those published in English alone would make a library of some hundreds
of volumes.
From its foundation, in 1869, the Philatelic Society of London has set
itself the task of studying and writing up the postal history of Great
Britain and her Colonies. Towards the accomplishment of this great
task, it has already presented its members with splendid monographs on
the Australian Colonies, the Colonies of North America, of the West
Indies, of India and Ceylon, two volumes on the British Colonies of
Africa, a separate monograph on Tasmania, and last, and most ambitious
of all, a massive and comprehensive history of the postal issues of
Great Britain. All these works are expensively illustrated with a
profusion of full-page plates and other illustrations, and they
represent years of patient toil, far-reaching investigation, and
untiring research. The _History of the Adhesive Postage Stamps of
Europe_ has been written in two volumes by Mr. W. A. S. Westoby, and
the same author, in collaboration with Judge Philbrick, some twenty
years ago published a work on _The Postal and Telegraph Stamps of
Great Britain_. Messrs. W. J. Hardy and E. D. Bacon, in a work
entitled _The Stamp Collector_, have sketched the general history of
postage stamps. Other works too numerous to mention here have been
written from time to time for the edification of the stamp collector,
and the list is continually being increased by the addition of even
more important works.
One of the most interesting and comprehensive series of philatelic
works, still in course of publication, was commenced by Messrs.
Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., in 1893, in the form of philatelic handbooks.
These handbooks are written by leading philatelic authorities. Each
important country, _i.e._ important from the stamp collector's point
of view, has a separate volume devoted to it, and into each handy
volume is condensed as much as may be necessary to guide the advanced
collector in specialising the postal issues of the country which he
favours. There have already been published:--_Portuguese India_, by
Mr. Gilbert Harrison and Lieut. F. H. Napier, R.N.; _South Australia_,
by Lieut. F. H. Napier and Mr. Gordon Smith; _St. Vincent_, by Lieut.
F. H. Napier and Mr. E. D. Bacon; _Shanghai_, by Mr. W. B. Thornhill;
_Barbados_, by Mr. E. D. Bacon and Lieut. F. H. Napier; _Reprints and
their Characteristics_, by Mr. E.D. Bacon; and _Grenada_, by Mr. E. D.
Bacon and Lieut. F. H. Napier.
For the instruction of the beginner, Major Evans, R.A., has compiled
an excellent glossary of philatelic terms, under the title of _Stamps
and Stamp Collecting_; and there is, further, _A Colour Dictionary_,
by Mr. B. W. Warhurst, designed to simplify the recognition and
determination of the colours and shades of stamps--a by no means
unimportant matter when the value of a stamp depends upon its shade.
But the most popular of all the philatelic publications are, of
course, the monthly periodicals. The first stamp journal is said to
have been _The Monthly Intelligence_, published at Manchester in 1862.
It had but a short life of ten numbers out of the twelve required to
complete Vol. I. But other journals followed in rapid succession, with
more or less success, from year to year, till in 1893 a list of the
various ventures in this line totalled up to nearly a couple of
hundred. _The Stamp Collectors' Magazine_, started in 1863, may be
said to survive in Alfred Smith and Son's _Monthly Circular; The
Philatelic Record_, established in 1879, is now in its twenty-fourth
yearly volume; Gibbons' _Monthly Journal_ is in its twelfth yearly
volume; and _The London Philatelist_ is in its eleventh yearly volume;
and all may be said to be going strong. How many ordinary periodicals
can boast of equally robust lives? And yet some people are still to be
found who speak in all seriousness of stamp collecting as only a
passing craze.
Properly speaking, tradesmen's catalogues can scarcely be regarded as
literature, and yet it would be very remiss on my part to close this
chapter without a reference to the excellent catalogues with which
stamp collectors are provided. What other hobby can boast of such
comprehensive and detailed catalogues, giving the actual selling price
of almost every item, and regularly revised and brought up to date
from year to year? Messrs. Stanley Gibbons' Priced Catalogue is
comprised in four volumes:--Part I., The British Empire, 244 pages;
Part II., Foreign Countries, 458 pages; Part III., Local Postage
Stamps, 122 pages; Part IV., Envelopes, Post Cards, and Wrappers, 317
pages; in all, 1,141 closely printed double-column pages of small
type, with thousands of illustrations. This excellent catalogue is at
once guide, philosopher, and friend to the stamp collector. Some
people irreverently style it "the Philatelist's Bible." It does not
profess to be anything more or less than a mere catalogue of goods for
sale, but it is an open secret that it represents the combined work
and the combined knowledge of the best Philatelists of the day, and
that neither trouble nor expense is spared to include within its pages
everything that a collector needs to know to enable him to gather his
treasures together, and to arrange them in the best possible and most
authoritative order.
Much the same story might be told of the literature of stamp
collecting in other countries. In the United States, in France, and in
Germany there are numbers of robust periodicals, some stretching back
into the early days, and there are scores of volumes of philatelic
lore, many of which find a well-deserved place on the shelves of
English collectors.
As an indication of the value attached to philatelic literature, I may
mention the fact that an English collector recently paid over £2,000
for a by no means complete collection of works relating to stamp
collecting.
[Illustration:]
XII.
Stamps as Works of Art.
Some artists scout the idea of attempting anything that may be
considered a work of art in the ridiculously limited space of a
postage stamp. The restriction of a postage stamp when viewed
alongside a canvas measuring several yards in length and height is
probably hopeless enough. Nevertheless, many a stamp collector who is
not devoid of art can find stamps which seem to him to be entitled to
rank high even in the art world. In beauty of design, in the exquisite
workmanship of the best modern steel engraving, aided by the most
delicate machinery, and in unequalled printing, there are many gems
within the very limited space of a postage stamp that excite and
deserve, and not unfrequently win, the admiration of the most exacting
critics. There are scores of little medallions, mostly on the postage
stamps of foreign states, that surely would pass muster with an
impartial judge of art. They are not the rarities of the stamp album.
Some are even regarded as weeds in the philatelic garden. They are too
often made to serve the revenue-producing necessities of the issuing
state, and for that reason probably, more than for any other, they
are made as attractive as modern art applied to stamp production can
make them.
Great commercial countries, producing their postage stamps by hundreds
of millions, are as contemptuous in their consideration of the art
possibilities of a postage stamp as the cynical artist whose days and
years are devoted to the disfigurement of wall space. This country has
no cause to be proud of the designs or the printing of its postage
stamps. The chief consideration seems to be a low contract price for
the production of recognisable labels for the indication of the
prepayment of postage. That is the commercial view. And yet there are
some foolish people who believe that an artist who could design an
effective and acceptable postage stamp for the British Empire would
add materially to his own fame and to the art standard of the Empire
itself.
Brother Jonathan across the sea is not unmindful of art in the
production of his postage stamps, despite his commercial inclinations
and training. From the first he has put his patriotism into his
postage stamps. The portraits of the Presidents, from George
Washington to Lincoln, and from Lincoln to McKinley, who have ruled,
wisely and well, the destinies of the great Republic, Jonathan
engraves in his best style, in his own official engraving
establishment, and proudly places upon his postage stamps for the
admiration of all good citizens and the edification and envy of the
effete old countries beyond the seas.
We, with our richer memories and our stately galleries of great men
who have ruled or governed or fought through the centuries, must be
content with an Empire postage stamp that is little better, from an
art point of view, than an ordinary beer label, and we must be
content to be told that it is the penalty of success, of the dire
necessity of long numbers, and of a needy Treasury that sorely hungers
for still greater profits from the Post Office.
Meanwhile, small struggling states revel in beautiful stamps. The
latest trend is in the direction of miniature portraiture. The
Argentine Republic and Bolivia have in recent years issued some very
fine examples in this direction. A very useful innovation is the
addition of the name under the portrait. In this way thousands have
been familiarised with the names and faces of men who before were
almost unknown beyond their own country. Historic features, such as
those of Columbus and Pizarro, have occasionally been added to the
growingly interesting gallery of stamp portraits.
The recently issued New Zealand picture series, illustrating most
effectively some of the choicest bits of colonial scenery, and some of
the rarest birds of the colony, engraved by Messrs. Waterlow and Sons,
afforded an interesting and successful experiment in an art direction.
As a result it is said that a strong demand has been generated in
other colonies for similarly beautiful and localised designs in
preference to the stereotyped mediocrity supplied by the ordinary
label process.
[Illustration]
XIII.
Stamp Collecting as an Investment.
When a stamp collector is charged with being extravagant, with
spending money lavishly and foolishly on a mere hobby, he may very
justifiably reply that even his most extravagant spendings may be
regarded as an investment.
The ordinary investor in, say, industrial securities is fairly content
if he can, with a little risk, secure a steady six or seven per cent.
If he launches out into more speculative shares, yielding higher rates
of interest, he must be content to face a much greater risk of the
capital invested. Now, the severest test of an investment is the yield
of interest over a series of years covering periods of depression as
well as periods of prosperity. The stamp collector who has used
ordinary discretion in his purchases may confidently submit his
investment to this test.
Some years ago, when I was writing in defence of stamp collecting as
an investment, I received a very indignant letter from a collector who
had made a large collection, complaining that he had then recently
endeavoured to sell, but could get only a very small percentage of his
outlay back, and that the very firms from whom he had bought most of
his stamps scouted the idea of paying him anything like what they had
cost him. He therefore ridiculed the idea that stamp collecting could
be regarded as a safe investment, as in his case it had been a
delusion and a snare. He was quite right, and it is still possible to
make big collections--of, say, five thousand, ten thousand, and even
larger--of stamps that are never likely to appreciate, and it is
possible to buy those stamps at such a price that any attempt to
realise even a small percentage of the original outlay must result in
a woeful eye-opener.
Let me explain. In the stamp business, as in all other branches of
commerce, there are wholesale and retail dealers. The wholesaler buys
by the thousand stamps that are printed by the million. I refer, of
course, to used stamps. In some cases the price paid per thousand is
only a few pence for large quantities that run into millions. The
wholesaler sells to the retail dealer at a small advance per thousand.
Those stamps the ordinary dealer makes up into packets at a further
profit, but still at a comparatively low price. Good copies he picks
out for sale in sets and separately. Those have to be catalogued.
Therefore, the catalogue price of common stamps bought and sold by the
million eventually comes before the general collector at "one penny
each," and the man who makes a collection of common stamps of the "one
penny each" class can scarcely be expected to realise a fortune out of
his stamp collecting. When he offers his gatherings of years to the
self-same dealer, and asks, say, only the half of what he paid, he is
astounded when the dealer has the audacity to tell him frankly, "I can
buy most of those stamps at a few shillings per thousand, and you want
an average of a halfpenny each for them!" "But," retorts the
collector, "I paid you one penny each for them years ago, and now you
won't give me half that amount. A pretty thing investing money in
stamps!" The reply of the dealer will be, "My dear fellow, you have
put your money into the wrong stamps. I bought, and can still buy,
those stamps wholesale at a few shillings per thousand, some of them
at a few pence per thousand; but I have to pay clerks for handling
them and sorting them out, other assistants for cataloguing them, and
the printers for printing the catalogue, so that in the end I cannot
afford to sell them _separately_ for less than about one penny each,
but if you want a few thousand of any value I can sell them to you at
a price enormously below what you ask for your collection." The
collector's eyes are opened.
It is impossible to get away from the necessity of regarding stamps as
an investment. Even the schoolboy cannot afford to put his shilling
into stamps unless he can be fairly assured that he may get his money
back at critical periods, which will crop up even in school life.
Indeed, it may be said that there are few, if any, stamp collectors
nowadays who do not put more money into stamps than they could afford
to do if there were not some element of investment in view. In some
instances large fortunes are actually invested in stamps, and I was
only recently told of a collector who had taken his money out of a
very profitable business and put it into stamps, and had netted very
much larger profits than he ever realised in his regular business. But
to do that sort of thing requires a profound knowledge of stamps and a
ready command of a very large banking account.