The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 22, 1899, Page 30

28 THE SUNDAY CALL. TAby Stamp Collecting s Far Adore Than a (Nere Fad or Craze. HEN mention of stamp collect- ing and stamp collectors {8 made most persons at once recall the small boy with his album {mpor- tuning his friends and chance out of that other golicitor for eimilar favors, the good season and acquaintances, in 1d old stamp,” or season, for ‘‘any tion, preservation and study of thess little labels should have attracted young and old many years ago? The intimate association of stamps with letters, par- ticularly letters from foreign countries and little-heard-of places, is & strong factor in developing the collecting In- stinct. Except widely traveled persons, young lady who Is trying to gather 1,000,000 &, postage stamps to secure entr: e for an® persed are its devotees, and what a mass{, of literature, much of it trivial and evan- escent, but some of it scholarly, which } They ligent and careful()cessity is a monopoly of men With well- eing devoted to {}ined purses. ¢"* or “‘mania,” that{/mg ithe treatises on the various stamp issues ) has been written on the subject. also learn later the int investigation which i what is called a *‘hob! form & very important link In the history of those countries, and that with the sin §le exception of cotns and med within the reach of eve lustrates the ci and political cha government. It may not be known to all readers of 'The Call that the first postage stamps were designed and used in England so re- cently as 1840. Before that time lette were carried by the Postoftice Departmen the fee for which was collected from the {person to whom they were dellvered, vary ing from 10 to 2 cents, though the send zowld prepey if he chose, the letter | was then marked *'paid,” with the amount g0 received Rowland Hill ) gave the stage and more me close study. He be all letters the departme fees, as was the a cause from the inef letters were lost, to receive and y all case fee would en: of the m: be prac would be able e for the =i r Rowland in 1840, its cessful inaugurat! growth st inestimabl e are matters office Depart- ant branch of the fons, and fed to a on of post- to soclety and commer history. To-day the P ment {s the most import public service In all civilized its operations have be great degree by the | age stamps. " Is it any wonder then that the collec- (U/T'EW branches of sport yleld less in comparison with the sums lavished ) on them than yachting, which of ne- The initfal cost of & yacht range from $500 to $500,000, and the nual outlay from $500 to $50,000. " The man who buys a ‘0-ton yacht for sure purposes alone, and without any he added cost of racing, must expect to cost him $2500 a year. For a 100-ton icht he will have to disburse from $3500 o $5000 & year, without counting depre- tion or the interest on the $10,000 or 000 he has sunk in her purchase. When a man aspires to the luxury of a am yacht of hundreds of tons he ought to have the deep purse of a millionaire, ‘for he may well spend on his hobby the e of a Cabinet Minister of while the interest alone on ating 7 ace represents stipend of a bishop. the evidence < yachts vachts; cpect to 1 outlay ed that the cost of building > Shamrock and Cc - mp collectors, says l oubtedly a Virtually collections his devotion be gauged he keeps especially to look bits of colored paper, =d and catalogued in lux- no fewer than eight us “‘Postoffice Mau- mp in the world, of s are Known to ue of this stamp— W has I k to fetch privately the large sum of §1%50, over 000 times its or those engaged in trade with the four quarters of the globe, most people look upon & letter from a foreign country as & curiosity, and the less ths country is known or the more remote its location the greater interest attaches. It is then the most natural thing for the one re- celving it to carefully preserve it, and for this season alone cannot be much less than $1,000,000. The thirty-nine saflors on the Columbia will recelve $35 a month; so that for a season of five months their wages alons will absorb $6825. Thelr food will bring this sum to at least $10,000, and to this total for wages and food must be added the skipper's salary of $40 These {tems, although they amount to nearly $15,000, only represent a part of the season’s expenses. At least once a week the yacht will have to be n out of the water to have her bottom poliched. The manganese bronze of which her 1s built accumulates seaweed rap! and this and all other accretions be cleared away at short intervals if her speed Is not to suffer. To say owner $25,000 for the season’ probably an underestimat i of racing the Shamrock will be greater. If the Shamrock is successful in taking the trophy will no less than ex- that the Columbia wilil cost her racing is addition for this is t will ¢ member the ised $ a week for ke the Britannia, the face value—arises from the fact that it bears the words “postoffice” instead regulation “'post paid.” It was{ in 1847, not long tor adverti respond, wit a lady posses: Mauritius, 1847 The two-penny blue *‘post paid tius s another v at an auction a cop: nd is so ve! v prized go a wildl that he wa view to ing a copy Maurl- y valuable stamp, and of it actually realized $700—the highest price ever paid for a stamp sold in this way his particular specimen was unused, but even a canceled copy has been sold for $460. As a rule, African stamps seem to beat the record for big prices. For example, & one peany Cape of Good Hope has re- D ST T {maginary old lady to some mythical old() Hb e It home. But thoso who have been § I HE ENORM US ( OS | OF‘ Yf\( H I l‘\IG jminds with some touched with the collector’s enthustasm(/ | +(events, and thus they speak to them from Xnow how numerous and how widely dis- ) S # FOR « STAMPS. other examples which chance may throw his way, untll by comparison an interest is awakened in the stamps of all coun- tries. o Stamp collecting, or, as its more ad- vanced devotees call it, “phflately,” is far more than a fad or craze. The fact that many persons have pursued it for periods varying from ten to thirty years, during which time they have carefully noted the various postal and political changes, proves its permanent interest and value to them as a study. The accu- mulation of a collection has kept them in touch with current events, while their ap- preciation of art has been fostered, and the pleasure of collecting has been one of @®their chiet enjovments. Every stamp or is associated in their tmportant group ot the pages of their albums. Cultured people are naturally collectors Meteor or the Rainbow for a single sea-(/ 1Ot In the sense of mere gatherers of son canmot cost less than $15.000 apartjODJects for thelr intrinsic value, but from accidents and depreciation, while if\( Father of articles which appeal to their We consider the short racing Iife of one()SeNse of the beautiful, as pictures or stat- of {hese “greyhounds” and Gistribute howl UATY; or those which appeal to thelr in- original cost over the few vears of her()tellisence, as books. Postage stamps in life the annual price pald for the briet) ® Moderate way appeal to both the intel- luxury of owning her must be increased()!i8ence and the imagination. The num- by many thousands a year. {ber of persons who devote time and (/ thought to their accumulation and study Certainly It is safe to say that no man((/; ONET" 10 should think of owning a racing vacht of)!S 8lready very large and constantly in- creasing. In every large city and In is class who is t prepare B e 000 Itjv S.,:f :7) ::Sv:“gr ?n:r;ll\'r» ‘ilnr;::lgrx:{‘pd_ A many small towns there are persons who Even the gift of a 600 prize is largely § I&ve 1O other business than buying and removed by the extra expenses of racing{/ D_‘fin- et = and winning. It is usual for the owner n‘"jauc‘t!nngsale: :rea:z\d i;of\"‘utvflx"o:i t‘)'xirty a winnins'yacht to pay her crew $5'each,{ {1708 Bes Bro held 1n Hew otk vary. in addition to their wages. On a boat like() gue “thousand dollars. Thelr var the Britannia this liberality would entail, .o o ois e v‘\ ?f oea T d‘a;“e_ as an extra cost of nearly $200 for the day i e\'P’\:eas agoo“(:-l")mflc-! L little from To this item in the balance sheet must be/) tyres or coins. While the element of peculation and inflation sometimes ap- added $50 gratuity for the skipper and a smaller fee for the pilot, together with()pears, the event is never attended with a another for the provisions and bever- » complete slump in prices. Better class ages. Thus, against the prize of $500 must(/s must always maintain their valus be set an additional charge for the day)f e reason that through fire, of about $300. © or other disintegrating influences imber continually grows less, while If the yacht, Instead of winning, loses,() sllectors who wish to pos- a sum of about half this amount musi be spent on the race and added to the normalf E 0 has a society, known as ey Baiaky o ) the Pacific Philatelic Society. composed (ot a considerable number of énthuslastio = = e e ilatelists, and it has held regular SO >>">®monthly mbeetings for the past fifteen rs. It malntains a clubroom, where members meet, and a library of sev- 1l hundred volumes of books and peri- odicals devoted exclusively to thelr pur- suit may be found. To them stamp collecting Is not an 1dle craze, but a serious study, which demands from them their best thought. At its meetings papers are frequently read which could not fail to interest any one who gives a thought to current events. New issues are shown and discussed, new facts about old issues may be brought up, and everything pertaining to the postal service is legitimate matter for notice. Not alone the changes of the workings of the Postoffice Department in the new possessions_of the United States—Porto 1 Rico, the Philippine Islands, Guam and But 'some idea of the enormous trade the protectorate over Cuba—but the con- done in foreign stamps may be gathered stant changes In the continents of the old from the statement that the total sum and the new world, and the islands of the of our informant’s sales during last sea- sea, furnish abundant material for their son amounted to more than $100,000. orta. ed, st Indian six penn . this being a record price. ve hundred dollars apiece has % been realized at auction for a five-cent Ameri- can *“Brattleboro” stamp and a nine- kruetzer Baden stamp, the value of the latter consisting in the fact that it was one of a sheet printed by mistake on a green paper instead of on the official pink. 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