"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."—Illustrated.—8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25.
The Graduate.
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.
The discovery of a misspelled word on the new $1 silver certificate (tranquility instead of tranquillity) has led thousands of persons to believe that the government will call in all the bills, with the consequence that those remaining in the hands of the public will command a premium from "collectors." Nothing can be more erroneous.
The marvellous growth in value of rare stamps has led to a widespread idea that there is an immense number of "collectors" in every department, that these "collectors" are waiting with money in their hands anxious to pay fancy prices for anything which is old or odd. As a matter of fact neither age nor scarcity makes a thing valuable. It is entirely a question of demand and supply. For instance, any book printed by Caxton (1474 to 1492) would be worth $5000 at least, and some of his books would bring $15,000 or more, each. Many other older books printed previous to these dates can be bought for $10 each. Why the difference? Simply this: Caxton was the first English printer, and his books are eagerly sought for in England by the great libraries and by English bibliophiles. The demand is great, the supply exceeding small, hence the continuous growth in values. On the other hand, thousands of big folio volumes of sermons and theological disquisitions in the Latin language, printed in Germany and elsewhere, at the same time as the Caxtons, or earlier, are in the market. The supply is immense, the demand very small, hence the very small prices, despite the fact that some of these books are quite as scarce as some of the Caxtons, and just as old.
The same remarks apply to coins and other objects. Every week I receive requests to price old silver and copper coins, and when I reply that the U.S. coins are worth their face, and that the foreign coins are usually worth their weight as old silver, I do so convinced that my correspondents will feel disappointed. Previous to 1834 most of the silver money used in the U.S. was Spanish. Millions of these coins are still in existence, and to-day they are not current in any country, and are bought up by coin-dealers at about forty-five per cent. of their face value, and are melted into bullion.
Old Roman and Greek coins are found in large quantities every year in tombs and in the ruins of old houses. Messrs. Hunt and Grenfell found two large jars of Roman silver and gold coins in Lower Egypt last winter in which were over 4000 coins in perfect preservation. The latest coins were those of Hadrian (a.d. 138) and Marcus Aurelius (a.d. 161). All over Europe, Asia, and Africa similar finds are frequent. In June, 1833, some boys found a box containing 7000 coins, which were mostly English, of the reigns of William the Conqueror (a.d. 1066) and William Rufus (a.d. 1109). In 1832 the sexton of Hexham Church, while digging a grave, found a brass bucket containing over 8000 coins of the early Saxon Kings of England (about a.d. 800). In High Wycombe a shepherd boy found a large number of British gold coins which had been hidden over 1800 years. In 1831 a chest containing over 200,000 coins of Edward I. and II. (about a.d. 1300) was unearthed at Tutbury, and not far from this find another box was dug up containing over 7000 gold and silver coins, mostly Saxon (about a.d. 850), but containing many foreign coins. It was probably the entire stock of some money-broker who was obliged to flee for his life.
This list of great finds could be continued indefinitely, but enough has been said to show how common old coins are. The old Greek gold coins are scarce, and lately a demand for these has arisen, which has pushed up prices to nearly double what they were a year ago. Ordinary coins remain the same. Now nothing is more interesting than a collection of coins. For instance, specimens of the common coins of all countries and all ages. They are just as interesting as if they were all rare, and can be picked up at small prices with patience and a little going about. Gold coins would, of course, be out of the question, but copper and silver illustrate the different periods just as well. I know a collector who has over 500 coins, no two of the same reign, and representing over one hundred different countries. They give the owner and his friends much pleasure and information, and their entire cost was less than $125.
Philatus.