C. E. Steele.—The rare 6c. Proprietary is the orange. The 1823 dime is worth 25c.
S. G. Rippey.—You can buy a dime of 1837 for 35c.
H. C. Z.—Tokens have no value. The coins can be bought for 5c. or 10c.
Beverley S. King, 31 New York Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., and W. E. Shreve, Ridley Park, Pa., wish to exchange stamps.
O. H. Purcell.—The $1 Columbian is worth $5. The others may be worth more in a few years than at present.
A. Kellogg.—The U. S. Revenues most in demand are the general issues. As yet the private proprietary match and medicine stamps can be bought, as a rule, as cheaply to-day as five years ago. Probably their turn will come in a year or two. If they should become fashionable, there will be some remarkable changes in prices.
F. X. Schmidt.—Die A, 1887, usually called the "rejected die," can be easily identified. The bust points to the space between the third and fourth teeth of the inside row. In the regular issue, Die B, the bust points to space between the second and third teeth.
R. Bulkley.—You probably have the regular rose 1861 stamp, of which there are many shades. The pink is excessively rare. A very few copies are known.
W. Leveridge.—None of the coins are scarce, and several of them are now uncurrent, and therefore worth bullion only, but they are interesting aside from intrinsic value.
Thomas Laurie.—Many pen and ink cancellations have been removed from stamps, but the stamps present a "cleaned" appearance quite different from the real unused. Most postage-stamps have been printed in oil colors; and most cancellations have been made with oily inks. Where this has been the case it is impossible to remove cancellation without taking out the ink of the stamp itself. No premium on the 1894 dollar. There were few made, but still plenty to go around and leave some in dealers' hands.
M. A. T.—The portraits used in the present U. S. stamps are as follows: 1c., Franklin; 2c., Washington; 3c., Jackson; 4c., Lincoln; 5c., Grant; 6c., Garfield; 8c., Sherman; 10c., Webster; 15c., Taylor; 30c., Jefferson; 90c., Perry.
C. Rawson.—I cannot give you values on long lists of common stamps. You can get this and much other information from a 10c. catalogue. If the catalogue fails, I am glad to do what I can in justice to all the readers of the stamp column.
A. T. G.—Yes! Join the A.P.A. if you want to buy the new issues. It will cost $1.80 per year for membership fees.
James Mellen.—It is extremely difficult to distinguish originals from reprints of the first Samoa issues. Counterfeits also abound, but these can be distinguished. The early Heligoland stamps are also difficult to identify. The government sold the original dies and plates to a German dealer, who reprinted the stamps in the correct colors.
J. P. Nelker.—The early stamps of Lagos and Labnan are very scarce, used or unused, although many thousands of the lower values were used in making up packets in the '80s. It would not be worth your while collecting them unless you are prepared to spend much money.
Albert Green.—Your plan of collecting one at least of all the stamp-issuing countries is very good, as far as it goes, but you will make it much better by collecting one stamp of each set where the design is different or the color changed. Usually there are several cheap stamps in every issue, and they illustrate the set quite as well as if they were rare varieties or high values.
Philatus.
The price of good things oft is high,
But wise housekeepers tell
That Ivory Soap is cheap to buy
And best to use, as well.