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.
How to find the water-mark on stamps?
First, hold it to the light; if the water-mark is well made it can be fairly well seen. Second, lay the stamp face downward on a piece of black goods or a dark japanned surface; then hold it at various angles, in direct light, cross light, near the eye, at arm's-length, etc. It is wonderful how elusive a water-mark can be, and after an expert has shown it to you it seems to stand out so plainly that you wonder how you could have missed it. If not yet successful, then, third, soak the stamp in water, and then try the second method again. As some stamps are printed in fugitive colors (Russia, U.S. due stamps, etc.), they should not be soaked in water. The dealers usually have a bottle of pure benzine, or alcohol nearly pure. In these liquids they plunge the finest stamps, even if unused and with original gum; the effect is about the same as if soaked in water, and neither gum nor colors are affected.
Have you heard of the "Stamp Hospital," where damaged stamps are made to look as good as new? No stamp which has gone through the hospital is worth more than a fraction of the value of a perfect stamp, but it is worth two or three times as much as in its original damaged state. The doctor in charge of the stamp hospital is a clever German living in Berlin, who is a thorough philatelist, artist, and mechanic combined. One of the Round Table readers had a very rare stamp catalogued at $350 to $500 if in perfect condition. This stamp was sold to a dealer in New York city for $100. A large piece had been torn off the right-hand side of the stamp, and the corners were uneven. The dealer sent it to the hospital in Germany, where it was put under a course of treatment, and returned to him with a bill of $10 for repairs. Although the stamp was printed on very thin paper, the doctor had pasted on a piece of similar paper, and then painted the missing part in the exact color. When held up to the light no joint could be seen, and the whole appearance was that of a perfect copy, beautifully centred, wide margins, etc. The dealer has since sold the copy at a fair advance. Of course water must not touch the stamp; even a drop might loosen the patched up portion; but the collector who now has it in his album will watch it carefully and keep it from danger.
J. Ball.—The stamps of Afghanistan were cancelled by tearing out a piece. Used copies not torn are extremely scarce.
Hancock.—Send me a "rubbing" of the coin.
R. C. Wilson.—English coins are not collected in this country. If the date is undecipherable, even a rare coin would have little value. The two U.S. coins have no premium value.
F. W. Dobbs.—Dealers ask $1.50 each for U. S. gold dollars of the common dates, and from $2 to $3 for those coined in the later years. The cents named are worth from 5c. to 50c., according to condition.
A. Meienborn.—We do not buy or sell stamps.
Philatus.
High priced toilet soaps cost more than the ivory, not because the soap itself is any better, but by reason of the expensive wrappings, boxes and perfume. Then the profit on toilet soaps is much greater.