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.
Since "specialization" has become fashionable many stamps which have a larger or smaller perforation, a different water-mark, or a decided difference in shades of the same color, etc., have increased in value enormously. For instance, the 4c. slate, Hong-Kong, perforated 14, is worth 6c. used, or 8c. unused. The same stamp, perforated 12½, is worth $5 used, $50 unused, and hard to find even at those prices. The cataloguing of all these minute varieties has resulted in lists which simply bewilder the beginner, and in catalogues of 600 pages or more in small type. These minute varieties are out of the reach of all except the very rich collector. Some thirty-five dealers recognizing the needs of the smaller collectors have united in issuing The American Standard Stamp-Catalogue, which omits these "varieties," simply listing the stamps in the regular colors, etc.; and I learn the demand for this catalogue has been so great that the first edition was exhausted on the day of publication.
P. W. Varney.—This Department does not give dealers' names. The gold dollar, 1849, is worth $1.50.
F. Brengle.—The capped 2's of the 1890 issue are sold by dealers at 10c. each. Immense quantities are on hand, as every one saved them.
G. W. Schaick—U.S. stamps issued previous to 1861 can not be used for postage. All others can.
G. Carliss.—The $1 and $2, present issue, can be bought cancelled at half face.
W. Hilles.—See the Round Table for December 17, 1895, and January 14, 1896, for values of U.S. coins. Circulated coins of the last seventy-five years have very little value beyond face.
O. H. Sampson.—The coin is worth 5c., the "shin-plaster," 20c.
W. G. Waldo.—The prices quoted are those asked by dealers. See answer to W. Hilles.
R. A. Hayes.—U. S. stamps cut in two and used on letters have no postal value, and collectors do not care for them.
F. C. Small.—There are literally millions of Roman coins in existence. Every little while some one digs up a whole boxful. Dealers sell many of these coins at 10c. each.
L. Hubbard.—The unused reprint of the 3c. 1869 U.S. is worth $15. The reprint is on a different paper. It is worth about the same used.
E. C. Wood.—A few of the 1875 reprints were used for postage, and they can be used for postage to-day. No rule can be given, but as a general thing, when the catalogue does not price a stamp in both used and unused condition, the inference is that so few copies are known that no definite market value has been established. Jefferson and Perry.
S. Manning.—Defaced coins are worth metal value only; possibly some such coins would be redeemed at face value at the Sub-Treasury in New York.
R. H. Martin.—I shall always be glad to examine any rare stamps, but it is not worth the expense to send common or ordinary stamps.
E. C. Allen.—Thank you for your courtesy, but I see all the new stamps as soon as they reach New York. Re-engraved stamps have all their lines deepened, and they lose the clear look of the originals.
Original Subscriber.—Your coin is of private mintage. The initials S.M.V. stand for "San Francisco Mint Value." The coin is worth bullion only ($5).
A. B. Taylor.—The 3c. 1869, unused, is worth 25c. The 1875 reprint, unused, on a different paper, is worth $15. Many of the 1869 issue were faintly grilled, or escaped grilling entirely.
G. Wilson.—.The foreign coins are worth metal value only. The U. S. coin list was published in the Round Table for December 17, 1895, and January 14, 1896.
H. L. Grand.—Scotland uses the stamps of Great Britain. The Columbian 1c. to 15c. can be bought for 45c. used, $1 unused.
R. Sands.—The Massachusetts coin can be bought for $2. The 5c. piece is worth face only, if it has been circulated.
B. M.—The stamp you describe is one of the five or six varieties of U.S. Revenues, of which hundreds of millions were used, hence no value.
Philatus.
