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.
Specialization has led to the cataloguing of innumerable minute varieties in perforations, water-marks, papers, shades, and impressions from more or less worn or retouched plates, to say nothing of "freaks." The result has been the immense catalogues with which we are all so familiar, and albums containing a multitude of spaces for stamps which not one collector in a thousand can ever expect to fill. This has led to a reaction, and the average collector will hereafter not be puzzled by minute varieties of no interest to any one except the small group of rich men in each country to whom they are due. These advanced collectors do not use printed albums, and special catalogues can easily be made for them. All the large dealers hereafter will make albums and catalogues which the average collector will have a chance of filling up at reasonable rates.
Unique or very rare stamps in such albums will probably be represented by photographs of the costly originals.
W. MacFarlane.—The 2c. U.S. Revenues are extremely common, hence have no value.
S. Manning.—The old U.S. Special Delivery stamps are worth 15c. each, used. The yellow one will probably prove to be the scarcest.
H. M. Crossman.—The 1892 Columbian half-dollar can be bought for 75c. The 1893 one is in common use. The Columbian quarter is worth $1.75.
H. H. C.—The ordinary U.S. quarter for 1853 with rays on the reverse can be bought for 35c. The rare variety of the same date for $3.50.
F. M., Jun.—The 50c. Mortgage U.S. Revenue is worth 5c.; the 50c. Entry of Goods and Conveyance, 1c. each: the $1 Inland Exchange, 1c. These prices are for perforated stamps; if unperforated they are worth $1 each upward.
Will Kelsey.—All sheets of the current issue have one outside row of stamps unperforated on one side, and all the 1c., 2c., etc., have two rows of stamps unperforated on one side. Such partly perforated stamps have no special value. The 1875 reprint of the 1869 3c. stamp is worth $15 unused. This reprint can be known by the snow-white paper on which it is printed. Many of the 1869 stamps show no signs of grilling, owing to a very light pressure of the grills. Such stamps have no greater value than the grilled ones.
Nyack.—I do not know what the stamped paper made for use in the American colonies is worth. I know of one copy which was bought by the holder for $50. There were no adhesive stamps made for the 1765 stamp act.
T. A. Wessman.—It is impossible to pass any opinion on rare Chinese coins without seeing a rubbing. They are considered as simple curios here, and can be bought very cheap if the dealer has any.
A. F. Berlin.—Apply to any of the larger dealers for price.
A. B. C.—My remarks applied to Spanish stamps only. The West Australian cancelled stamps with punched holes were those issued by the colonial authorities to the imperial (i.e., Great Britain) authorities for official use. Most of these imperial officials were in charge of the convict camps in West Australia, and doubtless some of the stamps were given by them to prisoners in their charge, as it seems fairly well established that some letters from prisoners were pre-paid by punched stamps.
C. S. Smith.—Dealers offer U.S. dollars of 1800 for $2; half-dollar 1811, 1812, 1818, seventy-five cents each.
C. Rawson, 3421 North Nineteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa., wishes to exchange stamps.
H. D. Graham.—"Local" stamps are those used by postmasters and by private firms who carried letters in competition with the U.S. mails. They have all been suppressed by the U.S. government. The early Boyd's Express, Blood & Co.'s, Honour City Post, etc., are very scarce. Hussey's Post and the later Boyd's Express are very common. Many have been reprinted, and others have been counterfeited.
N. P. Coppedge.—The English penny is quite a common coin. It has no value in this country, and in England can be bought for threepence.
Philatus.
"Health is the vital principle of bliss, and exercise, of health."
No health—there is no hope of bliss,
No exercise—and health soon flies,
No bath with Ivory Soap—you miss
The best results of exercise.