Regarding Subscriptions The subscription price of SCOTT'S MONTHLY JOURNAL is $1.00 a year. (Note: In each copy of Scott's standard American catalogue for 1920 a coupon was included. Many of these coupons are still outstanding. One of these coupons, when properly filled out and returned to us, will entitle the reader to one year's subscription at half price. This offer, originally made to introduce the MONTHLY JOURNAL to the Scott clientele, will not be repeated in the coming 1922 catalogue.) All subscriptions begin with the issue current when the subscription is received, provided we have copies on hand. If the current issue is exhausted the subscription will start with next month's number. Back copies or single copies cannot be supplied. Articles Solicited Scott's wants articles written entertainingly and authoritatively about stamps and stamp collecting. Send in manuscripts. For every article which we accept for publication we will give in return a life subscription to SCOTT'S MONTHLY JOURNAL. What you write does not necessarily have to be technical in character. But if it is technical, that fact will not hurt the chance of it being accepted—providing you keep in mind that technicality and dryness are not synonymous. Put pep and punch into what you write; our readers want these qualities— and you want them in the articles written by others. "A little humor now and then-" Published Monthly by ScorT STAMP AND COIN Co., 33 West 44th St., New York City, N. Y. KENT B. STILES, Associate Editor HUGH M. CLARK, Manager JOHN N. LUFF, Editor Vol. 2. No. 10 NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1921 Issue No. 22 The issue number with which your subscription will expire is shown at the left of the address on the envelope UN The Month By John N. Luff NITED STATES: The provisional envelopes made in 1920-21 have included many that are interesting to collectors, even to those who only take them cut square and do not seek the sub-varieties of each type, the shapes and sizes of the envelopes, etc. One of the most interesting varieties was an envelope which had first been surcharged "1 cent," in error, and subsequently received the surcharge "2." This was on white paper and was issued at Elgin, Texas. The same state has now supplied a companion envelope on amber paper. We have been shown a copy (too late to be included in this month's chronicle) by Mr. H. C. Naschke who writes that it was used by the Citizens State Bank at Bastrop, about 35 miles from Austin, Texas. The bank used the envelopes in mailing to its patrons invitations to the Bastrop County Fair. About 200 were used, six of which have been recovered. on paper watermarked "Multiple Crown and A." This was done on the statement of a western correspondent, who wrote that he had just received a copy of the stamp. We did not ask to see the stamp, as we did not anticipate there could be a mistake in so simple a matter. Recently Mr. Fred Hagen, of Sydney, has visited us and, in the course of much pleasant conversation, informed us that the 3 pence stamp with multiple watermark was not known to Australians. Thereupon we asked our correspondent to show us his copy of the stamp. We find he has been mistaken. His stamp proves to be a copy of our No. 5, with watermark "Wide Crown and Wide A" and portions of letters from the border of the sheet. We must, therefore, withdraw No. 57 from our catalogue and regret the error, which has doubtless caused collectors to make fruitless searches. The balance of the box, about 300 copies, AUSTRIA: We have received some was purchased by Mr. Naschke. Mr. W. M. Brydon has shown us a strip stamp inscribed "United StatesNarcotic-Internal Revenue" and "6 cents." Size 79x9 mm. The design is similar to that of the 1 cent stamp which we catalogue as No. 4381. We understand that these strip stamps either have been or soon will be issued in about a dozen values and most of them in three or four sizes. We think it will be well to defer our chronicle of them until we can present a fairly complete list. Α' USTRALIAN COMMON stamps of the current issue, overprinted with a spread eagle and "24. April 1921" in red, and others overprinted "Abstimmung-in Salzburg—29. Mai-1921" in black. We understand that these were the dates on which the provinces of Salzburg and the Tyrol voted on the subject of union with Germany and the stamps were intended to mark this action. These so-called plebiscites were held in opposition to the wishes of the government and the stamps were not authorized. We shall, therefore, not give them place in our catalogue. WEALTH: In September, 1920, COLOMBIAN REPUBLIC: Mr. A. we chronicled the 3 pence, kangaroo type, Roterberg has shown us a copy of the Registration stamp of 1917, 4c green and ultramarine (No. 630) with the centre inverted. He is informed that only one sheet of fifty stamps has been found in this condition. EGYPT: Various journals have an inverted surcharge. This variety has been shown us by the Economist Stamp Co. G UATEMALA: We have been shown by Mr. A. Roterberg the 2c on 60c olive green and black of 1920 (No. 169) with the date "1920" omitted. As the date and new value were separately printed in different colors, such an omission might easily occur. nounced that a new issue of stamps is being prepared and will probably bear the portrait of Sultan Fuad I. This rumor is now contradicted, so far as the design is concerned, on the ground that portraits are forbidden by the Mo-TALY: In this number we chronicle hammedan religion. However, it may be remarked that this rule is not always strictly observed in Mohammedan countries. Persia, Turkey and Zanzibar have had portraits of their rulers on their stamps. GEORGIA: This country has been occupied by the Russian Bolsheviki and no longer has an independent existence or postal service but such trifles do not seem to hinder new issues of provisional stamps. Some months ago we reported surcharges on the 1919-20 stamps, made by the Georgian consul in Constantinople, though there was no place to which they could carry letters. Since then we have read of the same stamps surcharged with a large star and Georgian inscriptions. The latest is a five-line surcharge, said to have been applied to celebrate the third anniversary of the National Guard. The stamps were to have been sold at three times their face values, but before anything could be done with them, the Bolsheviki moved in and such of the Georgians as could moved out, taking some of the stamps with them, and these are now being sold for someone's benefit. ERMANY: Mr. Stanley Massman GERM the issue to commemorate the sixth centenary of the death of the great Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, author of “La Divina Commedia” and other worldfamous works. Some explanation of the designs of the stamps may be of interest to our readers. On the 15c is an eagle, bearing an open volume of the Divine Comedy. The inscription around the circle may be translated: "He who is above others as the eagle flies." The 25c shows Italy seated on a throne with a laurel wreath and a flag behind her. In her right hand she upholds a book inscribed "D.A.D.C.," the initials of "Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia." The inscription on the frame reads: "Honor to the supreme poet." On the 40c is a half-length portrait of the poet, crowned with laurel and clasping a book in his hands. The background suggests an ecclesiastical chair or a pulpit. The inscription may be translated: "He shows the power of our language." Each stamp bears the words "Italian Postage," the value, "Dante Centenary, 1921," and the letters "S.N.D.A." (Societa Nazionale Dante Alighieri). has shown us a postal card which JUGOSLAVIA: On June 29th of this certainly is an example of German thrift, for below the stamp is printed in Ger"Additional price for paper, 5 man: pfennig." year the National Assembly adopted the name "Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes" for the union of states hitherto known as Jugo-Slavia. The new name seems rather lengthy for ordinary use and we wonder if collectors and the makers of catalogues will not prefer to retain the old one. |