(which, of course, they were not). Nor was it strange that such sets as the Prince Henry, the St. Anthony and the Vasco de Gama issues of Portugal, and our own Columbian set came to be thought of as a part of the regular postal history of the country, instead of being taken for what they really were: Special issues celebrating formally for a short time some event and having, therefore, only an episodic significance in the postal history of a country. We started thinking falsely and all that has followed is the natural consequence. Now I do not propose anything so absurd as an attack on the special issues and provisionals that I have mentioned, nor on any others. It is too late to exclude them from our collections, even if we wanted to do so, and we don't want to. What I do propose is that in the future arrangement of collections, cataloge and albums, we shall, so far as possible, strive to keep in mind that there is a real difference between a regular postage stamp, such as the 3c 1869, let us say, of the United States and the regular postage stamps which have been turned into provisionals, such as the Peruvian surcharges of 1915. Let us try first to get the regular major varieties and then, afterwards, the overprints and special issues. If we just recognize the fact that commoratives, even of the United States, are as much special issues as are the charity issues of Austria, then we shall clearly understand that a regular collection ought to consist first of all of regular stamps, and that special sets and provisional or transition issues are minor episodes in postal history. With this in mind, those of us who use blank albums will be inclined to arrange our stamps as follows, and I can assure those who have not tried it that the gain in interest and in beauty is very great. Method of Arrangement 1. Regular Issues (in chronological order). a. Regular b. Special c. Overprints 7. Postage Due a. Regular b. Special c. Overprints 8. Officials a. Regular b. Special c. Overprints. 9. Other a. Regular b. Special c. Overprints In countries like Ecuador, Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras, the yearly Seebeck issues of 1890-99 should be classified under heading 2. They were special and transitory in their nature, and not regular issues, execpt in the sense that they were regularly changed every year. They were provisional and transitory and speculative in essence and only technically legitimate. The beauty of a collection arranged on this method is that the harmony of the regular issues is not destroyed by the juxtaposition of staring overprints; nor are the regular issues subordinated to the frequently over-conspicuous commemoratives. However, I don't want to argue it. Just try it and you will never want to change. And after we have all been doing it for ten or twenty years, the catalogers and makers of printed albums will adapt themselves to the same scheme. Further, as we tend to complete our collections of the regular issues first, the production of needless issues will tend to fall away. The solution is to collect first the regular issues, then the others will take care of themselves and find their proper position, meanwhile, let them be cataloged, with such explanations as are needful. As an illustration of how the proposed arrangement works, the following specimen arrangement will suffice: 5th. 1900 (Type A14) (121-133) Excavation type with imprint of American Bank Note Co. 6th. 1902 (159-61) Same, lithographed locally, no imprint. 7th. 1903 (167-174) Zelaya portrait type. 8th. 1905 (179-191) Arms type, imprint of American Bank Note Co. 9th. 1907 (202-208) Same, imprint of Waterlow & Sons. 10th. Same. 1909 (237-248) Colors changed. With imprint of American Bank Note Co. IIth. 1912 (295-309) Waterlow imprint, legend "Correos 1911" figure of Liberty, except on 35c. 12th. 1914 (Types A24, A25) (349-360) American Bank Note Co. Cathedral and Palace types. 13th. 1922 (419-430) Same. Colors changed. Thus far you have the regular postal history of Nicaragua in twelve beautifully engraved sets-and two stamps locally produced, covering a period of 60 years, uncomplicated by a mass of defacing and very confusing overprints. Now come the unsurcharged special issues: 2. Special Issues Ist. Seebeck Issue, 1890 (20-29) Locomotive and Telegraph type. 14th. Special Issue for Province of Zelaya, 1912. (Type 22) (Zelaya 109-123) Waterlow Locomotive Type. 15. Centenary of Independence Issue, 1921. (406-412) Lithographed Portraits. American Bank Note Co. Anyone who has the foregoing is then in a position to tackle the acquisition of overprinted stamps. Of these, there are 55 groups or issuues, of which the largest is that of 1918. If Nicaragua goes on with these provisionals, future album-makers will have to provide blank pages. I do not deny their interest, but it is obvious that the general collector will swamp himself if he regards each of these provisionals as entitled to the same recognition as a Cape Triangular. MACAO 1. Regular Issues Ist. 1884 (1-9) Crown type. 2nd. 1885 (11-16) Same. Color changes. 3rd. 1888 (35-44) Cameo type. 4th. 1894 (46-57) King Pedro type. 5th. 1898 (75-87) Mouchon type. 6th. 1900 (93-97) Same. New values. 7th. 1903 (127-140) Same. Color changes. 8th. 1913 (210-224) Reaper type. Ist 2. Special Issues 1898 (67-74) Vasco da Gama Commemoratives. 3. Overprints 1884 (10) 8or on 100r violet. 2nd. 1885 (17-21) Slanting ms. type. 3rd. 1885 (22-23) Type A4. 4th. 1887 (24-28) Type A5. 5th. 1887 (32-34) On fiscals. 6th. 1892 (45) 30r on 200r lilac. 7th. 1894 (58-66b) Provisorio on Cameo type. 8th. Seebeck Issue, 1896 (89a-89g) Same. wmk. Liberty cap. 9th. Seebeck Issue, 1897 (90-98) Same, dated 1897, unwmkd. 10th. Seebeck Issue, 1897 (98a-98i ) Same, with wmk. IIth. Seebeck Issue, 1898 (99-109) Greater Republic of Central America. Arms type. 12th. Seebeck Issue, 1898 (109a-109h) Same without wmk. 13th. Seebeck Issue, 1899 (110-120) Lithographed type. 10th. 1902 (122-126) Provisorio on Mouchon type. 11th. 1905 (141) 10 avos on 12a Mouchon type. 12th. 1910 (142-143) Bisected stamps. 13th. 1910 (144-146) Postage Dues with bars. 14th. 1911 (147-157d) Republica Lisbon type on Mouchon type. 15th. 1911 (158) Fiscal with Arms and legend Ultramar, type A14. 16th. 1911 (159-161) Diagonal halves of 17th. 1911 (162-163) Type set numbered 19th. 1913 (183-186) Same with still fur- 21st. 1913 (195-205) Local Republica on Mouchon type. 22nd. 1913 (206-209) New Values surcharged on Mouchon type with Republica overprint. 23rd. 1915 (225-241) Provisionals of 1902 overprinted with Republica Lisbon type. 24th. 1919 (242) 1⁄2 avo on 5a Reaper type. 25th. 1919 (243-244) numeral and two bars overprinted on provisionals of 1902, A9 type, as further surcharged in 1915. 26th. 1920 (245) 2 avos on 6a red brown Mouchon type, 1911 provisional with Lisbon Republica. Philatelic Monopolies in Italy N By CAPTAIN H. STREATFIELD OW that Danzig and Germany have ceased their daily issues, it may be useful to collectors to know something of the state of philatelic monopolies in Italy. Nowadays, since the incursion of superfluous and doubtful issues-started by France in her occupation areas, Memel, Silesia, &c., and continued by many of the split-off States-there have arisen in Italy several stamp trusts who buy up the Italian issues in bulk and offer them a few hours later at ten and twenty times their 'face value. These firms are also active in creating issues, as for example the Odessa Hunger stamps and the "Beavers" of Azerbaidjan. Continental Commemoratives The stamps most in demand on the Continent are commemoratives and charities. This can be explained through the depreciated currencies and the resultant rush of novices to collect stamps and thus invest their valueless paper in something of stable value. In their eyes the commemoratives are the most valuable. These have a short life and the prices soon rise. Shortly after the issue of the Upper Silesian Plebiscite set, the French, English, and Italian members of the Commission were paying £4 and £5 a set for these, of which about 10,000 sets were issued (the market price today is about 7s. 6d. a set). The Continental dealers quickly realized the commercial value of commemoratives and always bought up large stocks and endeavoured to prevent their being sold, except for a few hours, at the post offices. were sold up in Rome in a day, and no other post office saw them. The face value of this set is 10.50 lire; today dealers ask 150 lire. The Manzoni set was sold out in two days, the face value was 7.05 lire; today the price is 60 lire. The Fascisti set was also sold out in two days, with the exception of the 5 lire, which escaped the monopolists and was distributed among all the large towns. The other values, up to 5 lire, are now sold at ten times their face value. In the "Champion Bulletin" the stamps of Corfu were quoted together at 60 fr. At that time they were sold by the post officials at this price, but today the post officials have doubled their prices. According to an announcement of the Post Ministry, the price from the post of the first series, face value 2.80 lire, is now 28 lire— ten times face. The price of the second series is 60 lire. It is claimed in Italian newspapers that this price is still very cheap, although still to be obtained at the post offices (it would be interesting to know whether other post officials have acted similarly in fixing the price of the current stamps to agree with the public demand), and the reason given is that these issues have been very cleverly forged and the forgeries bought in large quantities by foreign dealers. British collectors must be very careful when buying Italian stamps and, unless they are experts, should touch nothing without a guarantee. (Dr. Emilio Diena is, of course, the best known Italian expert). Italy is perhaps the forger's chief den today. Germany, Austria, Russia, and Poland have all had trouble with forgers, but the police activity has kept them under. In Italy, however, the police do not consider stamp forgery as a crime! -Stamp Collecting. We NOTICE e regret to announce that due to unprecedented demand, the 1924 Standard Catalogue has been completely exhausted. However, those desiring catalogues may undoubtedly find copies still on sale at various retail dealers. SCOTT STAMP & COIN CO. 33 West 44th Street NEW YORK CITY |