fice of the Postmaster at Stamford, Conn. This was Meter No. 1, and it was registered in at the Post Office to the Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter Co., Stamford, Conn. The first impression was imprinted on an envelope addressed to the Postmaster General. The first meter bearing the new style oval die was installed at Austin Nichols & Company, New York, on Jan. 19th, 1922. The meter number is 1079, the Permit number is 6, and the circular die reads "BROOKLYN, N. Y." The last meter to be changed over from the square to the oval die was that of H. R. Mallison & Co., Inc., 229 Fifth Avenue, New York. The Meter is No. 1069, the Permit is No. 37, and the circular die reads "NEW YORK, N. Y." Great Britain adopted the Postage Meter on May 13, 1922, for all denominations. Check list of first lot of Postage Meters having the original type of indicia. None of these dies is in use at the present time, and as this indicia is now obsolete envelopes bearing this type should be valuable to collectors. 45 2c 61 22280 B. Altman & Co., N. Y. Cunard Steamship Co., Ltd., N. Y. Ronald Press, N. Y. Review of Reviews, N. Y. McCall Publishing Co., N. Y. Equitable Life Assurance Society, N. Y. Title Guarantee & Tr. Co., N.Y. Sample Instruction Purpose. Central Union Trust Co., N. Y. New England Tire & Rubber Co., N. Y. Nat'l Surety Co., N. Y. Federal Reserve Bank, N. Y. Federal Reserve Bank, N. Y. 35 American Relief tion, N. Y. Administra Julius Kayser & Co., N. Y. Samstag & Hilder Bros., N. Y. 3 Title Guarantee & Trust Co., 3423 ཡཙ Brooklyn, N. Y. Cohn Hall, Marx, N. Y. Butler Bros., Jersey City, N. J. McCall Co., N. Y. The Vogue Co., N. Y. Review of Reviews, N. Y. Fred Loeser & Co., Brooklyn, 26 New York Telephone Co., Lex ington Ave., N. Y. Postage Meter Co., N. Y. New York Telephone Co., New- 26 New York Telephone Co., Cen 1c 7 2c 21 1019 2c 19 1020 2c 13 27 29 32 1042 1c 10 Published Monthly by SCOTT STAMP & COIN Co., 33 West 44th St., New York City, N. Y. Vol. 3. No. 10. KENT B. STILES, Associate Editor NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1922 Issue No. 34 The issue number with which your subscription will expire is shown at left of address on envelope "How is it, Willie Brown, that you are always so perfect in geography, yet you never seem to study it." "'Cause I'm a stamp collector-that's why." (By permission of Public Ledger Company.) U The Month By John N. Luff NITED STATES: Three more stamps of the new issue have appeared. They were placed on sale on Armistice day, November 11th. The 15 cents shows the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. This is a welcome relief from too many portraits or too many repetitions of the same portrait, which has been so tiresome in our recent issues. But the color is not well suited to the subject. It is too flat and cold. Something brighter and stronger would have brought out the design more effectively. And the inscription "UNITED STATES POSTAGE" seems outweigh the statue. We think that the use of smaller letters, as on the 25c and 50c stamps, would have been an improve ment. to The 25 cents, view of Niagara Falls, is very pleasing in design, execution and color. The 50 cent stamp presents the usual failure that attends an attempt to show a large building in the limited area of a postage stamp. Only a portion of the structure is shown and that part suggests a bank or small commercial building. The announced intention of this stamp was to do honor to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is true that the tomb is in the picture, if one knows where to look for it, but it is so dwarfed by its surroundings and so thoroughly covered by the tablet inscribed "Arlington Amphitheatre" that all effect is lost. The unfortunate result is that, to the casual observer, the tomb appears to be a light slab in the pavement. types, overprinted with a Russian inscription and a device of which a rising sun is the only intelligible feature. He states that these were issued by the Temporary Zemskaja Authority of Pre-Baikal, the copies shown being postmarked Chita, Eastern Siberia." There must be quite a good few philatelists in army and official circles in Siberia, to judge by the frequent provisional issues from that part of the world. GAMBIA: The new stamps for this country have been much praised in Europe. We regret we cannot concur. The engraving is well executed and the majority of the colors are pleasing but the design of the pence values is ill balanced and inharmonious. The large black blot, made by the shield with the King's head and the crown, hits the eye hard and overwhelms the rest of the design. Things are out of proportion, for the King's head is larger than the elephant. Had the latter been placed in the background the effect might not have been so bad, but it is right in the foreground, just as far front as the head, and thus everything is out of scale. The diagonal ribbon with the word "GAMBIA" also offends the eye. A much better result would have been attained by placing the word in a simple horizontal tablet, either at top or foot of the stamp. The meaningless snarls of ribbon ends add confusing details to an already crowded design. The shilling values are not so bad, though they also have too much black and too much decoration. The King's head in the oval would have been effective but the addition of the royal crown and the mantle, hung on nothing against the scenery, makes a distracting mass of black that covers up details that were intended to suggest features of the country, In postage stamps nothing is so effective as dignified simplicity and nothing so futile as excessive ornamentation. quote from Stanley Gibbons Monthly HON Circular: "Mr. N. L. Whishaw kindly sends us an envelope franked with stamps of the Arms HONDUR [ONDURAS: We are indebted to Mr. A. Roterberg for copies of the Ic brown and 5c lilac rose official stamps of 1921 with the overprint inverted. INDIA: The Philatelic Journal of India announces that color changes, to agree with the Postal Union scheme, are being made in some of the current postage stamps, to wit: Ia from rose to chocolate 12a from chocolate to red 22a from ultramarine to orange 3a from orange to ultramarine The anna stamp in the new color has been reported as now in use. The 12 annas chocolate was announced about a year ago. It seems to have had a very restricted sale in India and not to have reached the stamp trade at all. If the color is changed and the old stock destroyed the chocolate stamp may prove to be a scarce item. In company with some new varieties of Cochin stamps, the Nassau Stamp Co. have the 4 pies yellow green official stamp of 1913-14 (No. 103) with the "ON C G S" overprint inverted. differences as too small for listing in our catalogue. Their place is in a work for specialists. Mr. Klein also reports the I penny with the thin "1922" overprint inverted. LITHUANIA: The triangular air post stamps which we list in the addenda to the catalogue as Nos. 190, 191 and 192 were intended to commemorate the establishment of aerial postal service in Lithuania. The inscription "Oro Pasto Isteigimas" means Air Post Inauguration. June <5th, 1921, was the time selected for the opening of this service and this date was placed in the inner triangle above the "LIE" of "LIETUVA". But the stamps were never employed officially in the air post service. Recently they were surcharged "ZEN KLAS" (stamp) over the word "Isteigimas" and the date barred out. The stamps were then placed on sale for use as ordinary postage stamps and were soon sold out. INDO-CHINA: L'Echo de la Timbro- NICAR logie states that, pending the appearance of the expected new issue, certain values of the current series have run short and the Director of Postes has authorized the use in Indo-China of stamps overprinted with the names of offices in China. Our contemporary has received letters from Saigon and Hanoi franked by stamps overprinted for Mongtseu and Tchongking. IRELAND: In this number we chronicle the 21⁄2p and 4p stamps with the Thom overprint, having the date "1922" in thick figures followed by a period. This completes the series from 1⁄2 penny to I shilling with this type of overprint. In company with these two stamps Mr. Eugene Klein sends us stamps of 2 shillings 6 pence and 5 shillings which he states, on the authority of a correspondent in Ireland, are also overprinted by Thom. The Correspondent writes that Messrs. Thom were instructed to copy the first overprint (made by Dollard) as closely as possible. They succeeded very well. The new overprint has "1922" in thin figures and agrees with ICARAGUA: In this month's chronicle we list another of the too numerous Post Office Reconstruction stamps. It is a simple affair, a geometrical design, lithographed in yellow and surcharged "Nicaragua-R. de C.-Vale-un centavo" in red. It is cheap looking and a bit gaudy but it seemed to have one merit. This was that, being inexpensive and a local product, it could readily be made in quantities and we hoped it signified the end of the many "R. de C." surcharges on postage, official and revenue stamps. But our rejoicing was premature, for we learn that it is to be followed by another stamp printed in lilac. Even if they do not change the design the available number of colors in printing inks is alarming. PORTUGAL: We hear that it is pro posed to overprint some of the current postage stamps "Correios Aeria Portugueza" for use in the air post service between Lisbon and Paris. Portugal and her colonies are always ready with excuses for new issues of stamps, preferably those made by surcharging. the first one in all details, save that in the RUSSIA: Dollard print the second word in the third line had a small space between the letters "h" and "e", while this space has been closed up in the Thom printing. Furthermore, the Dollard overprint is 14 mm. high and the Thom 132 mm. We regard these There seems to be much philatelic activity in this country. Nearly every month we have something to chronicle or to write about. Unfortunately, many of these new things appear in the market or are reported in the philatelic press without any reliable information as to their antecedents. This month we chronicle a set of seven stamps which we have received from a prominent European dealer. We do not doubt that he believes these stamps to be genuine and officially issued, but we cannot overcome a feeling of distrust of them. They are so inferior in design and execution to all Russian stamps that we have previously known that it does not seem probable that they are a government issue. We present them in our chronicle with the hope that attention may be attracted to them and information elicited. It does not seem possible that these crude labels can be part of the promised issue to commemorate the five years of Soviet rule in Russia. In addition to that issue it is reported that another series of fourteen stamps, with designs by prominent Russian artists is being prepared. We also hear of a further issue of charity stamps for the benefit of the famine victims. This issue will show various methods of transporting the mails in Russia. on In April of this year four famine relief stamps were designed and printed in Rostov-on-Don and used there and in several other cities of South Russia. They are said to have depicted the Soviet arms, peasants, etc. The stamps were printed by lithography, the four values one sheet, made up of 54 stamps of 2,000 r green, 28 stamps of 6,000 r green, 27 stamps of 2,000 r rose and 24 stamps of 4,000 r rose. The total value of a sheet was 426,000 rubles and 740 sheets (98,420 stamps) were printed. We have these details from the Berner Briefmarken Zeitung. The Philatelic Magazine also describes this issue and states that it was made by order of the Commissary of Posts and Telegraphs for South Eastern Russia. Apparently the issue was not sanctioned by the sale of Russian stamps", from its office at Mannheim: "Large quantities of so-called 'famine stamps of Odessa' are now being offered. We are authorized, in the name of the Government of the Soviets, to denounce these stamps as common forgeries. "They are not of Russian origin and have not been issued or authorized in any part of Russia. They are bad pictures (waste paper) without any postal value. Made by speculators without scruples, who discount the sympathies of the philatelic world for the Federal Socialist Republic of the Soviets, they merely serve to take without shame money from the pockets of collectors. "The only "famine stamps' that exist at present are: "I. The 6 provisional stamps on the Kerensky issue; "2. The 4 stamps for the famine in the Volga; “3. The famine stamps of Rostov. "On the 19th of August, 1922, there was added to these another series intended to aid the famished. Those are the stamps of I, 2, 3, 5 and 10 kopeks which bear a black surcharge in four lines which reads 'R. S. F. S. R., Day of the Philatelist, 19-8-22.' These stamps were issued on that day in small numbers (the value attributed to each kopek was 10,000 rubles) in behalf of works of succor for the famished and for children. "Other famine stamps do not exist." We call attention to the inclusion of the Rostov issue among the official charity stamps. Apparently the Moscow government does not repudiate those stamps, though it ordered their sale to be discontinued. Government at Moscow, by whose order it SIBERIA: When sending us samples of was withdrawn, after it had been in circulation for a fortnight and about 14,000 copies of all values had been sold. In the September Journal we referred to a set of stamps which were being sent out from Italy with the claim that they were famine relief stamps issued in Odessa. We then gave reasons for doubting that this was an official issue. Our suspicions are now confirmed by L'Echo de la Timbrologie from which we translate a declaration published by the "Central Official Bureau of the Government of the Soviets for the the new provisional stamps which we chronicle in this number, Mr. S. A. Pappadopulo writes: "I am sending some stamps of the new regular issue of the Monarchical Government, which does not recognize the Republic of the Far East and consequently surcharged them with the surcharge 'Priamurski Zemski Kari'. As soon as other values are issued I shall send you them at once." Mr. C. A. Heath shows us several covers bearing these stamps. They are duly postmarked at places of departure, transit and arrival. Thus we have the evidence that |