STAMPS OF SPECIAL INTEREST

Most stamps as they repose in their rows on the pages of the album look very sober, matter-of-fact, little squares of paper. Some appear travel-stained, others are in the pink of condition, but all have undergone an experience—we are speaking of the used copies—which, could it be related, would make reading matter of a highly interesting nature. One specimen which lies in the album did duty, say, in the backwoods of the United States; another carried a letter across the snowfields of Siberia; a third franked correspondence in the unsettled land of Mexico; and a fourth brought a message from the battlefields of Belgium and Northern France. Viewed in this light, every obliterated specimen which figures in our collection is a curiosity.

There are, however, other kinds of curious stamps which are worth discussing. Who, for instance, would ever dream that a stamp could cause serious disturbance among a whole race of some millions of people? Yet this is what happened quite recently in India. The offending stamp was the two annas, bearing a profile portrait of King George. The trouble can be related briefly. The label showed the King attractively arrayed, and bearing a number of decorations, one of them being the elephant which denotes an Indian order. Unfortunately, the engraving was a trifle indistinct, and instead of the creature appearing as an elephant, as it should have done, it seemed to be an exact representation of a pig. Now, the latter animal is considered a most unclean thing by all faithful Mohammedans, and the people of this religious creed were not slow to suppose that somebody in power had placed the animal on the King's breast merely to insult them. Had it not been for the tactful assurances made by the authorities, and the early substitution of another stamp more carefully engraved, the results would probably have been of a serious character.

Another curious stamp is the Connell label, emanating from the colony of New Brunswick. Connell was the postmaster-in-chief of this British dependency. On one occasion he was requested to journey to New York to place a contract with a firm of stamp printers. What possessed him nobody knows. Instead of directing that Queen Victoria's portrait should appear on all the stamps to be engraved, he ordered that the five cents value should bear his features, which, to be candid, were not at all attractive. In due course the stamps arrived, but the authorities, on discovering Connell's audacity, issued a proclamation declaring the label to be worthless. The postmaster, so history tells us, became angry, and rather than appear before a prosecuting council retired hastily to the States. The Connell stamp, needless to say, is a rare curiosity, and few copies are known to exist. It is perhaps a little doubtful, however, whether the label can be reckoned as an authentic postage stamp, seeing that its use never received official sanction.

Vanity seems to play an important part in the lives of people—at least, this is the testimony which many of our stamps bear out. Some men like Connell crave for such notoriety as a postage stamp can afford them, but there are others—crowned heads—who will not allow their features to be portrayed upon the labels of their country, lest the obliteration marks may render them grotesque.

Among conceited Kings of recent times, King Ferdinand of Sicily stands out pre-eminently in the minds of philatelists. He possessed something of the Connell weakness, for he evinced a keen desire to have his head portrayed upon the stamps of his little kingdom; but running counter with this desire was a strong fear lest the marks of the postal obliterator should disfigure his none too prepossessing countenance. In the end, he thought of a kind of compromise. He called in one of the best engravers of the day and commanded him to execute a fine series of adhesives bearing his profile. When the issue was ready, Ferdinand provided the postal authorities with obliterating stamps, each of which consisted of a circular framework of lines, surrounding an empty space. The idea was that the lines should deface the edges of the stamp, but that the empty space should save his profile from disfigurement. What happened to his overworked officials who chanced to bring their obliterators down upon the royal countenance by mistake is too awful to contemplate!

Not only do some stamps betray the weaknesses of individuals, but others reveal the characters of nations. Let us look for a moment at the stamps of Belgium. Each is provided with a small label which bears the words, "Not to be delivered on Sunday." This label is very insignificant, and stamp collectors have seen it so often that they are apt to pass it by unnoticed. But this tiny strip of paper has a deep underlying purpose. The Belgians, as a nation, are sharply divided on matters of religion into two great bodies. The Roman Catholic section objects to having its letters delivered on Sundays, whilst the section of Freethinkers can see no harm in a postal delivery on the day which we in England set apart for rest. The Belgians are a tolerant race, however, and the matter has been settled by providing each stamp with what has been called a Dominical label. The Catholics use the label with the stamps they buy, but the Freethinkers detach them. The postmen are instructed to deliver letters on Sundays only when the footnote is missing from the stamps.

Another curious stamp is the twopenny plum colour King Edward issue of Great Britain. Who has ever heard of this adhesive? Who has ever seen it? The chances are that few collectors know that such a stamp ever existed, yet a used copy figures in the collection of King George.

The story relating to this stamp is as follows: In the early months of the year 1910 it was decided to change both the pattern and colour of the twopenny green and carmine. A rather attractive design was selected instead, and eventually printed in a hue which the authorities called "Tyrian plum." Some thousands of these labels were printed and held ready for issue, but just as they were to be placed on sale, the sad and unexpected death of King Edward took place. Rather than issue a new stamp after the King's demise, the whole stock was gathered together and burned. A few copies, however, were preserved for record purposes, and one at least was stuck to an envelope addressed to our present Sovereign, and posted at the East Strand Post Office.

The V.R. penny black is another stamp of the Home Country which every philatelist should know about. It is a famous label, not because it has ever made history or fulfilled any important mission, but because people have grown to look upon it as a rare form of the ordinary penny black. In reality the V.R. stamps never attained to the dignity of a postal label, for, although intended for official use, the authorities decided at the last moment not to make the issue, and destroyed the stock. A certain number of copies leaked out, and found their way into collectors' albums, and these command a fair price.

Of late there has been a great increase all over the world in the picturesque type of stamp, and these have provided a fairly large crop of pictorial "inexactitudes." As an example, two adhesives of the well-known United States Columbian issue may be mentioned, seeing that they have evoked many a smile among philatelists. The stamps in question are the one and the two cents values. The former portrays Columbus sighting land, whilst the latter reveals the famous traveller in the act of landing. As is well known, an interval of but twenty-four hours separated the two events, yet in the first picture Columbus appears clean-shaven, whilst in the latter he possesses a beard of ample and stately proportions!

Another interesting picture stamp of the United States is the one dollar value of the Omaha issue. The stamp bears the title of "Western Cattle in Storm," but those of us who know the canvasses of MacWhirter will recognize it as a reproduction of his painting, "The Vanguard." Mr. F. J. Melville, a noted philatelist, says in "Chats on Postage Stamps" that the United States Post Office "literally cribbed" MacWhirter's picture, apparently without permission or any sort of payment.

Many stamps possess particular interest owing to some speciality in manner of production. Just now a semi-perforated adhesive is becoming popular. Its upright sides are imperforated, but top and bottom the usual perforation marks are present. Such specimens are manufactured in rolls—not in sheets—for special use in automatic machines. They come largely from the United States and the Union of South Africa, and are, of course, only available in the penny and halfpenny, or equivalent, values. These semi-perforated stamps are of undoubted interest to-day, though the time may not be far distant when they will completely oust the usual perforated type.