Evening star. [volume], April 13, 1947, Page 5, Image 98

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
finagling by a government. The British island
of St. Kitts once issued a stamp to pay for
a new cricket field for army officers stationed
there. Midget countries with small popula
tions and a negligible demani! for stamps for
postal purposes may sell 20 times as many to
collectors as to the people at home.
Liechtenstein, for example, is a little state
of only 11,000 inhabitants on the Swiss
Austrian border. It owes much of its an
nual budget surplus and almost total
freedom from taxes'to the revenue from
more than 300 stamp issues in 26 years.
San Marino, a tiny nation of 14,500, has no
public debt — thanks largely to stamps.
The stamps that figure in such wiles as
uiese are periecuy genuine.
Counterfeiting, long the
biggest cheat game in phi
lately, has largely disap
peared with the advent of
scientific means of detec
tion. Today’s racketeers
simply exploit the dignified
commemorative stamps
governments freely issue to
celebrate famous people,
significant events and even
sports contests.
Profits can be huge: At
least $15,000,000, according
to best estimates, are lav
ished on new issues every
year in the United States
alone. In 1946, a record
year, the nation’s approxi
mately 11,500,000 collectors
— more than 6,000,000 of
them boys and girls in their teens — spent
845,000,000 for stamps of all kinds. Racke
teers now are trying to corner an even larger
portion of the total take.
It Can be Honest
At the gala Centenary International Phila
telic Exhibition in New York in May, how
ever. you will find little evidence of the dirty
work in the stamp world. Serious collectors
will throng from all parts of the globe to
observe the one hundredth anniversary of
official United States postage stamps. Many
will bring their prize pieces to put on display;
and those who can’t make the trip will mail
theirs. It will provide a display of rare and
fabulously valuable stamps such as few lay
men ever have a chance to see. But it will be
much more than that.
In the face of growing commercialism and
racketeering in their hobby, most collectors
believe the Exhibition will help make clear
that philately can — and should — be honest.
The majority of stamp dealers have always
refused to get mixed up in the business of
Moating dubious issues. The men behind the
racket are petty officials or unscrupulous
stamp wholesalers. Recognized dealers are
fighting them with every possible means.
“There is no way we can stop racketeers,”
a dealer said. “The ultimate source of all
stamps is the government that issues them.
Vic can’t interfere, except to protect. But
we do lime one powerful weapon: the
Standard Stamp Catalog.”
This is the compilation issued by the Scott
Stamp and Com Company of New York,
which has become philately’s Bible. It warns
collectors of phony issues by printing black
bordered illustrations accompanied by this
notice: “Stamps of the designs shown are not
recognized by us as having been issued pri
marily for postal purposes.” Of the prewar
stamps of Lithuania, for example, 134 are
qualified by this label; of Latvia, 47 in three
years.
Describing the set of 19 bicolored “Coro
nation” stamps printed by Persia m 1914, the
catalog says frankly: “The stamps wen never
placed in use, but were sold to stamp dealers
in 1923.” They were then retailed at whatever
prices the traffic would bear. The catalog has
this to say about Franco’s early stamps for
Spain’s Canary Islands: “ ... The frequent
changes of surcharge (overprinting a stamp
with a new value) could be for no other reason
but to sell to collectors.” Dozens of new varie
ties were created — meaning more money in
Franco’s pocket.
The United States was one of the first coun
tries to prove the usefulness of stamps for
revenue and publicity. An 1893 issue to com
memorate Columbus’s discovery of America
included $1, $2, $3, $4 and $5 values — a
profit of $15 on every complete set sold to a
collector. The set of 16 or
nately engraved stamps
became immensely popular
overnight, and issues with
plenty of high denomina
tions have remained the
rule in many countries.
"Scmipostals"
TheNcw South Wales, Aus
tralia, post office launched
the first “semipostals,”
never sanctioned in the U.S.
These are ordinary stamps
with an extra tariff of a few
cents tacked on for the bene
fit of some charity or wel
fare organization. Often the
funds that are left after the
promoters take their cut go
blithely astray.
A few years ago the Bel
gian Congo obtained money to build a zoo
from an issue of pretty, multi-colored “semi
postals” that became popular with youngsters.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg flooded
the market with 74 different types in the 10
years before 1940. One issue of eight stamps,
inscribed “International Relief for Intellectu
als,” was never intended to get a letter
through the mails at all. Monaco, Spain,
Ethiopia, Andorra, Czechoslovakia and dozens
of other countries got into the game shortly
before World War II and now are going full
blast.
On at least two occasions, stamp profits
have financed international aggression. The
swashbuckling Italian poet-novelist, Gabriele
D’Annunzio, financed his seizure of Fiume
after the First World War chiefly from stamps
promoted by an astute entrepreneur. When
Polish General Zeligowski grabbed Wilno in
1920, stamp sales paid'virtually all costs.
Built an Opera House
In a few instances, stamps have supported
science and the arts, too. A Belgian series of
12 years ago provided funds for Physicist
Auguste Piccard's balloon ascents into the
stratosphere. Stamps now help keep Cuba’s
hospitals going; and one stamp built Mexico
City’s opera house almost singlehanded. A
Norwegian issue financed Roald Amundsen’s
attempted flight to the North Pole in 1925.
But governments seeking to promote appar
ently worthy scientific enterprises may find
themselvesunwittingly victimized. The United
States in 1930 issued a series of “Graf Zep
pelin” stamps, good for postage on mail car
ried in the airship. The entire proceeds, less
printing costs and a small percentage for
handling Zeppelin mail in the U. S., were
turned over to Germany — in the belief that
the enterprise was being undertaken in the
interests of science.
Dr. Hugo Eckener, commander of the
“Graf Zeppelin,” stated in an address over
American radio networks:
“Our flights would probably not have been
possible without the money contributed by
Continued on page 18
EFIVMHffl
COIIQKCT: Holy's
D’Annunzio financed
seizure of Rome in
1919 with this stamp
NEW ISSUE: President Truman gets first look at a commemorative
ROYAL COLLECTOR: George VI examines a gift from a Dominion
, ■■■■■■■■■■■I
EASY MARKS: Kids are targets of many colorful, worthless issues