Chats on Postage Stamps

By Frederick John Melville

Stamp-collecting was a dominant hobby in the 19th and 20th centuries, and people continue to pursue it even today. This valuable guide on stamp-collecting is for the enthusiastic collectors and helps them study the specimens rather than just hoarding them. The author gives practical advice on starting the collection and maintaining and keeping track of it. He provides some insightful tips on differentiating the fake stamps as it was one of the major concerns of the philatelist of the time. Contents include: The Genesis of the Post The Development of an Idea Some Early Pioneers of Philately On Forming a Collection The Scope of a Modern Collection On Limiting a Collection Stamp-collecting as an Investment Forgeries, Fakes, and Fancies Famous Collections Royal and National Collections

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547046219

Book preview

Frederick John Melville

Chats on Postage Stamps

EAN 8596547046219

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

PREFACE

PHILATELIC TERMS

I THE GENESIS OF THE POST

II THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDEA

III SOME EARLY PIONEERS OF PHILATELY

IV ON FORMING A COLLECTION

V THE SCOPE OF A MODERN COLLECTION

VI ON LIMITING A COLLECTION

VII STAMP- COLLECTING AS AN INVESTMENT

VIII FORGERIES, FAKES, AND FANCIES

IX FAMOUS COLLECTIONS

X ROYAL AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS

A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHILATELY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENERAL HANDBOOKS

GENERAL CATALOGUE (NOT PRICED)

GENERAL CATALOGUES (PRICED)

COLLECTIONS

SPECIAL HANDBOOKS

INDEX

PREFACE

Table of Contents

Come and chat in my stamp-den, that I may encircle you with fine-spun webs of curious and rare interest, and bind you for ever to Philately, by which name we designate the love of stamps. The den presents no features which would at first sight differentiate it from a snug well-filled library, but a close inspection will reveal that many of the books are not the products of Paternoster Row or of Grub Street. Yet in these stamp-albums we shall read, if you will have the kindness to be patient, many things which are writ upon the postage-stamps of all nations, as in a world of books.

It is not given to all collectors to know their postage-stamps. There is the collector who merely accumulates specimens without studying them. He has eyes, but he does not see more than that this stamp is red and that one is blue. He has ears, but they only hear that this stamp cost £1,000, and that this other can be purchased wholesale at sixpence the dozen. What shall it profit him if he collect many stamps, but never discover their significance as factors in the rapid spread of civilisation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? The true student of stamps will extract from them all that they have to teach; he will read from them the development of arts and manufactures, social, commercial and political progress, and the rise and fall of nations.

To the young student our pleasant pastime of stamp-collecting has to offer an encouragement to habits of method and order, for without these collecting can be productive of but little pleasure or satisfaction. It will train him to be ever observant of the minutiæ that matter, and it will broaden his outlook as he surveys his stamps from China to Peru.

The present volume is not intended as a complete guide to the postage-stamps of the world; it is rather a companion volume to the standard catalogues and numerous primers already available to the collector. It has been my endeavour to indicate what counts in modern collecting, and to emphasise those features of the higher Philately of to-day which have not yet been fully comprehended by the average collector. Some of my readers may consider that I have unduly appraised the value in a stamp collection of pairs and blocks, proofs and essays, of documental matter, and also that too much has been demanded in the matter of condition. But all these things are of greater importance than is realised by even the majority of members of the philatelic societies. Condition in particular is a factor which, if disregarded, will not only result in the formation of an unsatisfactory collection, but will lessen, if not ruin, the collection as an investment. It has been thought that as time passed on the exacting requirements of condition would have to be relaxed through the gradual absorption of fine copies of old stamps in great collections. The effect has, however, been simply to raise the prices of old stamps in perfect condition. It may be taken as a general precept that a stamp in fine condition at a high price is a far better investment than a stamp in poor condition at any price.

In preparing the illustrations for this volume I am indebted to several collectors and dealers, chiefly to Mr. W. H. Peckitt, who has lent me some of the fine items from the Avery collection, to Messrs. Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., whose name is as a household word to stamp-collectors all over the world, and to Messrs. Charles Nissen, D. Field, and Herbert F. Johnson.

I should also be omitting a very important duty if I failed to acknowledge the general readiness of collectors, and especially of my colleagues the members of the Junior Philatelic Society both at home and abroad, in keeping me constantly au courant with new information connected with the pursuit of Philately. Without such assistance in the past, this work, and the score of others which have come from my pen, could never have been undertaken; and perhaps the best token of my appreciation of so many kindnesses will be to beg (as I now do) the favour of their continuance in the future.

FRED J. MELVILLE.

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PHILATELIC

TERMS

Table of Contents

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PHILATELIC TERMS

Albino.—An impression made either from an uninked embossing die, or from a similar inked die, under which two pieces of paper have been simultaneously placed, only the upper one receiving the colour.

Aniline.—A term strictly applicable to coal-tar colours, but commonly used for brilliant tones very soluble in water.

Bâtonné.—See Paper.

Bisect.—A term applied to a moiety of a stamp, used as of half the value of the entire label.

Bleuté.—This word implies that the blueness of the paper has been acquired since the stamp was printed, as the result of chemical action.

Block.—An unsevered group of stamps, consisting of at least two horizontal rows of two each.

Bogus.—An expression applied to any stamp not designed for use.

Burelé.—A fine network forming part of design of stamp, or covering the front or back of entire sheet.

Cancelled to order.—Stamps which, though postmarked or otherwise obliterated, have not done postal or fiscal duty.

Centimetre (cm.).—The one-hundredth part of a metre = .3937 inch.

Chalky, or chalk-surfaced.—Before being used for printing, paper sometimes has its surface coated with a preparation largely composed of chalk or similar substance: this renders the print liable to rub off if wetted; and, in combination with a doubly-fugitive ink, renders fraudulent cleaning practically impossible.

Cliché.—The ultimate production from the die, and of a number of which the printing plate is composed.

Colour trials.—Impressions taken in various colours from a plate, so that a selection may be made.

Comb machine.—A variety of perforating machine, which produces, at each descent of the needles, a line of holes along a horizontal (or vertical) row of stamps, and a short line of holes down the two sides (or top and bottom) of each stamp in that horizontal (or vertical) row. And see Perforation.

Commemoratives.—A term applied to labels issued chiefly for sale to collectors, and commemorating the contemporaneous happening, or the anniversary, centenary, &c., of some often unimportant or almost forgotten event.

Compound.—See Perforation.

Control.—An arbitrary letter or number, or both, printed on the margin of a sheet of stamps, for facilitating a check on the supply. Also used to denote a design overprinted on a stamp (e.g. Persia, 1899) as a protection against forgery.

A Pair of Great Britain embossed Six Pence.

A Pair of Cape of Good Hope Triangular Shilling.

A Block of four Great Britain Penny Red.

A Strip of three Grenada 4d. on Two Shillings.

EXAMPLES OF SOME PHILATELIC TERMS.

Current number.—The consecutive number of a plate, irrespective of the denomination of the stamp.

Cut-outs.—A term used to denote the impressions, originally part of envelopes, postcards, &c., but cut off for use as ordinary stamps.

Cut-squares.—Stamps cut from envelopes, &c., with a rectangular margin of paper attached, are known as "cut-squares."

Dickinson paper.—See Paper.

Die.—The original engraving from which the printing plates are produced; or, sometimes, from which the stamps are printed direct. See Plate and Embossed.

Doubly-fugitive.—See Fugitive.

Double-print.—Strictly applicable to two similar impressions, more or less coincident, on the same piece of paper; though often, but erroneously, applied to instances where the paper, not being firmly held, has touched the plate, so receiving a partial impression, and then, resuming its correct position, has been properly printed.

Duty-plate.—Many modern stamps are printed from two plates, one being the same (key-plate, which see) for all the values, but the other differing for each denomination: this latter is the duty-plate.

Electro.—A reproduction of the original die, made by means of a galvanic battery from a secondary die. See Matrix.

Embossed.—Stamps produced from a die, or reproductions thereof, on which the design is cut to varying depths, are necessarily in relief, i.e., embossed. And see Printing.

Engraved.—The term is often used to denote stamps printed direct from a plate, on which the lines of the design are cut into the metal. And see Printing.

Entires.—This expression includes not only postal stationery (which see), but when used in describing an adhesive stamp, as being on entire, implies that the stamp is on the envelope or letter as when posted.

Envelope stamp.—A stamp belonging to, and printed on, an envelope.

Error.—An incorrect stamp—either in design, colour, paper, &c.—which has been issued for use.

Essay.—A rejected design for a stamp; in the French sense also applied to proofs of accepted designs.

Facsimile.—A euphemism for a forgery.

Fake.—A genuine stamp, which has been manipulated in order to increase its philatelic or postal value.

Fiscal.—A stamp intended for payment of a duty or tax, as distinguished from postage.

Flap ornament.—This refers to the ornament (usually) embossed on the tip of the upper flap of envelopes, and variously termed Rosace or Tresse, or (incorrectly) Patte, which see.

Fugitive.—Colours printed in singly-fugitive ink suffer on an attempt to remove an ordinary ink cancellation; but if in doubly-fugitive ink it was thought that the removal of writing-ink would injure the appearance of the stamp. And see Chalky.

The figures 201 indicate the Plate Number, and 238 the Current Number. The Plate Number is also on each of these stamps in microscopic numerals.

Corner pair showing Current Number 575 in margin.

Corner pair showing Plate Number 15 in margin. The Plate Number is also seen in small figures on each stamp.

The above stamps are those of Great Britain overprinted for use in Cyprus.

EXAMPLES OF SOME PHILATELIC TERMS.

Generalising.—The collecting of all the postage-stamps of the world.

Government imitation.—Sometimes, when it is desired to reprint an obsolete issue, the original dies or plates are not forthcoming. New dies have, in these circumstances, been officially made, and the resulting labels are euphemistically called Government imitations. Forgeries would be more candid.

Granite.—See Paper.

Grille.—Small plain dots, generally arranged in a small rectangle, but sometimes covering the entire stamp, embossed on certain issues of Peru and the United States. The idea of this was to so break up the fibre of the paper, as to allow the ink of the postmark to penetrate it and render cleaning impossible.

Guillotine.—The term used to define a perforating-machine which punches a single straight line of holes at each descent of the needles.

Gumpap.—A fancy term of opprobrium applied to a stamp issued purely for sale to collectors and not to meet a postal requirement.

Hair-line.—Originally used to indicate the fine line crossing the outer angles of the corner blocks of some British stamps, inserted to distinguish impressions from certain plates, this term is now often employed to denote any fine line, in white or in colour, and whether intentional or accidental, which may be found on a stamp.

Hand-made.—See Paper.

Harrow.—The form of perforating-machine which is capable of operating on an entire sheet of stamps at each descent of the needles. And see Perforation.

Head-plate.—See Key-plate.

Imperforate.—Stamps which have not been perforated or rouletted (both of which see) are thus described.

Imprimatur.—A word usually found in conjunction with sheet, when it indicates the first impression from a plate endorsed with an official certificate to that effect, and a direction that the plate be used for printing stamps.

Imprint.—The name of the printer, whether below each stamp, or only on the margin of the sheet, is called the imprint.

Inverted.—Simply upside-down. And see Reversed.

Irregular.—See Perforation.

Jubilee line.—Since 1887, the year of Queen Victoria's first Jubilee—whence the name—a line of printer's rule has been added round each pane, or plate, of most surface-printed British and British Colonial stamps, in order to protect the edges of the outer rows of clichés from undue wear and tear. The rule shows as a coloured line on the sheets of stamps.

Key-plate.—Stamps of the same design, when printed in two colours, require two plates for each value; that which prints the design (apart from the value, and sometimes the name of the country), and is common to and used for two or more stamps, is termed the head-plate or key-plate. And see Duty-plate.

A sheet of stamps of Gambia, composed of two Panes of sixty stamps each.

The single Crown and CA watermark as it appears looking from the back of the Gambia sheet illustrated above. The watermark is arranged in panes to coincide with the impressions from the plate.

EXAMPLES OF SOME PHILATELIC TERMS.

Knife.—This is a technical term for the cutter of the machine which cuts out the (unfolded) envelope blank, and is principally used in connection with the numerous varieties of shape in the United States envelopes, amongst which the same size may show several variations in the flap.

Laid.—See Paper.

Laid bâtonné.—See Paper.

Line-engraved.—Is properly applied to a print from a plate engraved in taille douce (which see) but is often applied to the plate itself.

Lithographed.—Stamps printed from a design laid down on a stone and neither raised nor depressed in the printing lines are denoted by this term. And see Printing.

Locals.—Stamps having a franking power within a definitely restricted area.

Manila.—See Paper.

Matrix.—A counterpart impression in metal or other material from an original die, and which in its turn is used to produce copies exactly similar to the original die.

Millimetre (mm.).—The one-thousandth part of a metre = .03937 inch.

Mill-sheet.—See Sheet.

Mint.—A term used to denote that a stamp or envelope, &c., is in exactly the same condition as when issued by the post-office—unused, clean, unmutilated in the slightest degree and with all the original gum undisturbed.

Mixed (Perforations).—In some of the 1901-7 stamps of New Zealand, the original perforation was to some extent defective: such portions of the sheet were patched with strips of paper on the back and re-perforated, usually in a different gauge.

Mounted.—Usually applied to indicate that a stamp, which has been trimmed close to the design, has had new margins added. And see Fake.

Native-made paper.—See Paper.

Obliteration.—A general term used for any mark employed to cancel a stamp and so render it incapable of further use.

Obsolete.—Strictly, an obsolete stamp is one which has been withdrawn from circulation and is no longer available for postal use; but the term is often applied simply to old issues, no longer on sale at the post-office.

Original die.—The first engraved piece of metal, from which the printing plates are directly or indirectly produced.

Original gum.—Practically all stamps were, before issue, gummed on the back, and the actual gum so applied is known as original: the usual abbreviation is o.g.: it is also implied in the expression "mint", which see.

Overprint.—An inscription or device printed upon a stamp additional to its original design. Cf. Surcharge.

Pair.—Two stamps joined together as when originally printed. Without qualification, a pair is generally accepted as being of two stamps side by side: if a pair of two stamps joined top to bottom is intended, it is spoken of as a vertical pair.

EXAMPLES OF SOME PHILATELIC TERMS.

A Bisect, or Bisected Provisional. The One Penny stamp of Jamaica was in 1861 permitted to be cut in halves diagonally, and each half used as a halfpenny stamp.

Pane.—Entire sheets of stamps are frequently divided into sections by means of one or more spaces running horizontally or (and) vertically between similarly sized groups of stamps: each of these sections or groups is termed a pane.

Paper.—The two main divisions of paper are hand-made and machine-made: the former is manufactured, as its name indicates, by hand, sheet by sheet, by means of a special apparatus; the latter is made entirely by the aid of machinery and generally in long continuous rolls, which are afterwards cut up as required.

Each of these, apart from its substance, which may vary from the thinnest of tissue papers