Stamp Collecting as a Pastime Part 4

Some artists scout the idea of attempting anything that may be considered a work of art in the ridiculously limited s.p.a.ce of a postage stamp. The restriction of a postage stamp when viewed alongside a canvas measuring several yards in length and height is probably hopeless enough. Nevertheless, many a stamp collector who is not devoid of art can find stamps which seem to him to be ent.i.tled to rank high even in the art world. In beauty of design, in the exquisite workmanship of the best modern steel engraving, aided by the most delicate machinery, and in unequalled printing, there are many gems within the very limited s.p.a.ce of a postage stamp that excite and deserve, and not unfrequently win, the admiration of the most exacting critics. There are scores of little medallions, mostly on the postage stamps of foreign states, that surely would pa.s.s muster with an impartial judge of art. They are not the rarities of the stamp alb.u.m.

Some are even regarded as weeds in the philatelic garden. They are too often made to serve the revenue-producing necessities of the issuing state, and for that reason probably, more than for any other, they are made as attractive as modern art applied to stamp production can make them.

Great commercial countries, producing their postage stamps by hundreds of millions, are as contemptuous in their consideration of the art possibilities of a postage stamp as the cynical artist whose days and years are devoted to the disfigurement of wall s.p.a.ce. This country has no cause to be proud of the designs or the printing of its postage stamps. The chief consideration seems to be a low contract price for the production of recognisable labels for the indication of the prepayment of postage. That is the commercial view. And yet there are some foolish people who believe that an artist who could design an effective and acceptable postage stamp for the British Empire would add materially to his own fame and to the art standard of the Empire itself.

Brother Jonathan across the sea is not unmindful of art in the production of his postage stamps, despite his commercial inclinations and training. From the first he has put his patriotism into his postage stamps. The portraits of the Presidents, from George Washington to Lincoln, and from Lincoln to McKinley, who have ruled, wisely and well, the destinies of the great Republic, Jonathan engraves in his best style, in his own official engraving establishment, and proudly places upon his postage stamps for the admiration of all good citizens and the edification and envy of the effete old countries beyond the seas.

We, with our richer memories and our stately galleries of great men who have ruled or governed or fought through the centuries, must be content with an Empire postage stamp that is little better, from an art point of view, than an ordinary beer label, and we must be content to be told that it is the penalty of success, of the dire necessity of long numbers, and of a needy Treasury that sorely hungers for still greater profits from the Post Office.

Meanwhile, small struggling states revel in beautiful stamps. The latest trend is in the direction of miniature portraiture. The Argentine Republic and Bolivia have in recent years issued some very fine examples in this direction. A very useful innovation is the addition of the name under the portrait. In this way thousands have been familiarised with the names and faces of men who before were almost unknown beyond their own country. Historic features, such as those of Columbus and Pizarro, have occasionally been added to the growingly interesting gallery of stamp portraits.

The recently issued New Zealand picture series, ill.u.s.trating most effectively some of the choicest bits of colonial scenery, and some of the rarest birds of the colony, engraved by Messrs. Waterlow and Sons, afforded an interesting and successful experiment in an art direction.

As a result it is said that a strong demand has been generated in other colonies for similarly beautiful and localised designs in preference to the stereotyped mediocrity supplied by the ordinary label process.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XIII.

Stamp Collecting as an Investment.

When a stamp collector is charged with being extravagant, with spending money lavishly and foolishly on a mere hobby, he may very justifiably reply that even his most extravagant spendings may be regarded as an investment.

The ordinary investor in, say, industrial securities is fairly content if he can, with a little risk, secure a steady six or seven per cent.

If he launches out into more speculative shares, yielding higher rates of interest, he must be content to face a much greater risk of the capital invested. Now, the severest test of an investment is the yield of interest over a series of years covering periods of depression as well as periods of prosperity. The stamp collector who has used ordinary discretion in his purchases may confidently submit his investment to this test.

Some years ago, when I was writing in defence of stamp collecting as an investment, I received a very indignant letter from a collector who had made a large collection, complaining that he had then recently endeavoured to sell, but could get only a very small percentage of his outlay back, and that the very firms from whom he had bought most of his stamps scouted the idea of paying him anything like what they had cost him. He therefore ridiculed the idea that stamp collecting could be regarded as a safe investment, as in his case it had been a delusion and a snare. He was quite right, and it is still possible to make big collections--of, say, five thousand, ten thousand, and even larger--of stamps that are never likely to appreciate, and it is possible to buy those stamps at such a price that any attempt to realise even a small percentage of the original outlay must result in a woeful eye-opener.

Let me explain. In the stamp business, as in all other branches of commerce, there are wholesale and retail dealers. The wholesaler buys by the thousand stamps that are printed by the million. I refer, of course, to used stamps. In some cases the price paid per thousand is only a few pence for large quant.i.ties that run into millions. The wholesaler sells to the retail dealer at a small advance per thousand.

Those stamps the ordinary dealer makes up into packets at a further profit, but still at a comparatively low price. Good copies he picks out for sale in sets and separately. Those have to be catalogued.

Therefore, the catalogue price of common stamps bought and sold by the million eventually comes before the general collector at "one penny each," and the man who makes a collection of common stamps of the "one penny each" cla.s.s can scarcely be expected to realise a fortune out of his stamp collecting. When he offers his gatherings of years to the self-same dealer, and asks, say, only the half of what he paid, he is astounded when the dealer has the audacity to tell him frankly, "I can buy most of those stamps at a few shillings per thousand, and you want an average of a halfpenny each for them!" "But," retorts the collector, "I paid you one penny each for them years ago, and now you won't give me half that amount. A pretty thing investing money in stamps!" The reply of the dealer will be, "My dear fellow, you have put your money into the wrong stamps. I bought, and can still buy, those stamps wholesale at a few shillings per thousand, some of them at a few pence per thousand; but I have to pay clerks for handling them and sorting them out, other a.s.sistants for cataloguing them, and the printers for printing the catalogue, so that in the end I cannot afford to sell them _separately_ for less than about one penny each, but if you want a few thousand of any value I can sell them to you at a price enormously below what you ask for your collection." The collector's eyes are opened.

It is impossible to get away from the necessity of regarding stamps as an investment. Even the schoolboy cannot afford to put his shilling into stamps unless he can be fairly a.s.sured that he may get his money back at critical periods, which will crop up even in school life.

Indeed, it may be said that there are few, if any, stamp collectors nowadays who do not put more money into stamps than they could afford to do if there were not some element of investment in view. In some instances large fortunes are actually invested in stamps, and I was only recently told of a collector who had taken his money out of a very profitable business and put it into stamps, and had netted very much larger profits than he ever realised in his regular business. But to do that sort of thing requires a profound knowledge of stamps and a ready command of a very large banking account.

Generally speaking, the best countries from an investment point of view are British Colonials, especially those of the small colonies that have small populations, and therefore very small printings of stamps. Obviously, countries that put stamps into circulation by the million can never be a very good investment, so far as their common values are concerned. Those who buy with a keen eye on the investment purpose, always buy unused copies of uncommon values. Unused are not likely to depreciate, and they may appreciate.

In fact, it may be safely said that, all round, the thing to do in stamps is to buy _unused_ for investment. When stamps are printed by the million, _used_ supplies will be available for no one knows how long; but in the case of unused, when a new issue is made, the obsolete stamp is on the road to an advance in value. It is true dealers stock large quant.i.ties of all stamps, but there are so many countries to be stocked now that no dealer can afford to h.o.a.rd unused to any great extent, and even if he did, the dead capital would be an item which would compel him to advance the price of unused to protect himself from loss. Let us say a stamp becomes obsolete this year, and a dealer buys 100 worth. It would be a moderate estimate to place the earning power of stamps at 10 per cent. In seven years that 100 h.o.a.rd would, reckoning compound interest, represent 200, or double face. Of course, no dealer would h.o.a.rd up 100 worth of a common stamp, but from the day that it becomes obsolete it must be h.o.a.rded up by someone, and interest must be accruing on the investment which will have to be added to the value of the stamp, unless someone is to stand the loss. It will, therefore, be obvious that unused stamps must appreciate while used may remain stationary, for the simple reason that the limit of supply has been reached in one case but not in the other.

Taking almost haphazard a few stamps, most of which have been within the reach of all collectors during the last fifteen years, the following table will give some idea of the appreciation in prices which has been steadily going on in good stamps:--

|1875 |1880 |1886 |1890 |1893 |1897 |1902 | |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. | Bremen, 1867, 5 sgr., green, | | | | | | | | _unused_ |1 0 |1 6 |2 6 |4 0 |5 0 |25 0 |17 6 | Bechua.n.a.land, 1886, 1s., | | | | | | | | _used_. |-- |-- |-- |2 6 |2 6 |6 6 |30 0 | " 1888-9, 4d., | | | | | | | | _unused_ |-- |-- |-- |1 0 |2 0 |2 0 |3 0 | British Guiana, 1860, 1 c, | | | | | | | | brown. perf., _used_ |3 6 |4 0 |12 6 |30 0 |32 6 |80 0 |80 0 | Cape of Good Hope, 1d., | | | | | | | | [triangle]_unused_ |0 4 |0 6 |1 6 |2 0 |4 0 |8 0 |15 0 | Cape of Good Hope, 1d., | | | | | | | | [triangle] Woodblock, | | | | | | | | _used_ |2 6 |3 6 |15 0 |25 0 |45 0 |90 0 |95 0 | Cyprus, 1880, 6d., _unused_ |-- |-- |1 6 |7 6 |12 0 |30 0 |25 0 | " " 1s., _unused_ |-- |-- |2 6 |10 0 |15 0 |40 0 |55 0 | Danish West Indies, 1872, | | | | | | | | 4 c., blue, _unused_. |0 6 |0 6 |1 6 |3 6 |5 0 |17 6 |25 0 | Danish West Indies, 1873, | | | | | | | | 14 c., _unused_ |1 0 |1 0 |2 6 |3 6 |5 6 |24 0 |32 0 | Egypt, 1866, 5 piastres, | | | | | | | | _unused_ |2 0 |2 0 |5 0 |8 6 |16 0 |22 6 |25 0 | " " 10 " |2 6 |1 6 |6 0 |12 0 |20 0 |26 0 |27 6 | Gambia, 4d., imperf., | | | | | | | | _unused_ |0 8 |0 8 |2 6 |5 0 |6 0 |20 0 |32 0 | Gibraltar, 1886, 1s. |-- |-- |1 9 |3 6 |7 6 |70 0 |75 0 | Hayti, 1881, 20 c., _unused_ |-- |-- |2 0 |2 0 |2 6 |7 6 |20 0 | Hungary, 1871, 3 k., litho., | | | | | | | | _used_ |0 2 |0 2 |1 6 |3 6 |6 6 |30 0 |40 0 | Newfoundland, 1866, 5 c., | | | | | | | | brown, _used_. |1 0 |2 6 |3 6 |7 6 |12 6 |28 0 |25 0 | New South Wales, 1d., Sydney | | | | | | | | Views, _used_. |2 6 |4 0 |17 6 |30 0 |35 0 |40 0 |40 0 | Orange River Colony, 1877, 4 | | | | | | | | on 6d., _unused_ |-- |1 0 |1 0 |3 0 |3 0 |5 0 |30 0 | Tonga, 1892, 8d. |-- |-- |-- |-- |2 0 |5 0 |10 0 | " " 1s. |-- |-- |-- |-- |3 0 |4 0 |15 0 | Transvaal, 1878-9, 4d., | | | | | | | | _unused_ |-- |0 8 |1 0 |1 0 |0 9 |1 6 |20 0 | " " 1s. " |-- |1 9 |2 0 |2 0 |4 6 |15 0 |40 0 | Trinidad, 1896, 10s. |-- |-- |-- |-- |-- |14 0 |70 0 | Turks Islands, 1879, 1s., | | | | | | | | blue, _unused_ |-- |1 9 |2 6 |3 0 |5 0 |20 0 |25 0 | Zululand, 1888, 9d. |-- |-- |-- |1 6 |1 6 |12 0 |17 6 |

Of foolish investors there will always be a generous supply, who will ever be ready to offer themselves as evidence of the worthlessness of any and every form of investment, forgetful of the fact that the shoe is more often on the other foot. In stamps, as in every other cla.s.s of investment, the foolish may buy what is worthless instead of what is valuable. There are stamps specially manufactured and issued to catch such flats, and they are easily hooked by the thousand every year, despite the continual warnings of experienced collectors.

But if we turn to the result of experienced collecting we find abundant evidence of the fact that the stamp collector may enjoy his stamps and, when the force of circ.u.mstances compels him to abandon them, he may retire without regret for having put so much money into a mere hobby.

Mr. W. Hughes Hughes, B.L., started his collection in 1859, and kept a strict account of all his expenditure on his hobby, and in 1896 he sold to our publishers for close on 3,000 what had cost him only 69.

In 1870 a stamp dealer in London, as a novelty and an advertis.e.m.e.nt, papered his shop windows, walls, and ceiling with unused Ionian Islands stamps, which were then a drug in the market. The same stamps would now readily sell at 10s. per set of three; in other words, the materials of that wall-paper would now be worth at least 5,000.

The late Mr. Pauwels, of Torquay, made a collection which cost him 360 up to 1871, when it was put on one side and left untouched until 1898. It was then purchased by our publishers for the sum of 4,000, and yielded them a very fair return on their investment.

In the International Philatelic Exhibition, held in the Galleries of the Royal Inst.i.tute of Painters in Water Colours in Piccadilly, London, in 1897, one collector marked over each stamp of his exhibit the price which he had paid for it, and the market price of the day.

The collection had been got together during the previous fifteen years, and had cost its owner 25 2s., while by the then latest catalogue value it totalled up to 368 1s. 3d.

Shrewd business men are those who frequently invest large sums in stamps. The amounts spent annually by some wealthy collectors range from 1,000 to 10,000. One well-known Parisian collector, whose life has been largely devoted to his philatelic treasures, and who employs two secretaries to look after his collection, has, it is estimated, spent at least 200,000 on his stamps since 1870.

If investment were the Alpha and Omega of stamp collecting, every collector of standing would bemoan lost opportunities. Many a great rarity of to-day could have been had for a few shillings a few years ago. The Cape errors were sold by Stanley Gibbons at 2s. 6d. each. The "Transvral" error was sold by the same generous firm at 4s., and others in similar proportion in the day of opportunity.

To-day it is the fashion to look back with regret on those lost opportunities, and to nurse the belief that such opportunities are never likely to return. But experience shows that in every decade of stamp collecting the common stamp of to-day may be the rarity of to-morrow. In many a series of stamps some one of the lot from some cause or another gets scarce, and the price appreciates from year to year till the original price paid for the stamp in pence is represented by pounds.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XIV.

What to Collect and How to Collect.

The questions, "What to collect?" and "How to collect?" are much more easily asked than answered. Each individual will differ in taste, in inclination, in method, in time at his disposal, and last, but not least, in the depth of his pocket. The most that can be done is to outline a general plan, founded upon general experience.

Collectors are divided into two cla.s.ses--the general collector and the specialist. The general collector takes everything that comes in his way, and knows no limitations, no exclusions of this country or that.

The specialist, on the other hand, confines his attention to the stamps of one or more particular groups or divisions, or even to one particular country.

The most experienced collectors, whether general or specialist, almost invariably advise the beginner to start as a general collector. As a beginner he will have no experience to guide him in the choice of a particular group or division; and until he has travelled over the ground as a general collector it will be difficult for him to make a choice which he may not have cause to regret. As a general collector he will gather together a general knowledge of stamps in all their peculiar varieties, which can scarcely fail to be immensely useful to him even should he subsequently drift into specialism. Indeed, it is an accepted truism that the man who starts as a general collector invariably makes the best specialist in the end.

Starting, then, as a general collector, the beginner purchases an alb.u.m--for choice say the "Imperial," published by Stanley Gibbons, Ltd., which on one page has a printed and ill.u.s.trated list of the stamps of a country, and on the opposite page ruled and numbered s.p.a.ces for every stamp mentioned in the printed list. A catalogue, setting forth the prices at which stamps may be purchased, should also be obtained.

One of the very first questions to be settled at the start will be the choice that must be made between the collection of used and of unused.

The general collector who wishes to collect economically should certainly start with what is cheapest; and as the common stamps are cheapest in the used condition, used should be selected. When a collector can afford to spend his money liberally, the best and safest, and cheapest in the long run, will be stamps unused and in the pink of condition. Such stamps generally turn out to be a safe and not unfrequently a splendid investment.

The beginner will find that he can fill up a large proportion of the s.p.a.ces in his alb.u.m with comparatively common stamps, and these are much more economically purchased in the form of cheap packets. The blanks that remain will then represent stamps worth searching for separately, and buying singly as good opportunities occur. Many may be obtained in exchanging duplicates with other collectors.

After some experience as a general collector, preferences will gradually materialise, and the utter hopelessness of making a thorough collection of the postal issues of the world will be apparent. At this stage the collector generally sells the bulk of his collection, reserving only a few countries to be followed up in future on specialist lines. The remedy and the change are drastic, and, like most drastic remedies, are much too sweeping. Wiser and keener Philatelists nowadays retain their general collections, so far as they have gone with them, and upon their basis give play to their specialist inclinations. That is to say, they single out a country, and work at that exclusively on specialist lines; and when they tire of that country, or exhaust it so far as their means allow, they have in their general collection the nucleus of another country with which to build up another specialist collection. On this plan a collector can always be working in sympathy and on the lines of the fashionable country of the day. He can take up and open out whatever country happens to be the vogue. In this way a neglected country every now and again comes to the front, and the nucleus of that country which may be found in the general collection may suddenly acquire an interest and a value never dreamt of. A recent case in point is that of the Orange Free State. Its stamps went a-begging for purchasers. Then trouble, and unrest, and war brought them into notice, and now the almost worthless have become valuable, and the pence have run into shillings, and the shillings into pounds.

For many persons, however, limitations and exclusions are necessary from the start. In their case a choice must be made, and the safest choice will be that of the British Colonies, or, if a still more restricted line must be drawn, one of the Continental groups of Colonies. A glance at a priced catalogue will be the best guide for selection. If it must be an economical selection, the catalogue will speak for itself. There is abundant choice in every direction. There are colonies with few and simple and inexpensive issues, and there are others that require ample means and patient research. But the cheapest countries, from an expenditure point of view, are foreign countries--such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, German Empire, Italy, Chili, China, and so on.

[Ill.u.s.tration]