"SPLIT" STAMPS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 164, 1 April 1918, Page 8

"SPLIT" STAMPS

EMERGENCY ISSUES THAT ARE PRIZED BY COLLECTORS. In the chronicles cf Bohemia—a State which has no coast-line and doos not issue postage stamps—the story is iokl of a young playwright who, on submitting his first play to an actor-manager, was told that it was too long, mid that ho must cut it in halves. The young mim divided his MS. into two portions, and, holding them out, said, "Which Mr. George Bobey h the responsible author of the story, and he tells it by way of a jest on his latest hobby— tho collecting of "split" postage stamps. This is a new fad among philatelists, ami Mr. Robey's collection— the first to be shown in public—has nroused great interest at tho headquarters of tho Junior Philatelic Society. "Split" stamps aro a distinct curiosity in' philately, and their origin is somewhat obscure. They arc essentially emergency stamps, and it is supposed that the idea occurred about 1840 to someone—probably a postinaeter in some remote colonial township—who had run out of Id. issues and hit on the happy thought of bisecting his 2d. stamps. The Post Office., however, traces t.he ; germ of the divisible stamp idea to the issue in 1870 of }d. stamps that were just half the siVxj of the Id. ones—a device that was described as the "height of meanness" by the critics of tho Postmaster-General of that day. The emergencies that gave rise to thn issue of "spilt" stamps have been of various kinds. In 1903 a steamer, conveying supplies of ftamps l >to the post office at Fuchow, was causht in a violent typhoon and greatly delayed. .Being in great need of one cent, stamps, the postmaster obtained authority by telegraph from Peking to bisect his two cent, stamps, and these are regarded as great rarities by collectors. There was a ehortage of penny stamps on tfte Gold Coast in 1879, and the postmaster cut his 4d. issues into four parts-, and got all of the lower values he needed. In ]595 the post office at Samoa was destroyed by fire, and the whole stock of stamps burnt with the exception of a few Is. issues, which the postmaster cut into several portions and used to represent postage to any amount. The postmaster of Penarig (Straits Settlements) on one occasion ran out of two and three cent, etamps, but, nothing dismayed, he cut his five cent, stamps into halves, and, by means of a surcharge, kept tis "tally" correct, and got from the public the same money—five cents for the two portions of each split stamp. These are only a few instances of the way.in which "split" stamps originate. They are not recognised by the British Post Office, althou«rh a few isolated specimens have been passed throughtho post by inadvertence. Needless to say, they are regarded as almost priceless treasures by collectors.