Stamp Exhibition.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 488, 12 July 1890, Page 3

Stamp Exhibition.

Commenting on the International Exhibition of Postage Stamps in Vienna, the ‘London Standard' writes:-Jewels, armour, and heraldic devices havo all had their day, and now the various forms of adhesive labels issued in receipt of tho postage on a letter are attracting crowds of inquisitive v’sitors. England, as might have been expected frem tho numerous philatelists in our midst, makes the best show', though Austria and other countries are not far in the rear. When the idea was first broached of prepaying postage by these square inches of engraved paper, it could scarcely have entered into the mind of the inventor that in the course of half a century so extraordinary a variety of devices would be issued. The value of anything is just what some one will give for it; and unquestionably the taste for collecting postage stamps is not dying out, if we may form any opinion from the prices paid for the choicer specimens. It may even be plausibly pretended that as much pleasure and quite as much profit are derivable from tho study of a well-assorted album of this kind as from many cabinets of a more scientific character. The owner of oven a thousand stamps must have imbibed in his quest a vast amount of historical, geographical, and artistic knowledge, so that philately has been gravely defended as a pursuit quite as instructive as numismatology. The hobby is, clearly, an expensive one to ride, though it has more to say for itself than some other hobbies to which virtuosi have devoted themselves. There is, for example, a gentleman in the suburbs of London whose pride and pleasure it is to gather horseshoes, and his collection grows daily, despite the distress of his wife and the banter of his friends. Count Heinrich von Bruhl, the German diplomatist, spent much of his leisure in forming a museum of boots, slippers, and wigs, and the collection of hats got together by a late King of Bavaria was considered by connoisseurs to be quite unique. One wealthy collector prides himself on having a breast-pin for every day in the year. Snuff-boxes and tobacco-pipes claim the attention of others, while one of the brothers of George 11. was equally indefagitable a? a collector of Bibles and cigars. His friends smoked the latter, but it is doubtful whether either they or their host read the former. Postage-stamp collecting, by comparison, may be called a rational and almost an intellectual hobby, for it is in touch with history and finance on one side, and with geography and political economy on the other. .

The hobby for stamp-collecting is, states the ‘Home News,’ on the increase, and has received an additional impetus from the International Exhibition of Postage Stamps now being held at Vienna. There may be seen, set out in divisions and subdivisions constituting an elaborate classification of all adhesive postage labels, a collection of a kind never beforo got together at one time or in one place. Connoisseurs in stamps are in ecstasies over the different varieties shown in the Austrian capital. Rarities there are many, but the stamps pointed out with the greatest pride are the so-called ‘errors.’ These are represented by the ‘ error ’ of France, one of Afghanistan, another of Liibecb, and two very rare ‘ errors ’ of 1 he Capo of Good Hope. Of the greater rarities, there may be seen at Vienna four specimens of British Guiana

and New Zealand sfcanip3 of /! > > ono being valued at not less than £75 Then, again, there is the black Canada twelvepenny stamp, two Tasmanian stamps of the first issue, and the interesting collection from the small colony of Heligoland. A complete set of Australian stamps worth v £1,500 must be mentioned as one of the most curious in the exhibition. No one, however, but the most thorough - paced philatelist would think of paying some of . the extravagant sums recorded as being willingly given for stamps. Not long ago a dealer bought an unused orange eightpenny stamp of New South Wales for £ls . 10s, and a blue twopenny for £6 10s. With regard to separate collections, that kno.wn as the Galleira collection is said to have cost over £57,000 ; while Sir Daniel Cooper sold his album to Herr von Ferrari for £3,000. There is a vast amount of know ledge, both historical and artistic, to be derived from philately, and after all as.a craze it is far superior to many of the senseless pursuits to which people of all sorts devote their lives.