The history of stamp collecting 25, Deceit, trickery and abundance.

Inspired by a series of articles by K. Kouwenberg that appeared in the monthly magazine Philatelie in the late 1970s, Rob Smit rewrites the history of stamp collecting in biweekly installments. This is part 25: Deceit, Fraud, and Abundance.Before I begin discussing trickery and deceit, I would like to return briefly to the 'stamp polka' described in volume 23. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find an image of that piece so far, but I received the image below from Jan Vellekoop. Apparently, a polder version of the stamp polka also appeared in 1864. Now, regarding cunning and deceit. It has also been mentioned earlier in this series that forgeries are almost as old as the stamps themselves; in any case, they appear from 1862, the year in which stamp collecting and the trade grew so rapidly. In 1863, too, there were frequent warnings against forgeries in various publications, including those originating from Nuremberg (Georg Zechmeijer?). Also striking are the warnings regarding the Hamburg Boat Stamps, which, according to the editors, are speculative issues designed to fleece collectors. Unthinkable now, but back then national postal administrations were not yet guilty of these practices, or were they already, to some extent? In the last issue of 'Stamp collector's magazine' from 1863, there is an article that provides a good picture of collecting at the time. Translated, it reads as follows: The rise of Timbromania One of the most important conditions of trade is that where there is demand, there must be supply. This has been very aptly proven in the case of stamp collecting. Two years ago, there was hardly a supplier for the burgeoning hobby of collecting these small pieces of paper. Now, not only in London and the major provincial cities, but also in small towns such as Hull, Dover, Ipswich, etc., there are dealers, many of whom are undoubtedly doing good business. Month after month, the number of addresses mentioned by them increases in The Stamp Collector’s MagazineThere is probably no type of stamp that cannot be obtained from one or another of these enterprising businesses. The increased competition has naturally caused a significant price dumping. The few rare individuals who have been collecting for many years and who are now being overtaken by the general boom never bothered about unused specimens but were satisfied with what they received. It was used stamps that the first victims of our hobby acquired for their collections. Nothing else was offered in the first dealer price lists either. There were few stamps and the price was high. Time moved on: friends, collectors, and postmasters in the colonies were contacted, resulting in an abundant supply of (unused, ed.) stamps. As a result, prices have already dropped by 70 to 80 percent here and there. The beautiful 1-cent Nova Scotia, for which one had to pay 1 shilling a year ago, can now be obtained unused for 1 penny.* Stamp collecting is not declining, and there is no reason to assume that it will not continue to exist like other hobbies such as collecting coins and books. Especially since collecting stamps is cheaper, and the objects are much smaller and easy to obtain. So much for the article from The Stamp Collector's Magazine. What we see described here is that postal administrations supply unused stamps as a result of demand from collectors; these stamps were therefore no longer being used for their original intended purpose, namely as a means of payment for postal delivery. From this period onwards, this method of trading proved lucrative for many postal administrations, and it only became more lucrative as new stamps appeared regularly. Particularly in periods when stamp collecting was popular (which has fluctuated considerably over the past 150 years), one sees that many unused stamps were purchased. If we read the article above carefully, one could actually say that this trend was already underway in some countries at that time. Stamps from those periods are now usually very cheap, and often more expensive when postmarked, or at least harder to find. This is in contrast to periods of lower collecting interest or economic prosperity. We are currently in a period of lower collecting interest, but because most postal administrations now operate truly commercially and target profit growth, the reduced interest is compensated for by more and more expensive issues, which unfortunately causes even more collectors to drop out. In my opinion, this trend has not manifested itself so clearly in the past 150 years. In the past, lower demand usually simply led to lower issues, after which things naturally recovered later on. In the Michel catalogue, the mentioned 1 cent Nova Scotia is listed unused for €4.50 and used for €18.00. Incidentally, there are also forgeries of this stamp in circulation.

To be continued on April 14.

Published so far:

1. Introduction and start 2. The first collectors 3. The first catalogueOscar Berger Levrault is the first to provide an overview. 4. Alfred Potiquet, The first commercially published catalogue. 5. Booming 1862, The most turbulent year in philatelic history. 6. Edard de Laplante, the first to live exclusively from the stamp trade. 7. Natalis RondotThe first true philatelic literature appeared in a family magazine. 8. Henri Justin Lallier, Publisher of the first stamp album. 9. Frederick W. Booty, The first catalogue in English. 10. Mount Brown, A successful English catalogue. 11. Dr John Edward Gray, Inventor of the postage stamp, the very first collector, or merely a good cataloguer? 12. The first stamp magazineFirst a failed attempt, but then a sheet of stamps after all. 13. Edward Pemberton, Active philatelist with descendants in philately. 14. Dr. C.W. Viner, Father of English philately. 15. Jean Baptiste Moens, The greatest trader of all time. 16. Moens' publishing house, of great importance in the early days of philately. 17. Germany in 1862, The slow start of an important philatelic country. 18. The Netherlands in 1862, The first Dutch catalogue and album. 19. The Netherlands in 1864, PH Witkamp 20. The origins of Schaubek 21. The competition breaks out, free stamps with magazines. 22. Crafting with stamps. 23. The Polka Stamp., postage stamps as a source of inspiration for music 24. Alexander Baillieu., stamps as a gold mine?