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Chapter 21. Treasure Trove

The Classic Stories of the fabulous stamps of philately have been told so many times that to recount them here would be repetitious and boring. The Post Office "Mauritius", the Hawaiian "Missionaries", the "24-cent inverted airmail", the "Hawker", the "Pinedo" and all of the others have become legendary and are as much a part of stamp collecting as are stamps themselves. The stories of the creation or discovery of these great rarities are fascinating but to our present generation they are rather "corny". All of them occurred many years ago and, while it is true that they could happen again, such a possibility is rather farfetched. Surely every stamp collector should know about such stamps; in fact he will have difficulty in not hearing these classics extolled. But if we pin our hopes on finding the greatest treasures only, we will almost certainly be courting disappointment.

At the turn of the century, thousands of collectors were scurrying through old attics and other likely places in believing this to be so and determined to uncover some such great treasure, an enterprising professional, not long ago, contrived a story of philatelic treasure that was published in one of the larger magazines with national circulation. It was announced that this man would gladly examine any stamps anyone might wish to send him and that he would inform them of the value of such stamps. As might be expected, this fellow's office was literally swamped with letters and packages from all over the nation. Thousands upon thousands of persons wrote in and sent stamps hopeful that theirs would "hit the jackpot". So many packages were received that help was required to open and examine them all and for months collectors and professionals dropped in to help in the search for the "great find". Surely among this great mass of letters and old documents there must be something of great value. Yet when the job was finally completed, the last letter opened and the writer advised, this man's great treasure hunt had turned up exactly nothing! Dame Fortune was not to be forced to reveal her treasures!

Twenty-four-cent inverted air-mail.

How then is one to find anything "good"? Where must one look?

First, of course, one must know gold when he sees it.

Next, the most likely place to make a "strike" is where there is a "showing". Any prospector or wildcatter will tell you that.

In stamps the most obvious "showing" is wherever stamps are concentrated. At stamp exhibitions, club meetings, or, best of all, where stamps are sold! Yes, the stamp dealer's shop is the place to "prospect" if you are in search of treasure. Every important stamp has entered philately by way of a stamp dealer and the initial sales price has usually been but a small fraction of what the stamp was later to realize.

An example of this process, one well known and not too ancient to prove our point, is the case of the 24-cent inverted airmail stamp issued by the United States in 1918. The sheet of one hundred with inverted centers was purchased at face value at the Post Office by W. T. Robey. They cost him exactly twenty-four dollars. Within a few weeks he sold this sheet of stamps to the late Eugene Klein, a dealer in Philadelphia. Mr. Klein is reported to have paid $15,000, or at the rate of $150 per stamp. Mr. Klein sold the sheet of stamps to the late Colonel E. H. R. Green reportedly for the huge sum of $20,000, which is $200 per stamp. Colonel Green broke up the sheet, retained the blocks he wished and made the others available at $250 per stamp. Thus these stamps were now "in the market"; they were available to collectors. The price of a single stamp from this sheet rapidly advanced as they changed hands. In recent years a single copy has been offered for $7000. The $200 per stamp which had been changed on the initial sale from dealer to collector had increased twenty times. The original sheet of one hundred stamps now has a potential value of over $400,000.

Two-cent inverted Pan American stamp.

The rare two-cent Pan-American stamp with inverted center was at one time sold by stamp dealers on Nassau Street for only $5.00 a stamp. Presently one is worth about $2500!

One-cent British Guiana, the rarest stamp in the world.

The rarest stamp of all, the one-cent magenta British Guiana was originally sold by dealer Ridpath to a collector-the initial sale from dealer to collector for 125 (approximately $725). The last time this stamp-changed hands, the price paid was reported as $50,000!

No stamp dealer, however erudite, can know the value of every stamp that passes through his hands, nor, for that matter, where to place every stamp. Hence, his stock is the most logical place to locate stamps of potentially great value. Every stamp dealer and every collector takes opportunity to visit the booths of other dealers at stamp exhibitions. Every stamp dealer and collector always finds stamps of value on such visits. Finds big and small are made in this manner with startling regularity. What one man holds in little regard another may recognize as a bonanza. Witness the true story of the late John Meurer, a postal stationery collector of note.

Meurer did not always have the wide knowledge of United States stamped envelopes which he was eventually to attain. In fact, this one incident started him off on specializing in envelopes. As related to me by Meurer himself, it happened this way. He was browsing through the miscellaneous box of covers that almost all dealers leave on their counters for the amusement of clients waiting for attention. Such boxes never contain anything rare or valuable just miscellaneous material priced at a few cents and up. Meurer was doing the usual thing, just idly looking through such a lot, when he came across a United States stamped envelope, which struck his eye. It looked as though it might be one of the rare dies. Meurer wasn't sure so he asked the dealer. The dealer said no. Still intrigued Meurer said he wasn't sure but he would buy it anyway. How much? Five cents! The stamp panned out. It was indeed the rare die and Meurer sold it for $150. Then he decided to become a specialist in United States envelopes. Meurer never found another of these envelopes; nor has any one else. Research disclosed that no other entire has ever been known in the philatelic world.

That envelope reposed for a few years in the collection of Louis H. Barkhausen. This was the greatest collection of United States postal stationery ever formed. When sold by the author in 1954, Meurer himself attended the sale and watched the envelope he had purchased a few years before from a stamp dealer's box of miscellany for five cents bring the record price of $2900.00.

A more recent incident of treasure trove took place in 1957 when a mild mannered gentleman visited my booth at a stamp exhibition and produced two envelopes issued to commemorate the Bi-centennial of George Washington celebrated in 1932. Such envelopes are quite common worth a few cents each. But the thing which made the two envelopes this gentleman presented so remarkable was that they were printed on blue paper. No such blue paper Bi-centennial envelopes had heretofore been known and this although some 25 years had passed since the envelopes had been issued. Where had these two blue envelopes been all of these years? The gentleman explained that he had found them in a box of ordinary white paper envelopes and had kept them all of these years wondering if they had any value. Now, he had reached retirement age and wondered if they did have a value could they be sold? They most certainly did have a value. After careful research to determine the possibility of more having been made, I was convinced that these two blue paper envelopes were an error. Two blue envelope blanks had inadvertently become mixed with the white paper blanks of which the Bi-centennial envelopes were being made. When sold a few months later the two envelopes brought the tidy sum of $2650.00 each.

Every collector has some stamps or covers that he "picked up for a song" at some dealer's store or booth at an exhibition. Whether or not their cost was, in truth, "a song" will depend upon what they might be sold for at some later date. The collector who acquired them is happy with his find, has backed his belief by acquiring the stamps, and, in all probability, has in fact made a find.

This search for treasure, with the ever-present chance of discovering it, is one of the greatest pleasures of stamp collecting. It can happen to you today, tomorrow or the next day. You have only to know what you are looking for and you will most certainly find it.

This book has indicated the way. From here on, it's up to you. Adventure beckons and you are ready to start.

Welcome to the ranks of Philately!

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