Stamp Collecting as a Pastime | Page 3

He inquires into questions surrounding the choice of
designs, the why and wherefore of the chosen design, the name of the
engraver, the materials and processes used in the production of the
plates, the size of the plates, and the varying qualities of the paper and
ink used for printing the stamps--in fact, nothing that can complete the
history of an issue, from its inception to its use by the public, escapes
his attention. He constitutes himself, in truth, the historian of postal
issues. The scope for interesting study thus opened up is almost
boundless. It includes inquiries into questions of heraldry in designs, of
currency in the denominations used, of methods of engraving dies, of
the transference of the die to plates, of printing from steel plates and
from lithographic stones, of the progress of those arts in various
countries, of the manufacture, the variety, and the quality of the paper
used--from the excellent hand-made papers of early days to the
commonest printing papers of the present day--of postal revenues and
postal developments, of the crude postal issues of earliest times, and
the exquisite machine engraving of many current issues.

He who fails to see any justification for money spent and time given up
to the collecting of postage stamps will scarcely deny that these lines of
study, which by no means exhaust the list, can scarcely fail to be both
fascinating and profitable, even when regarded from a purely
educational standpoint. It is true it may be contended that all collectors
do not go thus deeply into stamp collecting as a study; nevertheless the
tendency sets so strongly in the direction of combining study with the
pleasure of collecting, that the man who nowadays neglects to study his
stamps is apt to fall markedly behind in the competition that is ever
stimulating the stamp collector in his pleasant and friendly rivalry with
his fellows.
Then, again, an ever-increasing supply of new issues from one or other
of the many groups of stamp-issuing countries periodically revives the
interest of the flagging collector, and binds him afresh to the hobby of
his choice. Old, seasoned collectors, whose interest once set never flags
from youth to age, relegate new issues to a back seat. They find more
than enough to engage their lifelong devotion in the grand old issues of
the early settlements. But the collector of modern issues who cannot
afford to indulge in the great rarities, finds new issues a source of
perpetual enjoyment. They follow one another month after month, and
infuse into the collector's life the irresistible charm of novelty, and
every now and again an emergency issue comes as a surprise. There is
a scramble for possession, and a spice of speculation in the possibility,
never absent from a makeshift and emergency issue, that the copies
may be scarce, and may some day ripen into rarity.
[Illustration:]

[Illustration:]
III.
Its Permanence.
Ever since the collection of postage stamps was first started it has been

sneered at as a passing craze, and it has been going to die a natural
death for the past forty years. But it is not dead yet. Indeed, it is very
much more alive than it has ever been. Still the sneerers sneer on, and
the false prophets continue to prophesy its certain end.
To the unsympathetic, the ignoramus, the lethargic, the brainless,
everything that savours of enthusiasm is a craze. The politician who
throws himself heart and soul into a political contest is "off his head,"
is seized with a craze. The philanthropist who builds and endows
hospitals and churches is "a crank," following a mere craze. The earnest
student of social problems is "off the track," on a craze. The man who
seeks relaxation by any change of employment is certain to be classed
by some idiot as one who goes off on a craze. You cannot, in fact, step
off the beaten track tramped by the common herd without exciting
some remark, some sneer, perchance, at your singularity.
The most ignorant are the most positive that stamp collecting is only a
passing fancy of which its votaries will tire, sooner or later; and yet for
the last forty years, with a brief exception, due to an abnormal
depression in trade, it has always been on the increase. Indeed, it has
never in all those years been more popular with the cultured classes
than it is to-day. The Philatelic Society of London has an unbroken
record of regular meetings of its members extending over a quarter of a
century. The literature devoted to stamp collecting is more abundant
than that of any other hobby. Its votaries are to be found in every city
and town of the habitable globe.
"All very fine," say our bogey men, our prophets of impending evil;