Exceptional The Noble History of Stamp Collecting King of Hobbies; Hobby of Kings by RaymondJohn

Category:  Essay Non-Fiction   Posted:  March 7, 2009      Views: 475

RAYMONDJOHN  IN PRINT   ABOUT RAYMONDJOHN  Raymond John is a hopeless FanStory addict who has at times spent as many as twelve hours in a single day reading, reviewing and writing for the site. His three purposes are based on three "Es" which are Explain, Enlighten and Entertain. His greatest fear is to take himself too seriously. He may not always smile, but he always has a twinkle in his eye. Knock his socks off with a fantastic write and he'll be your best cheerleader and give you a banner award, to boot. He has written two novels and numerous short works. His first book, The Cellini Masterpiece, has sold nearly 3,000 copies and received an Honorable Mention in the 2006 IPPY awards. It is now available in a Kindle edition from Amazon.com. An audio version (ISBN 9780615268125) is now available read by the renown actor, James Cada. MP3 edition, downloadable for IPOD, is 14.95. Order at www.raymondjohnbooks.com. His second mystery, Mix and Match Murder, which was originally scheduled for release in September of 2008 is now in print and available from Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and North Star Press. A scholar born in the golden age of radio, Raymond always appreciates hearing a well-told story, especially one with action and believable dialogue in a historical setting. I have written and received many reviews. I have a thick skin, so if constructive criticism is forthcoming, bring it on. He has won several contests. The contest submission Mousie, Kittie and Booger was the first place winner in the contest Tales of the Weird.. Gold In Them Thar Words was the first place winner in the contest Tales of the Weird.. Lot 386 was the first place winner in the contest Tales of the Weird.. He is a top ranked author and is currently holding the #23 position. He is an accomplished novelist and is currently at the #83 spot on this years rankings. Portfolio | Become A Fan In its golden years, stamp collecting was the hobby of two of the most powerful men in the world. What began as a boy's hobby in the Nineteenth Century, ranking closely to bird's nest collecting in popularity, had become the pastime of world leaders, most notably King George V and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Their example caught on with millions of working men in Great Britain and America. Stamps also became a grown-up toy of the well-to-do. The toys turned out to be excellent investments. Rare stamps retained their value while stocks became worthless during the Great Depression. To this day, they are viewed as a good investment, ranking with art and rare coins. Even though George V started his collection as a boy, by the time of his death in 1936, he had one of the most important and valuable collections in the world. The Royal Collection remains legendary for serious philatelists and scholars. Even getting permission to view it is considered a great honor. Roosevelt continued his hobby into his presidency. Millions of men followed his example. In a time when few had money for entertainment, stamps provided an inexpensive evening over the kitchen table. It even provided much-needed income on occasion. Collectors were amazed to learn that the stamps they had paid pennies and nickels for at the post office when they were children now were worth enough to pay for a month's groceries. Unfortunately, television and video games have reduced the noble hobby to nearly the same level as collecting bird's nests. Once considered one of hobbydom's most educational pursuits, teaching history and geography, stamp collecting is now a hobby of old men and Boy Scouts looking for a merit badge. It is hard to imagine its popularity less than a hundred years ago. The hobby actually began after Rowland Hill introduced the first postage stamp in 1840. Every collection had a copy, no matter how indifferent, of the "Penny Black." The purpose of printed postage stamps was to prepay the cost of mailing a letter. Other countries soon issued their own stamps, including the island of Mauritius, where the governor sent out invitations to a party using "Mauritius Post Office" stamps produced by a local printer. These stamps are now the most valuable in the world, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The few that remain on the envelopes are nearly priceless. The U.S. issued the 5c Franklin and 10c Washington in 1847. The 10c black always was a relatively rare stamp, but every collector had his 5c brown. Despite today's price, it is still a very common stamp. The hobby took on its present form when newspaper companies began to print stamp albums. Stanley Gibbons became the first full-time dealer to put out a stamp catalog. The early dealers bought the envelopes from businesses, soaked the stamps off, and offered them in packets, or on sales pages to fill the spaces in the albums. The stamps often sold for ten for a pence. More affluent collectors wanted unused stamps and bought them from dealers or directly from the postal agencies. By the 1890s, unused stamps generally were many times more valuable than used. Stamps with high face value were used to frank letters and parcels to and from such exotic places as Hong Kong and the Falkland Islands. American missionaries in Hawaii used stamps printed by a local newspaper, and nearly all of the letters and envelopes were saved by the mission society in Boston. Today that archive is worth in the millions of dollars. A Boston stamp dealer proposed marriage to the daughter of the curator of the society's museum, but she turned him down. The most valuable stamp collections were formed in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century. George V hired collectors to find material for him and gave them carte blanche to buy whatever valuable stamps came on the market. Philip Ferrari and Colonel E. H. R. Green were his main adversaries. All competed mightily for the right to say "mine is bigger and better than yours." The Green and Ferrari collections were legendary and when sold, took several auctions to dispose of all the rarities. Another legendary collector was G. H. Worthington, owner of The American Chicle Company. Once one of the richest men in America, his fortune had declined to nearly nothing at the time of his death. He had lost money in the stock market, and his company was essentially worthless. Herman Hearst II writes in his famous book, Nassau Street, that the bankers and creditors met to try to divide up the Worthington's assets, and that they all faced enormous losses on their loans. Worthington's stamp collection wasn't even mentioned in the assets, and when two men expressed an interest in buying it, they were told to get lost. Until they mentioned what they were willing to pay for it, that is. In the end, the creditors were able to recoup nearly all their losses, and some of the rarest stamps reappeared on the market. Although I no longer deal in stamps, I hope the hobby will some day revive. Children need to know about history and geography and there's no better and enjoyable way of learning it. We don't need a president or a king to teach us that. Recognized Share your own writing! - Information on our membership for writers. Pays one point and 2 member cents.

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