More Than Child's Play

One commodity market that is in better shape than ever is the esoteric and specialized worldwide market in postage stamps. In Manhattan last week, the costliest stamp in history was auctioned for $41,000 by Bernard Harmer, U.S. partner of London's H. R. Harmer Ltd., the world's leading stamp firm. It is a pale blue, unused 2-c- Hawaiian Missionary stamp--so called because such stamps were mostly used by Christian missionaries writing home in the mid-19th century--and it replaced the renowned British Guiana one-cent magenta ($32,900) as the world's most valuable stamp. Its sale also proved once again that stamp collecting is a lot more than child's play.

Not Just Relaxation. It is, in fact, a $50 million to $100 million international business that supports hundreds of firms, reaches into virtually every country and caters to the acquisitive urges of several million collectors, from the majority who only dabble in stamps to the considerable number of absorbed adult collectors who spend at least $1,000 a year. Harmer's alone last year turned over $3,000,000 worth of stamps by auction or private sale. Several small nations that philatelists consider particularly interesting--including Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, the Vatican and lately Ghana--depend on selling their stamps to collectors as a way of replenishing their treasuries. Pitcairn Island, where the Bounty mutineers settled, receives almost half its revenue from stamps that never see Pitcairn but pass directly to stamp dealers from a printing plant in London. Since collectors by nature covet every issue of their specialties, such stamps are quickly bought up despite the large numbers printed.

The biggest stamp collectors are as secretive as Swiss bankers, and the extent of their collections frequently comes to light only after their death. For such men, stamps are as much of a financial investment as a relaxation.

The reason is that good stamps, by their rarity, continually increase in value, can be tax-valued at fractional catalogue prices to escape staggering death duties, and are often even more valuable than stocks as a hedge against worldwide inflation. In addition, stamps are easily transported from country to country, and, if need be, can be quickly disposed of. Wall Street Broker Alfred Caspary's 50,000 stamps were sold beginning in 1955 for $2,900,000, and represented a quarter of the value of his estate. The collection of Swiss Tobacco Magnate Maurice Burrus, from which the rare 2-c- Hawaiian came, will probably realize $8,000,000 when it is all disposed of. Burrus paid $15,000 for the Hawaiian in 1921; last week's sale thus represented a 275% increase in value.

Collectors of Tomorrow. Even such big stamp dealers as Raymond H. Weill of New Orleans, who bought last week's Hawaiian Missionary, cater to a barely profitable business with thousands of youngsters because they hope that enough of them will grow up to be the big and wealthy collectors of tomorrow. But while stamp collectors have earned a reputation as quiet and retiring types, they have sometimes proved to be less than perfect models for the kiddies. A one-penny Mauritius "Post Office" Red recently sold in England for $23,800 is known to have belonged to an unlikely philatelist, Manhattan Financier Eddy Gilbert, before he fled to Brazil in last year's E. L. Bruce scandal. And in 1892, a Parisian named Hector Giroux was so anxious to get his hands on the Hawaiian Missionary auctioned last week that he went to Fellow Collector Gaston Leroux, who had the stamp, and murdered him. When detectives finally picked him up on a hunch, Giroux confessed and surrendered the stamp.

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