| Show WAR REVENUE STAMPS Those Interested In Philately Are Already Cornering the Market Providence R I Journal War revenue stamps are l1gaging the attention of the philatelists to a greater or less extent Full collections of the iSsues are already rare and It is said that they are likely to become more so as time advances The outlay necessary ary in order to secure a complete list ot the stamps deters many enthusiasts from venturing into the field A man Is apt to think twice beiTore purchasing a J50 documentary war revenue stamp just for the sake of adding it to his collection and unless this valuable bit of papor is acquired the collection Is not cornplete I Some of the stamps are already I scarce Soon after congress passad the I bill an issue of halfcent documentary I stamps of orange color was printed It was a mistake to use the orange ink a mistake that was soon discovered and I rectified The correct color should have been a grayish steel A limited number num-ber of orange halfcents were printed j and distributed among the internal revenue offices but the Providence office It seems was left out none of I the faulty stamps finding their way here i Naturally the philatelists seized upon I the orange issue with avidity Many of I the collectors it is said have made > strenuous efforts to gather as many as possible before the general public caught on to the real value of the I article and raised the price accord ingly I During the early days of the ldws operation I op-eration in order to facilitate matters I the government used 1 and 2cent postage I post-age stamps bearing the letters I HOne I H-One dollar postage stamps likewise lettered let-tered were also utilized Only one lot lof the latter was received in this cit When the regular war revenue stamps were ready in sufficient quantities the issue of the makeshifts was stopped I and the available supply was soon exhausted ex-hausted Since the last of the lot were I sold hundreds of persons have called tat I the local revenue office In quest of I specimens particularly those of the 1 I and 2cent kind I Many years from now when the preo ent war revenue law is dead and forgotten I for-gotten old documents bearing high priced stamps may be separated from the government scrap of paper without I fear of the loss of their legal standing When that time does come the stamt collectors will have an opportunity to complete their sheets in a less costly manner than Is now possible But under I un-der the existing law as Interpreted by I the officials legal documents to be valid I must be prcperly stamped and if the I stamp Is removed then the document Is as good as waste paper |
