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Show Where Fortunes Were Paid For an Old Stamp f 1 ; ffW psi sffip v i ( !'s k ' - - I : V ZJ- r. r 'j.. .'J'". ' f"VTU ' "j Th urn Mr. Orlehert acting again for th wealthy American manufac- ' turer, paid th highest sum ever . given for an American postage stamp when he bid lll.STt franos for a Ave cent stamp ef Boeoawen, X. It, th only on of Its kind known to be In existence. Th Boecawen stamp was lusd by Postmaster Worcester Webster, a relative of Daniel Webster, In 114. It bear a simple type set inscription, "PAID I cents." in blue on a' thla ;ellowleh paper. La Renotlsrs had frequently been offered as much aa $6.00 by envious American collector collect-or before the war. and It really did not bring Its full value when it was old for flMJS francs; only Ill.OOt ' with ths exchange. Ths chief interest la ths sal for American buyer and collector waa , in th very complete group of local. American issues which satedated th civil war by twsnty year. La Rene-tiers Rene-tiers gsve much of his attention to these stamps and was rewarded by securing the sol remaining originals known of some ef thus Issues. But often ths collector seal to acquire these American stamps led him to waste small fortunes on fraudulent Issues. It became known In America Amer-ica that the French collector when he questioned the authenticity of a stamp generally ordered Its purchase, pur-chase, preferring to accept ths risk of losing hi money rather than to see the stamp get away from hint and into another' collection If It were a real one. High price were not entirely eoa-flrud eoa-flrud to American Issues, however, for a blue Hawaiian stamp, issued by a Spanish missionary, dated 1UI-2, with the price two cents" printed In highly defective type, brought 10,. Of franca. FOR ths possesala of a faded bit of colored eaper barely an Inch squares dozen men gathered In the backrooms of a Paris auction market fm points a far away as America lotbled and trebled their bid until )e price had passed one hundred, Jyo hundred and three hundred thoaaid francs and finally halted at S;o0 franca For that sum, th equiarnt of a thousand acrea of rich frit land In any of th fertile vslleya tf Southern Francs, th cost of ' an xclusiv chateau or th amount oti mey required re-quired to entirely rebuild f of the hundred of email town 1 eled by th wasts of war, th lurj bidder received a one cent Brltlr! Guiana postage stamp of ths Issue f lilt, the rarest thing known to ph iteltsts, French. Geverameat P 'fits. The occasion was ths dn oal of one lot of the great stamp i lection of M. Ferrari ds La Renotl at ths Hotel Drouot In Paris, ei y thla summer, when only the nt valuable val-uable ef the many postagi stamp Jewel In th collection bright a total of over seven miUloi .franca under ths hammer of tha suaoneer. Th receipts of the sals go (to th coffers of the French Gov cement. M. Ferrari La Renotlerspsving been adjudged an alien sjd his property seized during the wi, only to be disposed of now by the trench alien property custodian. Th history of ths collectlo is sn Interesting one. chiefly throtdi ths personality of ths collector, t wsa widely known In America. B Ferrari Fer-rari ds La Renotiere was theloa of the Duchess ds Galliera. upp th death of whom he Inherited 41arge ortune. But La Renotiere las a lector, raised th bid to TMO and so ths bid kept leaping by ten of thousands of franca. On hundred thousand waa reached, and soon two hundred thousand passed1, whereupon th bulk of the dealers withdrew to watch the battle between M. Droulex and Mr. H. Qrtebert of London. The French collector went ahesd cautiously cau-tiously by bounds of 1,00 francs with Mr. Grlebert following htm up. M. Droulex then made an offer of IIG.Ot. The Englishman went a thousand franc better. The Frenchman French-man healtated, then raised th amount another thousand. Mr. Grlebert capped this by offering offer-ing S0, franca. The Frenchman French-man grew pals, stuttsrsd, wrung hla hands and assumed a look of utter despair sa he sadly shook his head to signify that the bid was beyond bis resources. Applause greeted the succeee of ths English buyer. Th real price paid for ths stamp. Including In-cluding taxes and commission, wss IS , franca. Although it has been rumored that the Jewel was purchased pur-chased for ths collection of King George V. or for Mr. William Randolph Ran-dolph Hearst ths America! publisher, pub-lisher, tbe bit of paper rests to-day In the collection of Mr. Arthur Hind, a manufacturer of Utlca, S. T., for whom Mr. Grlebert purchased practically prac-tically all of the best etampa In th La Renotiere collection. While the rarity of ths British colony Issue established a world record rec-ord m Its disposition, earjy American and Confederate postage stamps a particular hobby with La Renotiere brought exceedingly fancy prices. man of precise view and did not like ths origin of th money left him. He therefore spent much of It In charkle snd lived, himself. 1n th most Inexpensive manner, practically aa a hermit Becoming Interested In stamp collecting, col-lecting, he devoted much of his tlm and money t this activity. Having long been avi amateur admirer of great collections, hs set about with hi Inherited fortune to build up for htmeelf the gresteet collection In ths world. There ar many who contend that th collection which th present King of -England maintalna 1 th greatest, but It Is doubtful if even thst Sovereign hss stamps of ths value that have been found In ths La Renotiere collection. The collection collec-tion of the British Monarch Is one of the most complete to-day, esps-clslly esps-clslly ss regards ths thousands of surchsrgs Issues whleh came wltb the war, but It lacks ths valuable early Issues which were a feature of the collection Just broken up. Th collection of King George la limited, moreover to the stamp of Great Britain and British colonies. Rivsleel Oaly by Kisg Ceerge. When the war broke out La Renotiere was found to be a foreigner for-eigner and adjudged to be an Austrian, Aus-trian, although ha plesded that the place of birth of his ancestors had nothing- to do with hi fidelity for Franca. Hla pleadings were In vain, however, and early In ths war hi precious stamps the work of year of collection were boxed up and stored away In tbe caves of ths Blbllotecqus Nationals. La Reno-tier Reno-tier did not give up bis light to regain re-gain tbe results of his life work and Top Row, Left to Right: Maurice 1847, a penny blue; Maurice 1847, 1 penny red; Mawaiia missionary stamp 185a, a cent blue, brought 80,000 francs; British Guiana 1850, pair of a cent black. Middle: St. Louis, 1845, 10 cent black; Baton Rouge, La., a cent green, issued during the civil war; Baltimore, 1845, issued by Postmaster James M. Buchanan; New York, 1845, first issue of city known 5 cent black; Boscawen, 5 cent blue, brought 123,375 francs. Bottom: Grove Hill, 1861, issued during civil war, made from a crude wood block, black on white ; Livingston, 1863, issued durin g civil war, pair of perfect specimens 5 cent blue, brought 33,000 francs. " .. . , . '.'.-,;-. . - .v -' -- ... .. - j :. - .. : ' :r .J :';;- . declared repeatedly thst hs wsa In fact without nationality another man without a country. The courts nevertheless decided thst hs wss aa enemy alien and Impounded hla eotlsctlon. La Renotiere brooded over hla less and died shortly after. Just before be-fore hs death and when he realised that bis dsys were few he wrote to Government official emphasizing ths Importance of keeping Intact ths great collection and urged thst If it were not to be returned to him. It be placed in one of the pubilo museums where the stamp lovers of ths world ' would have an opportunity to view bis genu. - Ths Government apparently ap-parently determined thst the tree- ' ' ury needed far more the ten million francs st which It Is valued than ths public needed the collection, decided upon Its sals by lota Five such sales have already been held, attracting attract-ing buyer from North and South America and all over the Continent There remain, thousands of stamp to be disposed of at a sixth and subsequent sub-sequent auctions Tha stamp which brought the a highest price ever paid for a postsgs Issue Is tg only known exsmpls of Its kind. . It wss found by a young man In British Guiana In 171. and was not known to stamp collectors until 1ITI. when It was sent to Great ritaln to be sold. M. Ferrari bought It that year and It waa In his ' eirrlht WO. by The Mew Tor BeraM. - collection for forty-four years Mean-wbiis Mean-wbiis dealer and stamp lovers scoured the world In search of another an-other specimen. Many forgeries were perpetrated, tbe moat famous one being In ltot, when the false copy wsa sold for' 20,0 francs. Previous to the transaction In Paria Mis highest sum ever paid, for a postsgs stamp wss 200,40 francs, also for sn Issue , from the sua British colony. Ths ssls of th world's rarest si amp wss ths occasion of aoats dramatic dra-matic bidding. Iha mount offered at ths start was6,0 francs. Then sn offer of SI. 00. wss made. . Aa American In the corner offered SO.tO. M. Droulex. a French cot- The Boscawen, N. H,. postage stamp issued in 1845 If Postmaster Worcester Webster, a relative of Daniel Webster ' which is the only known specimen in the world. It brought 133,375 franca. The stamp and original envelop are com plete, adding greatly to its value. , An enlargement and an actual size photograph of the ' British Guiana postage stmp whicn sold in Paris for 351,000 -francs. . A |
