The 1 real of 1854 is not black, but plumcoloured on white. The 4 cuartos of 1855 is brownish lake as well as carmine. The 4 cuartos of 1856 is rather dull scarlet than lake. The 4 cuartos of 1857 is found in two distinct colours-rose on white, and dull scarlet on tinted paper. The 1 real of this issue is light blue and dark blue; and the 2 reales is reddish and bluish lilac, as well as chocolate. The 12 cuartos of 1860 was on yellowish-tinted and on white paper. The 12 cuartos and 2 reales of the present series are sometimes on pink-tinted paper. OFFICIAL LABELS. Theonza is now straw-coloured. CUBA, HAYTI, AND PORTO RICO. In the present number we have alluded to the black and red essays of Cuba, the former of which are mentioned in Mount Brown's fourth edition. We have seen some older issues of Cuba in continental collections, but cannot describe with sufficient accuracy from memory. We shall see them again shortly, and will not fail to take notes for the benefit of our readers. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. The 1 r. Ft. of 1854 and '55 is black, not brown. We have the 2 r. green of the same issue, and have elsewhere noticed the 5 cuartos red. WILLIAM MULREADY, R.A. IT may interest some of our stamp-collecting friends to read the following observations of a writer in a late number of the Athenaeum, on the character and talents of W. Mulready, Esq., R.A., the designer of the envelopes now known by his name, and which owing to the short time they were in use (viz. six months) are now so rare. Of the later issue there are two quite distinct varieties of the 5 cuartos. The one is almost identical in design with the 10 c. rose -the head being nearer the top than the bottom of the circle in which it lies; the other has the same inscription, but the letters and figures are smaller; and the head is a facsimile of that on the Cuba stamps, and those of the 1855, 6, and 7 issues of Spain. One of the oldest and best-known artists of this age has gone from amongst us. Last Tuesday will be remembered for a long time as the day of the death of William Mulready, a painter, during whose long life many changes have occurred, and much general, and therefore sound, advance in English Art has taken place. To this advance no individual, either amongst the now living or the dead, contributed so successfully, so earnestly, thoughtfully, and unselfishly as Mulready. Several generations of students have received the kindly counsel and genial, but not therefore thoughtless, encouragement which Mulready was willing to give to the poor, the rich, the swift of thought, the tardy in conception, the laborious, or the superficial. To the very last, so late as the evening before his death, this faithful student a student, born in 1786 (the year before Lawrence came to London), who came to London about seventy years ago-drew in the Life School of the Academy together with some youths whose grandfathers were his contemporaries. Mulready was fifteen when admitted a student of the Academy. He came from Ennis, being born while his country was in the fervent simmer of insurrection, and the armed bodies of "volunteers" disturbed the English Government. 'Banks, the sculptor, of whom the deceased always spoke not only gratefully, but in high appreciation of his artistic powers, was Mulready's first instructor, having allowed him to work in his studio gratuitously, and having given him all the professional counsel that was needed. Neither master nor pupil thought this was much, for Mulready was always of opinion, and no one could be said to have had greater experience in teaching art, that to keep a pupil out of error was all a good master could serviceably do. The system adopted by the painter was no small portion of his life, and deserves to be stated here, because it was put in practice in his boyhood and only relinquished when all had to be relinquished. Mulready's practice was a singularly fortunate example of singleness of aim steadfastly pursued. He married young, and not happily; devoting himself fully to study, he underwent labour in art such as would daunt most men, while few, unless gifted with his perfect constitution, would even attempt it. Deriving his knowledge of art from practice in its strictest sense, he-in youth from poverty, and, when in better circumstances, holding that Nature, as she came before himself, was the best instructress-never visited the great centres of European art. 'Mulready always drew with the greatest completeness in execution; in the treatment of minor things nothing could exceed his attention to detail. Innumerable studies attest this practice, and his felicity bore witness to its success. He would reproduce with extraordinary facility the details of foliage, not only from one but several points of view, and prepare exquisite memoranda of the bark of trees, and dissect flowers with the care of an anatomist, his aim being thoroughly to understand the things that came in his way. Great boughs of trees he drew with the utmost minuteness and noble breadth, such as is rarely attained by artists even of the greatest schools. Thus, he would render the subtleties of every curve, or foreshortening of each leaf, in a way that was delightful to study. He made similar studies of the colour of details, and carried these principles into every department of art. The result of this system was that the painter's various pictures represent grades of advancement secured step by step in execution. Like most young men, he began with grand subjects, and produced "Ulysses and Polyphemus," "The Disobedient Prophet," &c. Even in these works sound and solid workmanship bore testimony to the value of his system and the skill of the artist. Not satisfied with the ability thus displayed, he continued his studies in a still more rigid manner, copying the most powerful of the Dutch painters' works, Jan Steen, and others, and painting from nature in the neighbourhood of his life-long residence at Bayswater, which was then a rural village, and supplying in the famous "Kensington Gravel Pits the school of more than one great landscapepainter. It is hardly necessary to sum up the technical merits of Mulready's pictures. He was a humorist, without a shade of malice; his laugh had nothing sardonic. As thorough a lover of domestic life as Wilkie, he added to that feeling in colour, tone, and drawing, an art-power which was a thousand years in advance of the Scotch artist. In expression, no genre painter surpassed Mulready: nothing could be more genial and characteristic than his works. He added love for homely beauty to these excellencies, as in "The Wedding Gown," which is inestimable. In some respects one might call him, so highly should the last-named quality be prized the Raphael of genre painters. Personally, no man was more esteemed-indeed, reverenced by the young artists who had grown up about him, none more affectionately regarded by his brother painters. His manliness, simplicity, and kindly heart, drew people's regard without consideration of professional honours. Always strong in body, Mulready was, while age permitted, devoted to manly sports a boxer, a great walker, swimmer, and cricketer. Altogether he was a brave Peace be with him!' man. AN AMERICAN TRICK. HIGHLY IMPORTANT - WE WILL SEND on receipt of 25 cents, a beautiful Steel Engraving of Gen. Jackson, the Hero of New Orleans. Address, C. B. & Co., Elizabethport, N. J. THE above advertisement recently appeared in the New York Herald, under the head of 'Fine Arts.' It is a most plausible and innocent-looking announcement, and one which few would suspect as intended to effect the extraction of postage currency from the pockets of the unwary. Yet we regret to state that such is the case. The hallowed memory of Old Hickory has been desecrated by a Jeremy Diddler; and the affectionate veneration in which he is held by a grateful people has been taken advantage of by an impecunious vagabond to fraudu 6 6 lently replenish his collapsed porte-monnaie. But let us not do injustice, even to the unworthy. The patrons of 'C. B. & Co.' did each receive a beautiful steel engraving'not of the largest size, it is true, but still an excellent work of art, and a capital likeness of the Hero of New Orleans.' So far, all was on the square'-the only irregularity which a strict moralist could detect in the transaction being the fact that the 'engraving' consisted of a specimen of the new two-cent stamp which was issued on the 1st of July! Unfortunately for C. B. & Co.,' they are likely to find to their cost that the sale of postage stamps in the States for a greater amount than the value expressed on their face, is one of the 'fine arts' the practice of which is attended with disagreeable consequences, being forbidden, under heavy penalties, by Act of Congress. MOURNING STAMPS. A FEW days since, a female entered the post office in Pekin, Illinois, for the purpose of mailing a letter to a friend who is in the Calling for an envelope, and while depositing the document therein, she gravely informed the postmaster that it contained very bad news,-no less than the decease of a beloved nephew. As she dilated upon the melancholy theme, her feelings became very much excited, and the epistle being duly sealed and superscribed, she in sorrowing tones inquired, If the gentleman would be kind enough to place a black postage stamp upon it, that her friend might know there was a death in the letter before she opened it?' Notwithstanding the mournful tone in which the question was propounded, the Government official could not restrain his risibilities, and was compelled to answer that Uncle Sam had not yet furnished his deputies with any postage stamps especially adapted to mourning purposes.' This announcement seemed very much to surprise the good woman, who was also equally shocked at the want of feeling displayed by the government in not furnishing its children with such an outward sign of inward woe; for, to use her own expression, 'It would be so convenient.'-United States Mail. REVIEWS OF POSTAL PUBLICATIONS. International Postage-Stamp Review. London: Wilks. OPENS well, with abundance of promises which the postage stamp collecting coterie will thankfully welcome, if fulfilled. There is a furious and merited diatribe against the vendors of fictitious specimens; but we doubt the propriety of appending the epithet of acknowledged respectability' to the names of such. The new Saxons and Austrians, but not the Lubecks, are described; and we think the 2-gr Bremen scarcely comes under the denomination of new at four months' expiry. The Austrian complementaries are alluded to; and we are glad to avail ourselves of this opportunity of clearing up the mystery that has so long hovered round them. Their filling up the four otherwise vacant spaces in each sheet of Austrian and Venetian stamps has been long known, but their employment or not for postal purposes has been hitherto hidden as the sources of the Nile. They were not intended for use, but the post-office clerks frequently found them. conveniently at hand to affix to returned or insufficiently-paid letters; their being adhesive saving the trouble of sticking on plain pieces of paper. They were thus utilised, not for the sake of their faces, but their backs; and for this reason many of them have by chance borne the postage mark. We had this information but a day or two since from the possessor of the finest collection of postage stamps we have yet seen, and who kindly presented us with seven specimens that have never appeared in any catalogue. We are quite of the editor's opinion, that the collection of postage stamps is by no means on the decrease, but quite the contrary. It may have subsided a little in London, but has ramified into the country towns of England, and, as has been remarked elsewhere, to distant parts of the world. If one of the contributors had read our magazine regularly, he would have seen it long since pronounced on authority, that the hero of the anecdote related by Miss Mar tineau was not Rowland Hill, but Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The editor, professing to give a complete catalogue of postage stamps, should not have omitted mention in his very first quotation-Belgium--of the rare but undoubtedly genuine yellow essay, 10 cents, of that country. We wish every success to the publication, and take leave with one more objection-that the last word of the eleventh line of the fourth page is not according to Murray. CORRESPONDENCE. PRINCE CONSORT POSTAGE STAMP. To the Editor of the 'STAMP COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.' SIR,-Can any of your numerous correspondents help me to any particulars relating to an English essay that appears to have hitherto escaped all notice? It is similar in all respects to the black penny Victoria Stamp of 1840; letters F. J. in the lower corners only; but in place of the Queen's head, it is that of Prince Albert to the left. I have six of them, in two rows of three each, found among some old letters, evidently torn from a sheet, and apparently engraved by the same hands which had produced those established for general use. there any project of using the Prince Consort's head on the stamps instead of the Queen's-a proposition overruled by more reflective heads? London. Was J. H. BURN. To the Editor of the 'STAMP COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.' Believe me, Sir, yours faithfully, To the Editor of the STAMP COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.' SIR,-Knowing that you are desirous, through the columns of your invaluable magazine, to furnish collectors with every particular concerning stamps, both obsolete and in present use, I take the liberty of sending a description of a specimen which I saw some few days back in an extensive collection, and which I believe has not yet been described in any postal publication. The stamp to which I allude emanated from Bremen, and in design is similar to the 5 s. gr. of that town, but its value is 1 s. gr., and it is printed in blue on white paper. A hasty glance at this stamp would doubtless to many (as it did to myself) suggest the idea that it is one of the 'chemical family,' being the 5 s. gr. just alluded to To the Editor of the STAMP COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.' SIR,-On looking attentively at the old Baden and Wurtemburg stamps (with figure), I observe some peculiarities hitherto unnoticed in them, viz., the indication of the date-6th of April, 1850. This applies to the 1 kr. white, 3 kr. green, 6 kr. yellow, 9 kr. pink, of the so-called issue of 1855; the 3 kr. blue-which by some is called an issue of 1859!; the 1 kr. buff, 3 kr. yellow, and 6 kr. green, 1851; whereas all of the Baden and Wurtemburg stamps (and I suppose the kr. black of Bavaria) with large figure in the middle were issued on the same day, 6th of April, 1850. This will be found on the right-hand side of the stamp. I mean by this to throw a doubt on the reality of the various shades of the 3 kr., &c., especially as green can be so easily changed to blue by acids, and also white to buff. I beg to tell you also that the French 10 c. à percevoir is now no longer used, and is already rare in France; unused specimens being sold in Boulogne for as much as 75 c. (74d.) for each impression. If these facts would be useful to your valuable magazine, they are quite at your service. Believe me, Sir, yours obediently, J. M. STOURTON. Boulogne-sur-Mer. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. R. HARVEY.-The stamp you refer to is the new 2-cent United States stamp. There is also an envelope stamp of the same denomination just issued. A description of each will be found in the present number, under our usual notice of the newly-issued stamps. MULREADY.'-An unobliterated copy of the black penny Mulready envelope is seldom to be met with. You may procure a used specimen of almost any dealer, at prices varying from one shilling to half a crown. NELLY. In the May number of this Magazine will be found an ably-written article by Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, which gives a full description of the English Essay stamps referred to in your letter. KARL VANCAUWENBURG, Amsterdam.-The reason of your not receiving the foreign postage stamp given away with each number of the Stamp Collector's Magazine, will be found in our Notice on the last page of the present number. DONALD MC NEIL, Aberdeen.-There is such a stamp as the half-anna red India. One was sold but a few days since for as much as a guinea. The specimen alluded to had passed the post, and there is not the slightest doubt of its being a bona fide stamp. EDWARD HAMILTON.--The article you refer to appeared in Once a Week, No. 215. It is entitled Timbromanie,' and consists for the most part of extracts from the Stamp Collector's Magazine. ATHENS.-The stamps of the Ionian Islands will, we expect, be shortly superseded by those of Greece. HENRI BERANGER, Bordeaux.-The English envelope stamps of the higher values cannot be procured at the post-offices, but must be ordered expressly from the office of Inland Revenue, Somerset House, London. F. HOLDING, London.-The Canada 10 cents brown (bust of Prince Albert to right) will be found catalogued in Mount Brown's fourth edition.-We believe it was originally intended to issue the 60 c. and 1 f. Helvetia yellow and carmine. Their change to brown was subsequently determined upon.-If the head of the lion on your 1 quattr black and i soldi yellow Tuscany is more like the head of a man than that of a lion,' we should certainly pronounce them to be forgeries. CONFEARGENTINA E. J. S.-The stamp of the Argentine Confederation you forward us for inspection is a badly-executed forgery. The genuine stamp, as will be seen by the annexed engraving, has the cap of Liberty, which is omitted in your specimen. Also the inscription on the genuine stamp is Confeon Argentina, not Confeon Argentine. We advise you to procure a copy of Messrs. Lewes and l'emberton's pamphlet, which will greatly aid you in detecting forged stamps. 15. CENTAV R. S., Oxford.-The difference of colour in the expected and actual new stamps of Helvetia has been remarked elsewhere.-The tenpenny Engli h was disused before perforations were adopted; it is consequently never found perforated, nor has it been used for envelopes. The sixpenny and fourpenny are now printed side by side, after the United States fashion, to form a tenpenny envelope.-The U. S. P. O 1 cent, black on rose, with the letters L. P. on each side of the value below, is wanting in Mr. Brown's Catalogue.-We believe the 2-anna Indian stamps were returned.-The American local stamps are the emanations of private speculators in New York and elsewhere, and supply the want of district post-offices. ALPHA, Leeds.-The later general issue of the United States stamps may be readily known from the former, by noticing the letters U. S. in each of the lower angles. J. N. NUTTER, Montreal, Canada.-The 1 cent and ADVERTISEMENTS for insertion in the STAMP COLLECTOR'S LOOK BEFORE YOU PURCHASE. C. K. JONES, 59, Barlow Stre, t, Ardwick, Manchester, s nds all kinds of Postage Stamps on insp etion on receipt of stamped envelope. C. K. J. also wants Agents and Correspondent in all parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and in Franee. Switzerland, Belgium, Germany. Hamburg, also in all the schools therein. Commission allowed, 15 per cent. off the lowes trade price. Apply at once to the above. P.S. Stamps and Collections bought to any amount. 1000 PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS for ONE SHILLING. Just published, cart de visite size, beautifully ex cut d, 1050 Microscope Portraits of Eminent Personages. Prie 1; post free, 1/1. Address, STAFFORD SMITH & SMITH, 13, George Street, Bath MESSRS. HOOPER & FORWARD, 1, Hanover Court, Milton Street, London, E.C. Foreign Postage Stamps Rought, Sold, or Exchanged. The largest stock of Foreign Posta e Stamps, and the cheapest Dealers in the trade. Their Price List for September now ready, describing form, colour, value, date of issue, &c.. of 1000 varieties. This is the cheapest and most comprehensive yet pub lished. Sent, pist free, on receipt of a stamped envelope. Correspondence in English, French, or German languages. TO COLLECTORS OF FOREIGN STAMPS.-C. G., Acomb House, Manchester, is still selling off his entire stock at very low prices. For examples, s e Boy's Own Magazine for this month. Collections of 25 varieties, 6d. 20, 14; 100, 2/10; 1:0, 5: 300, 22; 500, £2 158.; 600, £1 4s.: 700, £5 158.; 1000, £13 13s.; 1200, £21. P.S.-Collectors should apply immediately. Now ready. Fourth edition, revised, augmented, and corrected." ATALOGUE of POSTAGE STAMPS,-BRITISH, threepenny Canada are chemically changed in colour; COLONIAL, and FOREIGN. By Mount Brown. but the Canada newspaper wrapper we have never seen before, consequently can give no information respecting it. It is very badly executed, and we should scarcely think it was a bona fide postage stamp. JOHN WILKIE -No special stamps have been issued for Gibraltar. The English postage stamps do service there. E. N. DAVIS, Liverpool.-We believe the error in the green 1 cents Boyd's City Express you send for inspection to be a blunder of the engraver. R. S.-If this correspondent's eyes are not sufficiently acute to distinguish the excessively minute figures on all the blue English stamps of the present issue, he will readily detect them with a magnifier, which will be found generally convenient for apprehending slight peculiarities in different varieties. Both figures are on a line with the mouth of the Queen. PAT, BROMSGROVE.-We have alluded to the Irish sixpenny Petty Sessions stamps in the last number. M. T. SHORTT.-The black penny V. R. English has been sold for as much as a sovereign, and the large Brazilian 90 reis for 30s. J. LEVY, Plymouth.-Your Java stamp may be a newspaper or receipt impression. The legend is Dutch; but we do not understand that tongue. J. A., Hertford.-The 124-c. Canada, as well as the beavers, the 1 cent, and one halfpenny of that colony, and many of the stamps of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, have been printed in black as essays. Containing an accurate description of the form, colour, date of issue, and value, of 1700 varieties. Price 1; post free, 1'1. Bound in morocco leather, and interleaved for Collectors, 2; post free, 2,2. Address, Mr. BROWN, care of Mr. Passmore, Bookseller, 124, Cheapside, London. ***Priced List of unused and rare stamps, post free, 3d. 150 AMERICAN POSTAGE STAMPS for ONE AND-SIXPENCE.-Just published, carte de visite size, beautifully-executed Microscopic Photographs of nearly 150 American Postage Stamps. Price 1/6; post free, 1/7. Address, STAFFORD SMITH & SMITH, 13, George Street, Ba h. U YSED COLONIALS, by DOZEN.-Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 1 e.. 7d.; 5 e.. 10d.; 10 e., 25; Canada, 1 c., 5d.; 5 c., 9d.; United States. 1 c., 2., old, ed.: 3 c., 2d., old, 9d.; 10 c., 3d. A. COLONUS, 18, Blackheath Hill, Greenwich, S.E. 150 EUROPEAN POSTAGE STAMPS for ONE AND-SIXPENCE.-Just published, carte de visite size, beautifully executed Microscopic Photographs of nearly 150 European Postage Stamps, comprising both obsolete and present issues. Price 1/6; post free, 17. Address, STAFFORD SMITH & SMITH, 13, George Street, Bath. A BARGAIN. A Collection of 620, all Good and Rare Stamps, price £5 10s. Also one of 70. £10; and another of 680, £6 68. C. K. JONES, 59, Barlow Street, Ardwick, Manchester. PHOTOGRAPHY EXTRAORDINARY-Just Pub lished, the GREAT SENSATION CARD for carte de visite Albums. Containing photographic portraits of over 1000 Living and Historical Celebrities. Price 1/; post free, 11. Address, STAFFORD SMITH & SMITH, 13, George S.reet, Bath. |