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To the Editor of the 'STAMP-COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.'

DEAR SIR,-May I call the attention of your readers to a piece of impertinence on the part of two dealers? One at Brighton sold a false 2-cuartos Spain, bear on tree, to a collector there, telling him that I had pronounced it the only genuine specimen I had ever seen.' This is a most impudent falsehood: I had never pronounced any opinion on the stamp. Another dealer said that I had pronounced an undoubtedly genuine -tor. Naples cross to be a forgery. This also was an invention. I am thankful to say that I do happen to know most forgeries when I see them; and am not likely to make such assertions as those which have been ascribed to me by these individuals.

Edgbaston.

Yours faithfully,

EDWARD L. PEMBERTON.

To the Editor of the 'STAMP-COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.' DEAR SIR,-As the quantity of different issues of the Hamburg Boten stamps seems to cause surprise in England, I hope the followimg explanation will be of use to some of the readers of your highly-prized magazine.

The Hamburg private post stamps are all issued by the same company; Hamer, Scheerenbeck, Lafrenz, Krantz are names of the merchants forming this company. Most of these stamps are not used for paying letters, and it is a well-grounded suspicion to believe that a great part or all of them are a speculation on stamp collecting. I believe the same thing has also been mentioned of other private stamps.

The following is an exact list of all Hamburg Boten stamps issued up to the present day.

1. Inscription, C. Hamer and Co., with number in the centre: schilling in eight colours, viz., yellow, pink, light gray, dark green, light green, light brown, dark brown, blue. Envelopes (round), schilling, red on yellow and on white paper; schilling, pink on yellow and on white paper. 2. Inscription, H. Scheerenbeck: arms: value not mentioned: ten colours, viz., red, pink, blue, light green, brown, orange, violet, dark green, mauve, yellow.

3. Same inscription: postman: value not mentioned: same ten colours as the preceding.

4. Inscription, 6 Vereinigte Corporationen Hamburger Boten, H. Scheerenbeck: number in the centre: schilling, in the same ten colours as No. 2 and No. 3; 1 schilling also in the same ten colours. 5. Inscription, Th. Lafrenz: schilling, red, brown, yellow, pink, black, blue, green, violet, orange,

gray.

6. Inscription, Hamburg, W. Krantz: postman: schilling, in eleven colours, viz., pink, violet, red, blue, green, orange, yellow, light brown, dark brown, purple, buff; 1 schilling, coloured print, the same eleven colours; and black print five colours, red, blue, green, yellow, brown; 2 schillings, coloured print, in eight colours the same as those of C. Hamer & Co.

7. Inscription, Hamonia, W. Krantz: goddess of liberty: gold print on coloured paper, ten colours; silver print on coloured paper, ten colours; 1 schilling, silver print, ten colours; gold print, ten colours.

The Hamburg Boten stamps sold under the name of 'Marz Verein' are forgeries, as such stamps were never issued.

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To the Editor of the 'STAMP-COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.' DEAR SIR,-Having read in your paper Fentonia's questions about some German stamps, I will try and give as plain an explanation as possible.

Der gute groschen or ein guter groschen, nominative; den guten or einen guten groschen, accusative, is an old coin still, but very seldom used. Ein gutgroschen or einen gutgroschen are contractions. If you read the accusative form on the stamp, the words this stamp is worth' are implied to account for the case. In twenty or thirty years' time there will be no more of this coin found in Germany, except in numismatic collections.

Brunswick still employs this value on one stamp, worth gutegroschen, but the Hanoverian have been long

disused.

Twenty-four gutgroschen are equal to thirty silbergroschen or neugroschen, which latter are identical. Saxony adopts the latter appellation, but in Prussia, Gotha, Weimar, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Hanover, Hamburg, &c., they are called silbergroschen; of which thirty are equivalent to a thaler, or three shillings English. In common parlance they are simply termed groschen, as printed on the Oldenburg stamps.

In that country, in Prussia, and wherever the emissions of Thurn and Taxis are used, the groschen contains twelve pfennige; but in Saxony, Hanover, and Brunswick, it is ten pfennige: you see from this that a pfennig of Hanover is worth more than one of Prussia.

In Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemburg, Frankfort, Coburg, &c., the kreuzer contains four pfennige; but you will see that a Coburg pfennig is quite different from a Prussian or Hanoverian, there being three hundred and sixty of the former, three hundred of the latter, and about four hundred and twenty Bavarian in three shillings English. It is much regretted in Germany that there is no universal coinage; a commission, however, is in contemplation or action to make propositions for an uniform rate of money, weights, and measures.

As for the Bremen two grote stamps they are used solely for the town of Bremen.* The letters L. H. P. 4. on the Bergedorf stamps mean, 'Lubeck, Hamburg, Post Amt;' those stamps freeing to Lubeck and Hamburg only. It

to be concluded that letters sent from Bergedorf to other countries are first sent to Hamburg, where there are post offices for most foreign parts, as I have never seen or heard of a letter with the Bergedorf stamps on it sent elsewhere than to its guardian towns.

A new Thurn and Taxis silbergroschen, black on white, will soon be issued, and the expected 2 s. blue is out at last. The 5 sch. Mecklenburg envelope will no longer be blue, but brown. I can get no information about the Bavarian envelopes.

Coburg.

Hoping these remarks will interest your readers, I remain, yours truly, HERMANN EBERHARD. [We beg here to repeat we had and still possess a letter from Bremen with eight of these stamps on it, sent to ourselves in London from that town.--ED.]

To the Editor of the STAMP-COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.'

DEAR SIR,-You have so often accused me of being anti-credulous, that I feel it is due to you to acknowledge one instance in which I have been mistaken in my views. I allude to the double Geneva 10 e. cantonal and local. I have received proof sufficient, even for my unbelief, that this stamp has existed. I can fancy you chuckling over this, after my denunciations of the stamp; but please notice I say, has existed: after conceding to its authenticity I make another stand, and am of opinion that there

is not a well-authenticated specimen in any English collection,-I almost think, in any collection. In support of this idea, I would draw an analogy between this stamp and the essays 1843 of Zürich. The facts connected with the finding of these latter are doubtless well known to many of your readers; but I must just mention them all, or I cannot make out a 'case.' The few collectors there were in Switzerland five or six years ago, had a 'tradition' of stamps for Zürich previous to the issue of 1850, but nothing more was known about them until (I believe in 1860) Lewes communicated the idea to the Zürich postmaster through a friend resident there. The postmaster had no knowledge of any such stamps, but promised to institute a search. This, after the lapse of time, resulted in the recovery of two single specimens, of the values of 4 and 6 rappen respectively. These specimens passed into Lewes' hands, with the assurance from the postmaster that they had never been issued for use, but were essays in the truest sense of the word. As Lewes did not accept essays for his own collection, he parted with these two specimens to a distinguished London amateur. There is not the shadow of a doubt but these individuals are unique. The sensation these 1843 essays caused in Zürich itself was very great: half the old letters in the town were ransacked in the hope of finding specimens,-vainly, as they were essays. It was soon after the resuscitation of these two copies, that Lewes heard to his surprise that they had become quite common in Zürich! The inquiries for them had been so numerous, that the fertile genius of one dealer (I know him, and fear others do to their cost) had hit upon the expedient of making them; but not knowing the exact design of the real things, had imitated the issue of 1850, adding the date 1843 in the corners. The real stamps do not resem

ble the issue of 1850 at all.

To recapitulate, there was a 'tradition' of the 1843 Zürich, but it was only by the merest chance that it was proved true, and that proof only by unique specimens. I look upon the Geneva as an analogous case, as far as the truth of the tradition goes; but proof positive from an authentic specimen is wanting, as far as I know. The forgeries of the double Geneva appeared about the same time as those of the 1843 Zürich, which makes me think that the forger, whilst employed on the Zürich from his own ideas, proceeded to make the double Geneva from the same fertile source. The forged double Geneva may therefore no more resemble the real stamp, than the forged 1843 agrees with the two unique specimens.

I think that if I am anti-credulous, you are on the other hand too credulous. With me, it is scarcely likely that I should be otherwise than unbelieving, knowing so much as I do of the different impositions practised in stamp dealing; and being so conversant with the different dodges resorted to by those who have their manufactures to dispose of. As a natural consequence of this lack of credulity, I seldom believe everything that I hear, or that is told me, unless there are very good and sufficient reasons for so doing. As an instance of our difference of opinion, I would mention the Prince Consort Essays (I will call them so). You, I believe, look upon these as bona-fide essays; I don't. I am of opinion that the utmost that can be said for them is, that they are specimens of engraving, prepared by some one proposing to government to make the postage labels at a less price than was being paid for them; the head of the Prince Consort being used by the engraver, when preparing a sample of adhesive labels to show to those in power. That they were made as early as 1840 I do not credit for a moment; they seem to me quite new and fresh, as if but lately finished.

Fentonia, in a recent letter to you, seemed to have become involved in the mysteries of Mount Brown's money table. I have studied it, and can therefore feel for him. As for the 12 c. blue Canada, I still consider it a 'fancy article' (and so too does Lewes), and never have thought it otherwise. I must say a few words about these blue stamps. It is most curious that of all these dubious stamps in blue, there are recognised types in green. As long as it is so simple a matter for any muff to make the green types blue, I shall obstinately refuse to believe in them until something more than the fact of their being blue is adduced. Take 12 c. Canada, Hanover 1 g. gr., United States 10 c., New Brunswick 5 c.;all these are found in blue, in addition to the regular types in green. I do not think that the authorities would have chosen the peculiarly washed-out shades of blue in the above varieties; or have issued another blue stamp at the same time as the 17 c. Canada, 1-10 Hanover, i c. United States, and 124 c. New Brunswick. I am surprised any one should believe in them. The blue g. gr. is the most important of these blue stamps. It is found in two shades, a light and a dark blue, both of which are enumerated by Bellars and Davie: other catalogues mention but one shade, and it is the dark blue stamp which is meant. The least those can do who believe in the blue g. gr., is to acknowledge both varieties. I am, and always have been, sceptical about this stamp. I acknowledge neither of the shades. You acknowledge the dark blue (you believe in Brown, so I suppose it is the dark one you take), but then what do you do with the lighter variety? Do you dispose of that as a chemically-changed stamp? If so, why is not the dark one the same? I know that when the Swiss administration first thought of adopting one uniform type for all the cantons, they sent to many of the countries then using stamps, for the purpose of obtaining sets of their stamps, and, I presume, in addition, in order to obtain information and ideas. In the Hanoverian set there is the usual green g. gr., but not the ghost of a blue one. This set passed into the hands of a Swiss collector, in whose possession the stamps were seen by my friend Lewes, when he was a resident in that country. Moens gives the date of issue of the blue stamp as Nov. 30, 1850 that is not at all conclusive to my mind, seeing that he gives the Tuscany at Dec., 1859, when, to my certain knowledge, they were in use in July, 1856.

I fear you will not be able to spare me more room in this number, so I will write you further next month. Yours faithfully, Edgbaston.

EDWARD L. PEMBERTON. CONUNDRUM.-Why is a sheet of perforated postage stamps like distant relations? Because they are but slightly connected.

A ROWLAND AND AN OLIVER.-Should Rowland Hill have a statue? Certainly, if Oliver Cromwell should. For one is celebrated for cutting off the head of a bad king, and the other for sticking on the head of a good queen.-Funch.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

H. B., Roehampton.-The Kanton Berne stamp, as we have once previously remarked, has been, by mistake or otherwise, occasionally used on letters.

S. S.-We consider the fact of your respective correspondents in Java and Dutch Guiana ignoring the stamps universally accepted as appertaining to those colonies, no proof of their fictitious character. We have frequently

noted the ignorance of our own postal officials with regard to the English envelopes; that of the French on their insufficient postage stamp; and other similar instances. The individuals purporting to come from Dutch Guiana were known to collectors long before the prevalence of timbromanie tempted the exercise of forgery. If not from Dutch Guiana, whence come they? We wish some of our numerous correspondents would afford us satisfactory information on both these stamps and those of Java.There were probably two issues of the former series of Lubecks, which would account for the discrepancy in size of letters, &c. We think a much more suspicious circumstance with respect to those sent us for examination is, their being postmarked, and nevertheless, from their clean appearance and other facts, having apparently never done duty on letters. They may possibly be the remainders of the last issue, sold to dealers cheap, and marked, so as not to be employed for postal purposes.

J. M. C., Harrow.-The black penny English stamp was as much in mourning for Queen Anne, as the first one kreuzer of Bavaria for any sovereign of that country.

J. M. S., Henley-on-Thames. Your first query is anticipated in our correspondence. We have never met with forgeries of the italic issue of Brazil.-The 5 cents of the Sandwich Islands we have never seen on pure white, but occasionally on an exceedingly pale tint of bluish paper. -The peso of Buenos Ayres is worth about 24d.-A centavo is worth about the same as an American cent, or English halfpenny.-We do not profess to be experts in handwriting.

J. B., West Hartlepool.-Your stamps from Belgium are in the same category as those on our own newspapers, which many collectors admit into their albums.

Miss P., of Norwich, forwards a stamp which is one of the Austrian receipt labels, and which, with its numerous congeners, seems to puzzle a good many collectors.

W. C. A., Stoke Newington.-Your 12 c. Canada stamps arriving on letters cannot be essays. If not originally printed in blue they must have faded, we are inclined to imagine, through the agency of sun, air, or

water.

T. GATIS.-Your green stamp is of the actual issue of Hanover, and supersedes the pink of similar device. It was fully noted in a late number of this magazine.-The covers for binding up this periodical are sold only as advertised.

M. J. R., Raithby Hall.-The various emblems seen on postage stamps, as the key of Bremen, &c., indubitably form part of the armorial insignia of their respective countries. Heraldic works must be consulted for information as to the date and circumstances of their adoption.

R. H. O., Nottingham. -The word on the Roman stamps is Franco.-There is a difference between the representation on the 4 cuartos Spanish of the present year and that on the previous issue, besides the introduction of the date. Our advertisements are a reply to your third

query.

J. G. P., Regent Road, Jersey.-Your 'Palestine envelope stamp' is a print of the Temple seal; being, as you may see, the arms of the Templars-a lamb bearing a flag and cross, and the legend, Templi sigillum.'

HORATIA. The date of issue of the red half anna of India was probably coeval with the earliest issue of that country in 1854.- We consider the album of Mons. Moens, of Brussels, the most complete of its kind, and infinitely superior to that of Lallier. No album published with places assigned for every known stamp can possibly be perfectly correct for many weeks, the various alterations in colour and novel emanations being so incessantly on the increase.-Irrespective of the stamps of private

firms, a collection of a thousand individuals might be pronounced a good one.

IGNORAMUS, Guildford.-Your Romagna and Modena stamps are unquestionably forgeries, but worth the price you bought them at as specimens of human impudence.

E. ARNOLD, Calcutta.-In answer to your complaint respecting the non-sending of the stamps promised to be given away with the magazine, we must refer you to the notice at the end, which informs subscribers abroad that "the British postal regulations will not admit of any enclosure being sent in a registered publication addressed abroad."

P. N. DE S., St. Edward's College.-Your stamp is one of the series lately issued by the Spanish government for official letters from Madrid to the colonies.

R. F. WILME, Dublin.-The stamps of North and South America may certainly be put on the same page in an album; but we think you would find it rather inconvenient to carry about, as it must be at least the size of one of the double doors in Russell Square.-There are multifarious brown German stamps, we cannot possibly tell which you mean; if the 9 kreuzer of Thurn and Taxis, it was issued in 1862.

C. B., Gloucester --If you will forward your last year's numbers of the Stamp Collector's Magazine, with 2s. 6d. in stamps, to the office, Queen-square House, Bath, they will be handsomely bound in cloth, and returned to you post free.

F. D., Tunbridge Wells.-Thanks for the Irish Petty Sessions stamp. It has no business in a postage-stamp album, pace Lallier.-The other stamp is one of the Hamburg forgeries, professedly a local for Berlin, and is perfectly worthless.

BATON ROUGE, Chesterton.-Your 2-kreuzer Austrian, first issue, lake, may be an essay or a forgery. We never heard of one before. Your second query is answered above to W. C. A.-We have seen a blue 10 c. of the former but not of the later issue of the United States.— We have never heard of a dos reales blue Spain, 1862. It must be a chemical.-The largest collection we know of contains, inclusive of locals and essays, about 2400 specimens, and we consider it well nigh complete. It may lack perhaps 50 of the catalogued stamps.

ST. JOHN.-Your Connell's head is merely a photograph. The real article was sold the other day for three guineas. JAMES S. M. C.-You are right and Lallier wrong. There are two castles and the same number of lions on the Spanish of 1862.-Boyd's 1 cent black on green is a late issue. The third stamp you allude to is now disused. It was one of the Italian journal stamps.

D. D., Weymouth.-We shall be happy to receive what you promise. We do not disclaim being one of the 'monthly tribe' ourselves, and merely strive to stand at the head of them.

C. W., Sheffield.-The local Turkish for Constantinople seems as you say to be rarely vended here, except the lowest value which is frequently met with. We cannot tell why.

X. J. B.-You are quite in error if you suppose for a moment that twenty pounds is a large sum for a collection. We hear that our publishers, Messrs. Stafford Smith & Smith, have just given seventy pounds for one.

TONY.-We thought it had been long ago an acknowledged fact, beyond the possibility of doubt, that the English penny stamp was the first ever issued. Your query perhaps arises from the fact that a uniform rate of fourpence was set on letters for awhile before the very great reduction eventually made.-We have been informed that the new Italian stamps are for all the dominions of King Victor Emanuel in Italy, including Naples, of course.

THE HISTORY OF MY STAMP ALBUM.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE LAST OUNCE.

'Much the burden'd mind will bear,
Gloomy grief, and carking care;
Till the final stroke is given,

And the bands of reason riven.'

IT is needless to recount the numerous failures, the sickenings, the vexations, of that long summer's day; and the hopes which, like Will-o'-the-Wisps, lured me on, but only to fresh delay and disappointment; suffice it to say that not till wearied, disheartened, and almost sinking with despair, did I find the object of my search, in an obscure lodging at the furthest end of the town.

Mrs. Matson received me with the greatest cordiality; but her countenance soon fell when she learnt the object of my visit, and with tears and sobs she assured me anew of her entire innocence. I set her mind speedily at rest on that score, and after much circumlocution I drew from her that a gentleman, his wife, and daughter had occupied rooms in her house at the same time that I had. Eagerly did I ask their names, but Mrs. Matson had forgotten: she thought the young lady had been called 'Miss Emily,' but she did not rightly remember. Here at last was a clue. I remembered hearing Emily say one day, that they had formerly lived in some quiet lodgings in London, before the death of her paternal grandfather had put Mr. Davenport in possession of his fine fortune; but inwardly anathematising old Mrs. Matson's defective memory, which failed to supply the missing link, I took the first train for London, and on arriving at my rooms I found a letter awaiting me, in Mr. Davenport's writing. It ran as follows:

'Sir,-On visiting you at your apartments this morning, I was informed that you had not been ill, but had pursued your ordinary avocations as usual. Your conduct has both surprised and deeply grieved me; and unless you have some convincing and satisfactory explanation to offer for your extraordinary and, allow me to add, ungentlemanly conduct, I cannot certainly but object to your proposed union with my daughter.

‘Awaiting your reply with much impatience and anxiety,

'Believe me, Sir, yours faithfully,
JAMES DAVENPORT.

'To William Sotherby, Esq.'

The note fell from my hands. Its cold, formal tone struck a death-blow to my heart; for how could I explain all the past without still further incurring Mr. Davenport's displeasure, and drawing down upon myself his just anger and indignation? Would he not deeply resent any aspersions upon his daughter's truth and honour? Could I tell him, the fond and admiring father, that I believed his only child capable of ? No! I could not pronounce that word in connexion with Emily even to myself.

Staggered, crushed, and bewildered by the new dread that had come upon me, I sank helpless into a chair. I had never dreamed of the matter being taken out of my hands; I had felt free to reject or take Emily as my own arbitrary and sultanic inclination prompted; and now my will and desires were not consulted; Emily would be lost unless I complied with certain conditions impossible for me to fulfil; and my heart sank with a cold, leaden weight of despair. My life seemed suddenly overcast with a thick, dark cloud of mystery and sorrow, never to be dissipated for all the long, dreary blank of years to come. the effort must be made; with my own hand must I sign the sentence of banishment from all I held dear in this world! My love for Emily Davenport was not overwhelmed in the cruel storms of fear and doubt which had penetrated into its very stronghold, but only loosened at brief intervals from its firm moorings of trust and allegiance.

But

My letter to Mr. Davenport was short and constrained. I told him that the idea of losing Emily for ever was distracting and intolerable to me, but that unfortunately it was beyond my power to explain what I readily understood had seemed so reprehensible and extraordinary in my conduct. I much regretted the breach that must take place between us, but begged to say that it was totally unavoidable; and thus this epistle-so ill-expressive of the grief and remorse that were devouring me-concluded.

CHAPTER IX.

BEWILDERMENT.

"What is it?" "How comes it?" "What can it be?"
Short-sighted mortal! wait, and you'll see.
Could we but know what the future may bring,
How many a mourner would cheerfully sing!'

I HAVE no distinct recollection of the hours and weeks that ensued after this fatal day. I must have had brain fever; for when I awoke to consciousness, some couple of months after, I was too feeble either to move or speak. The flow of life in me was too weak and faint for any active sensation; I only felt alive to a vague craving after eternal rest and peace; but this was denied me, for owing to my kind landlady's assiduous care and the strength of a good constitution, I gradually rallied, and after a long and tedious interval before convalescence, I was able to sit up and feel the soft, sweet summer's breezes on my wasted cheeks.

Listlessly and languidly I glanced at the numerous letters which had accumulated during my illness. Careless and indifferent, I took up the first that came to my hand, and found the superscription to be in the handwriting of Edward Allan's sister. Feeling my curiosity and interest awakened by its black seal and deep-mourning border, I tore it open. It contained two enclosures;

one, small and thin, addressed to myself, and another, large and thick, to Miss Emily Davenport! Too much surprised and bewildered for speech, I gazed some time at these three astounding words. Surely I must be mad, or dreaming! Had the fever left any lurking insanity in my brain? I doubted the evidence of my senses, and remained for some time in a state of the profoundest astonishment and perplexity. I could not reason and reflect. Deep, mute surprise held all my powers as it were in a vice, and swallowed up every other feeling of my nature; but suddenly rousing myself to fathom this strange affair, I opened the letter addressed to myself, and commenced its perusal.

'Dear Sotherby,-When you receive this my wretched life will be over, and my wild, sinful career ended in a quiet grave; but I could not die in peace with the crime which

I

has been weighing down my heart with its load of remorse and guilt for the last two years, unconfessed and unatoned for. must, before I go hence, make reparation for this deep wrong; but, Sotherby, when you know all, try to think leniently and kindly of one who was more sinned against than sinning, and whom circumstances-not his own evil disposition-rendered bad and depraved.

Brought up by a stern, unjust father, and deprived in my birth of the tender, loving care of a mother, I grew early to be cunning, sly, and deceitful. My slightest faults and innocent boyish pranks were punished with hard, indiscriminating cruelty; and thus in my manhood I became reckless and unprincipled, and only dreaded sin and wrong according to the amount of odium and retribution they would meet in the world. I had a sister some four or five years my senior. On her sweet, good disposition this evil training had no effect. On her, all pernicious influences fell harmless; but being naturally of a quick, passionate temper, bold, and self-willed, I needed a careful and judicious parent to guide and correct my early character.

'I am dying, Sotherby, just when a life of hope and comfort seemed opening for me; but I feel that it is only a just recompense for days wickedly squandered in folly and dissipation, and total disregard of any higher will than my own. I do not murmur; I am content to go; all pain is gone; and I welcome my approach to the gates of death, trusting in the mercy and pardon promised to poor lost sinners.

With my latest breath I conjure you to deliver the letter contained in this envelope with your own hands to the person to whom it is addressed. You will then be as happy as you deserve: she whose name I cannot mention will tell you all.

'My sister, the loving soother of my dying bed, has promised to transmit this to you when I am gone; and now I must wish you an eternal farewell, as my strength is nearly

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