They're Talking About Us.

https://books.google.com/books?id=8...ture&f=false

Mekeel's 30 March 1903

From the Editorial Chair MEKEEL's STAMP COLLECTOR

Are we living in philately's golden age? Sometimes it almost seems so almost seems as if the regnancy and splendor of the philately of to day could scarcely be exceeded in any future era. Modern philately is in a good many ways a showy spectacular thing. It is no longer the inheritance of the meek and the timid of heart. It is of the world worldly and wealth and might have become its sponsors. Never before did philately present so fair a front to the outside world and shine as resplendently or with such pomp and circumstance. This state of things is due of course to the favor which philately has found in the eyes of men of wealth and leisure. The philately which is nowadays mostly read about and mostly talked about is the philately which has been nurtured by opulence. The stamps which focus the attention of philatelic commentators are not the ones that are worth pennies but the ones that are worth dollars. The philatelic exhibitions of to day with some occasional exceptions are devoted to the philatelic worship of the almighty dollar. The collections which sell best are those whose values run up into the thousands in monetary value and the stamps which bring the nearest to their catalogue quotations are those which are highest in price. We sometimes wonder if this can always continue. We want it to continue nay we are anxious that it should continue but will it? This is it seems to us an interesting subject for inquiry that sort of inquiry which is necessarily inconclusive because no man can forecast the future but which is not without some transient value because it may suggest lines of action which in certain contingencies might be useful.

read more at google books.

Philatelists musing about the role of money in philately.

Will wonders ever cease?

Thanks for posting that.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

"regnancy"?? Good grief.

The philatelic press in the late 1800s and early 1900s could often feel a bit like the 'wild west'. The philatelic publishers had no problems doing columns which contained a fair amount of insulting, abusive, or highly critical language directed towards one another.

Charles Haviland Mekeel, while in St. Louis, published the paper, 'The Philatelic Journal of America'. Other publishers tried to take him down by accusing him of operating under various dealer aliases while also promoting the same material. In retaliation, Mekeel planted phony stories and then publically called them out when they foolishly fell for his trick. But the most infamous editorial battles surrounded S. Allen Taylor, a 'notorious' dealer of his own counterfeits and bogus philatelic items. He published 'The Stamp Collectors Record' and was known to keep brass knuckles with him to fend off those angry customers who would confront him. Over several years E.L. Pemberton and Judge F.A. Philbrick exposed Taylor's fakes and forgeries in the British stamp press.

Taylor came back with a slew of false claims that Pemberton and Philbrick were involved in criminal activities, calling them the "Pemberton-Philbrick gang". In one column he called them, "Punch and Judy department of timbrophily, of whom the scoundrel Pemberton is the oracle." In 1871 when he wrote about a new issue for Tasmania he noted it was previously called Van Dieman's Land, a British penal colony. Never one to miss an opportunity Taylor went on to note, "the notorious Pemberton should have been transported there".

Rev. R.B. Earee authored a book on detecting fakes and forgeries which Taylor did not approve of. Taylor came back with this published comment on the religious author, "a howling Dervish who had forsaken his labors in the vineyard of the Lord, to walk in the evil ways of philatelists and sinners". He wrapped up his editorial saying Earee was "an indelible blot on Christianity". William P. Brown, a old New York dealer, was originally an advertiser in Taylor's 'The Stamp Collectors Record'. But at some point apparently had a big falling out with Taylor who said Brown was a 'citizen of facetious virtue and flexible conscience". William Brown was handicapped and quite religious. So Taylor then published, "Limping Billy is a hard-shell Baptist who can pray for six hours at a stretch".

The philatelic press of today is pretty tame compared to that at the turn of the 19th century.
Don
APS #094826

Maybe what the hobby really needs is not so much kids collecting as interesting, grumpy old people.

Don

I suspect more than a few of us fit that definition!

... and just who do you think you're calling 'interesting', buddy?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Well, yes. I'm grumpy and I'm old, but not really colorful enough. I don't carry a gun, or sell fake stamps, or attack people in print.

Don