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| Leading London Dealers - W.H. Peckitt | ||
| reprinted from Philatelic Journal of Great Britain Feb 1, 1892 | ||
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........continued is so small-I mean as regards bulk-and consequently, so easy to control." A PILLBOX STOCK-LITTLE BUT GOOD. "See here," continued Mr. Peckitt, producing about a dozen books and albums of various sizes ; "these volumes contain all my stock. Not a very gigantic stock-in-trade, you will say. But it runs into long figures, I can assure you. Here, for instance, is one small hook that totals up to something like £1,500 or £2,000." "Do you specialise' at all, Mr. Peckitt?" "Oh, yes! I have my favourites like everybody else. For instance, I have a very fine lot of Zurichs - four types - and about fifty of the first issue Newfoundland. Here, among the old Newfoundlands, you see, is a shilling unused, several of the sixpenny and sixpence-half-penny." Mr. Peckitt was quite right. He has indeed some "very fine things." All his stamps are the haute noblesse, the ARISTOCRACY OF PHILATELY, - hall-marked and jewelled in every perforation, so to speak. Among some of the best lots our Representative noticed were a choice collection of Canadian "pence," eleven of the old 5/- Barbadoes, a heap of Nova Scotia 10 cents, a fine lot of old Spanish, about 20 Cape woodblocks, some £50 worth of Quebec periodicals, and a set of six Western Australians that Mr. Peckitt wants £35 for. He also noticed a fine package of about 100 Mulready envelopes, including the twopenny, and a portly bundle of Mulready caricatures. "You see," said Mr. Peckitt, while our Commissioner was still engrossed in the examination of his stamps, "my stock does not include a great number of the very rarest, but all, I flatter myself, are good stamps. I suppose the bulk of them are stamps worth £3 and upwards. Few exceed the £10 mark. I have, I think, about a dozen stamps worth £10 and upwards." "And you do not deal in quantities. Mr. Peckitt?" "No, my business is essentially retail. Indeed, it could scarcely be otherwise when one deals in such things as I have been showing you. Of course, if anyone brings me a big bundle of uncommon stamps such as these "- pointing to a packet of used 5/-Maltese - " I am always willing to do business. But my real line is old and rare stamps - old Continentals, old Colonials, old anything. I have some pretty good things in English, too. One lot that I rather plume myself upon is a complete sheet, except two, of the 1/- unused English. This, I think, is the largest block known to exist, a sheet of six being the next largest." PHILATELIC PARTNERSHIP A FAILURE. "Do you find you can run the business better in single harness, Mr. Peckitt?" "Much better. I think that is most people's experience in the stamp business, and especially when one deals in rare stamps only. You see one has a much freer hand. It is now twelve months since I bought Mr. Calff out, and I think the business is better for the responsibility being all on one pair of shoulders. Of course, there was no disagreement between Mr. Calff and myself." So Mr. Peckitt and our Representative chatted on. From the subject of the former's stock to the robbery of which he and Mr. Calff had been the victims was an easy transition. Doubtless the details of the Reese and Ventura trial are still fresh in the memory of our readers. They will recollect that Charles Reese and Abraham Ventura conspired to steal from Calff, Peckitt & Co., a wood-block error Cape of Good Hope stamp, valued at £27, a Mauritius envelope, two pairs of Sydney Views, a two anna Indian Stamp, and one medio-peso Peruvian. In all the stamps were worth about £60. They cost both Reese and Ventura five months' hard labour. This is Mr. Peckitt's most important and most painful reminiscence. Before leaving, our Representative wished him perfect immunity from such experiences in the future. | ||
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