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| Leading London Dealers - Charles Whitfield King | ||
| reprinted from Philatelic Journal of Great Britain Mar 1, 1892 | ||
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........continued I have a better organisation of foreign correspondence than almost any dealer in the United Kingdom. Whenever a new issue comes out, I am usually first in the field with it - in fact, a great proportion of my best business is done in new issues and provisionals. I often find errors in provisionals, and do a big trade in these. "I believe you have also made some good 'hits' in the way of remainders?" "Yes; indeed I have. See here! These are Honduras first issue-300,000 of them, all genuine remainders. Then we have all the Servia 1869 in sets of seven. I had about a million and a half of these, but they are fast disappearing now. It is rather a common mistake to suppose that these Servians are reprints. They are not; they are genuine remainders. Then, again, I have about 80,000 Peru unpaid, and the whole of the old Stellalands. Stellaland, by the way, is identical with British Bechuanaland, though several collectors seem to be ignorant of the fact. Here, you see, are the original figures of the numbers I bought when Stellaland was metamorphosed into British Bechuanaland. The Stellaland people made up the total, you notice, with British Bechuanaland stamps. These old Stellalands are getting rare, and I am in no hurry to sell." "LOCKED UP" STAMPS. "Do you often lock up stamps, Mr. King?" "Not often. But when I do, I usually manage to make a good `turn.' Here, for instance (leading the way into his private room) are some good things which I intend laying by for a matter of five years This is my `den,' and here I keep everything of extra special value. Here are some curiosities in the way of envelopes from abroad. They mostly have three or four different stamps on them, and are the sort of things which collectors like to get entire. We can usually get fancy prices for things like these." "Of course, your business is mostly postal, Mr. King?" "Oh, yes! I have very little local trade. But I make things busy for the Post Office officials here. Why, do you know, during the busy season we have an average of nearly two hundred letters a day - mostly orders, all of which are executed on the day of receipt?" SORTING AND COUNTING ROOM The upper floor of Mr. King's business building is sacred to counting and sorting. When a parcel arrives from abroad it is turned out here, and its contents counted and sorted by the deft hands provided for the work. All round this room are ranged shelves groaning 'neath the weight of parcels of albums and boxes crammed full of stamps in the shape of made-up packets and sets. "Most of these are Senf's Albums," said Mr. King in reply to a query from our representative ; "the large illustrated edition, which seems to be very popular with collectors. These smaller ones - the `Crown' Albums - are our own publication." The inspection of the offices concluded, Mr. King and his visitor prepared to cross the street to Morpeth House, MR. KING'S PRIVATE RESIDENCE. Here everything betokens the comfort and ease which in the fitness of things should be the lot of the man who has done a hard day's work. There is a Mrs. Whitfield King about the house, and four little Kings - or rather Kings and Queens. Mr. King, like the hero in the penny novelette, married the daughter of his former employer, and pursuing the simile still further, promises to "live happily ever afterwards," as is the manner of such heroes. His children are as yet innocent of the joys and cares of philately. Never yet have they felt the unspeakable anguish that is borne in on the man who buys a bad Sydney; neither have they sampled the special brand of joy which permeates the purchaser of an old Mauritius from a man who doesn't know its value! But they will. Mr. Charles Whitfield, junior, who has arrived at the venerable age of four, told our representative in a burst of confidence that he meant to become a stamp dealer - "like Dad." THE HOUSE THAT KING BUILT. Mr. King can claim that he lives in a house which was erected under his own supervision, and from his own plans. In early life he had foresight enough to provide himself with a builder for a father, and has since been able to turn this foresight to account. Morpeth House is a spacious, not to say palatial, dwelling, and in every sense a fitting abode for a Stamp King. Every room is well fitted and tastefully furnished. Mr. King has a good eye for a picture, and his walls are covered with interesting paintings. Curios, too, are not out of his line, his latest acquisition in this way being the bed upon which the Empress of Germany slept during her stay at Felixstowe. Our Special Commissioner sampled this bed during his stay at Ipswich, and he came away deeply impressed with the Empress good taste in the matter of beds. PHILATELIST AND FLORICULTURIST. But perhaps the best part of the building (if this way of putting it is not too Irish) is the garden - two acres in extent. Philately is Mr. King's business, but floriculture is his hobby. He is a Fellow of the Horticultural Society, and plays havoc with the prizes at the local flower shows. His leisure is mainly devoted to the rearing of orchids, of which lie has a choice collection. When he takes his walks abroad an orchid in his button-hole is as much a feature of Mr. King as it is of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. Some of Mr. King's orchids - he has over 1500 altogether - are marvels of their kind, and his orchid-houses were recently the subject of a long and eulogistic article in the Gardener's Chronicle, the writer of which alluded specially to one particular flower which had hitherto been unknown to him. If, in the dim and distant future - for he is still in the prime of life - Mr. King decides to retire from his stamp dealing, he may make his name known throughout the world of floriculturists as a grower of orchids. He may even give his name to a new flower, as Mr. Chamberlain has recently done. Who knows? Our representative, who waltzed hack to town with a big orchid for a buttonhole, has come to the conclusion that the study and collection of Nature's finest works is, of all hobbies, the most beautiful - philately, of course, excepted. | ||
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