Regina v Dr. Assmus, otherwise Bernard
[TRANSCRIPT FROM THE SHORTHAND NOTES OF H. H. AND A. R. TOLCHER]
At the Central Criminal Court, on Monday, February 8th, 1892, before the
Common Serjeant, Sir W. T. CHARLEY.
Counsel for the prosecution, Mr. C. F. Gill and Mr. A. Gill (instructed by
J. G. Frayling, Esq., solicitor to the Treasury).
The prisoner was Undefended.
Mr. C. F. GILL.: May it please your lordship, gentlemen of the jury. The
prisoner at the bar is charged in this indictment with obtaining money by
false pretences, and on some counts with attempting to obtain money by
false pretences. The case is rather a peculiar one, having regard to the
method adopted by the prisoner for obtaining money, and as regards the
cases in which he failed to carry out his object. As no doubt all of you
are aware, there are many people now, and have been for many years past,
who collect foreign stamps The practice is not confined merely to boys at
school, but people of riper years take a very great interest in that
subject, and put themselves to a great deal of trouble and expense for the
purpose of completing collections, as far as they can, of all stamps that
have ever been issued. You can well understand, therefore, that there are
a number of stamps very easily procured. But a certain number of stamps, a
very few of which are in existence, it is very difficult to procure ; and
as time goes on, they become more valuable day by day. Some of them have
some peculiarity which adds very much to their value. Some are valuable on
account of their colour. But in the cases that will be brought before you
we only deal with three or four stamps which were put upon members of the
public by the prisoner, who, it is alleged, is a man engaged in the
wholesale production of forged stamps, designed to supply the want that is
felt for rare stamps. He has devoted great attention to this subject, and
was found to be in possession of all the plant necessary to turn out any
quantity that might be desired. As time went on, the price no doubt would
have come down ; but when he was arrested there were found on him, and in
his possession, a large number of stamps, dies, colours, paints, acids,
and a variety of things of that kind, which would be useful to him in his
business of adding to the value of foreign stamps by altering their
appearance. In order to give you an instance of how a stamp may be made
valuable by forging some part of it, I may say it appears that there is a
black English stamp which most of you, I dare say, have seen. It has in
one top corner the letter "V," and in the other corner the letter "R." The
great bulk of that issue of stamps had a Maltese cross in the corner; but
a small number were issued with the letters '' V.R," and only a small
number, because the distribution was almost immediately stopped. So that
although there are a large number of black 1d. English stamps not in
circulation, but in the possession of different people, and are
comparatively easily obtained, yet there are very few with the "V.R." It
is suggested that this man devoted his attention to altering this stamp as
a means of obtaining money, because, whereas the black stamp with the
Maltese cross is worth very little, the stamp with the "V.R." is of very
great value indeed. The allegation is that he has forged the "V.R." in the
corners, using, as a basis, the ordinary black stamp.
The Prisoner: I am not prosecuted for forgery.
Mr. C. F. GILL: Well, gentlemen, having altered the stamp in that way, he
proceeded to try and sell it. He told some story as to how it got into his
possession, which is untrue. He is a man of considerable capacity and
ability, as will, no doubt, be shown before you in the course of this
case. Evidence will be produced to show how he got possession of it. He
then proceeded to take it to dealers in stamps who would be likely to buy
them for customers desirous of obtaining valuable stamps.
A JUROR: Was the prisoner in any regular business other than the supposed
manufacture of these stamps?
Mr. C. F. GILL: I will tell you, sir, what his position was. It may be
convenient to answer your question at once by saying that he had no
occupation that we know of at that time, and, indeed, we are quite
certain, except this busi-ness of dealing in these spurious and altered
stamps. All the stamps found at his place were not forged, of course; but
we say that was the thing he devoted his attention to, and that he had all
the plant necessary to do it, and he was in possession, at the time of his
arrest, of forged stamps other than those which he is charged with
obtaining money upon.
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