"The kind of stamp I suggested that they should have the design made of as a trial was the 2d. head turned the other way, when they could see the effect. "Ever yours very affectionately, "W. A. S. WESTOBY." I am not entering upon any details of the Philbrick collection, for the most I could give would be a bald citation of an almost untold list of rarities. Imagine--if you can--a complete list of all known stamps up to 1880, imagine also some of the rarities not merely in duplicate or triplicate, but in the course of advanced plating of the settings (especially in British Guiana), and you may get some idea of what was in this great collection--and is still preserved in the collection of M. la Rénotière. His two used "Post Offices" of Mauritius were the first known copies of these rarities, and were at first considered to be an error of the inscription "Post Paid" of 1848, instead of a distinct issue of 1847. They came from the correspondence of a M. Borchard, whose widow found no fewer than thirteen of the twenty-five copies now known. The first pair was exchanged for a couple of "Montevideos," which had, in the eyes of the lady, so M. Moëns tells us, "the supreme advantage of having a place indicated for them in the Lallier album, where the 'Post Office,' like many other stamps, were not indicated." The two stamps were used on one envelope, and were postmarked together with one impression of the "Inland" handstamp, the 1d. specimen having the left upper corner defective. M. Albert Coutures, a youngster of twenty, secured the stamps in the "swap," and afterwards (October, 1865) parted with them to M. Moëns through the medium of a Bordeaux merchant, M. E. Gimet. The price Moëns paid must have been a mere trifle, as he parted with them to Mr. Philbrick on February 15, 1866, for a few pounds. The record of these stamps Nos. 1 and 2 in Moëns's "A History of the Twenty Known Specimens, &c.," is therefore briefly-- Year. Owner. 1847 Borchard. 1864 (?) Coutures. 1865 Gimet. 1865 Moëns. 1866 Philbrick. 1882 La Rénotière. To-day their "weight in gold" would, of course, represent but an infinitesimal fraction of their market value. [Illustration: THE UNIQUE ENVELOPE OF ANNAPOLIS (MARYLAND, U.S.A.) IN LORD CRAWFORD'S COLLECTION OF STAMPS OF THE UNITED STATES.]