a 440-yard run, which they did not
have before, and at an early meeting of the executive committee on
athletics a motion will be made to use a 16-lb. hammer instead of a
12-lb. weight at the coming games. The shot is already a
sixteen-pounder.

THE GRADUATE.

[Illustration: STAMPS]

This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin
collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question
on these subjects as far as possible. Correspondents should
address Editor.

[Illustration]

One of the greatest "finds" in the history of stamp collecting has just
been made in Kansas City. The letters of an old firm were about to be
destroyed when the attention of a stamp-collector was called to them. He
immediately bought the entire lot of letters for a small sum. Among the
lot were about one hundred letters each bearing one or more of the rare
St. Louis stamps issued in 1843, and remaining in use until 1847. The
5c. stamp has hitherto brought from $150 to $200 at auction; the 10c.
about $75, and the only copy of the 20c. in the market was sold in 1894
by the veteran dealer J. W. Scott, usually called "the father of
philately," to a collector in Bangor, Maine, for $1500. This gentleman,
it is said, refused an offer of $2500 for the stamp.

In this new lot are a number of pairs of all three varieties and several
strips of three. The immediate result will probably be lower prices on
all three St. Louis stamps, but the demand will probably fully equal the
supply.

FRED.--No premium on the English shilling, 1817.

J. HALL.--Very few gold dollars were ever coined, and many have
found their way to the melting-pot, or have been practically
destroyed by conversion into bangles. Hence the dealers ask from
$1.50 upward for all U.S. dollars in gold.

H. STEVENS.--It is impossible to give anything more than a rough
estimate as to the number of stamp-collectors and dealers, or the
value of the stamps now in existence in albums, or the amount of
annual business done in stamps. I hope to give some statistics on
all these points in a future issue.

M. C. W.--It would be very difficult to explain the differences in
the Brazils and Guatemalas without illustrations, or within the
narrow limits of this column. I congratulate you on your "find" of
Wurtembergs.

R. B. HADDOCK.--The 1864 and 1866 2c. coppers are quo