Postage Pays

摘要

"Stamps are valuable because they are rare - not because they are beautiful," contends Jo Kvernberg, 57, one of the world's premier stamp collectors. Yet there's no denying the sensual shivers that the Norwegian philatelist still gets from inspecting an unusual series.rnConsider the Large Hermes Head. Issued in Greece between 1861 and 1886, the stamps depict the profile of the fleet-footed herald of the Olympian gods - the ancient world's equivalent of a postman. Kvernberg owns about 600 of them, which he estimates are worth a total of $30,000. Using a mag-rnnifying glass and spade-tipped forceps, the collector tries to discern minute disparities among the various heads, trademarks of the early industrial era. "This can be a real philatelic challenge," he says.