The following is a translation of a German newspaper article from Hannover, the Hannoverischer Courier, in 1912. It is certainly a bit tongue-in-cheek, most especially at the end, where the narrator uses the terminology of the financial stock markets to describe the action in Poster Stamp buying and selling. Parody or not, during the fad for Poster Stamps in the years just before World War 1, it is said interest surpassed that in regular postage stamp collecting, and was about as intense as this article implies.
Advertising stamps: A new disease by Fritz Müller, Zurich
Hannoverischer Courier 25.Sept.1912
The other day I received a neatly written postcard: “Dear uncle! Do you have any advertising stamps? Please send me all the ones you have. The others already have more than I do. Your loyal friend Alfred.”
My loyal friend Alfred, that’s my ten-year-old nephew in Munich. My loyal friend Alfred has never written a letter or a postcard to me before. If Alfred suddenly does so now, there must be a burning issue behind it. The advertising stamps are behind it. When I received the card, I had no idea what they were: advertising stamps. But it was clear to me that it was a serious matter. “The others already have more than me!” Wasn’t that a cry of distress? And what uncle’s heart is deaf to cries of distress from nephews? Especially when they are so intense. I had to inquire.
“Josephine,” I asked, ”do you know what advertising stamps are?” “Advertising stamps? They’re stamps for advertising,” she said. “Hm,” I said, “you’re right,” and went to see my friend, Doctor Hugentobler. Doctor Hugentobler knows everything else, does everything, glues, sticks, fixes … That’s why we call him Doctor Syndetikon.* But he doesn’t take offence, because he has already called me Doctor Idiotikon before. For no good reason, by the way.
“Hugentobler,” I asked. “Listen, what are advertis–“ “–ing stamps, you mean,” he took the words out of my mouth, ”advertising stamps are square, round, oval, or polygonal stamps of artistic qualities, which are issued by companies, clubs, exhibitions, and so on for the purpose of marketing for their company.” It came out like a gunshot. He took a deep breath, so did I. I still didn’t understand the connection between the advertising stamps and my loyal friend Alfred, however.
“And what do the little boys do with such stamps?” I asked further. “They collect them,” he shot out.
“Collect?” “Well, just like you collect stamps, or postcards, or colorful stone balls, or streetcars like we do now, or–”
“I see– but tell me, have you seen these things yet? Because for my loyal friend, I’m supposed to do it–”
Doctor Syndetikon had already pulled me out of the room by the arm. We were standing on the stairs; it was half dark. We heard whispering.
“Shh,” Doctor Syndetikon said to me quietly. Then we heard it clearly:
“Do you have any duplicates to swap?”
“Yes, a trade show for an Oriental one– do you like that one?”
“Mate, the trade one is worth twice as much as the Oriental one.”
“So afterwards, you’ll get two Oriental ones, you rascal, you…”
Then the voices were lost on the upper floor. “You see,” said Doctor Hugentobler, ”those were two.”
“Two, what?”
“Advertising stamp traders who have made a deal with each other: two advertising stamps from the previous Oriental exhibition for one from the current trade exhibition.”
“Can’t I see them?” “Certainly,” said Doctor Syndetikon and ran after the two boys to the other floor. Immediately afterwards, I heard a murderous scream echoing in the stairwell.
“Mom, mooooooooom! He wants to take my advertising stamps, huhuu– my advertising stamps– huhuhuuuu…”
And then immediately:
“What? You should be ashamed of yourself, you old fool– take the boy’s advertising stamps– the only joy he has, the poor boy– you mean man, you…!”
Doctor Syndetikon came down the stairs again. “It didn’t work,” he said, “there was a misunderstanding– come with me to the street.”
We went out into the street.
“You see?” said Doctor Syndetikon, making a general gesture with his hand.
I couldn’t see anything special. It was an ordinary street with people on it. Some were walking. Some were standing. But suddenly I saw it: at every corner, at every house, behind gates, there were boys, young and old, talking to each other with mouths and hands, with expressive, wrinkled faces, shoulders shaking, feet tapping excitedly…
“The stock exchange is in full swing,” said friend Hugentobler seriously.
“What stock exchange?”
“The advertising exchange, of course. Do you hear the whispering? It’s a frantic business day. ”
“Can’t we join in? As you know, my loyal friend Alfred wrote to me urgently, I’d like to do something for him–”
“What kind of stamps?”
“I think any.”
“Hm, let’s see.”
And so, we approached a group who had set up shop behind a servant’s cart.
“We would like advertising stamps,” said friend Hugentobler a little shyly.
“What kind of duplicates do you have?” asked a tall boy suspiciously.
“We don’t have any duplicates,” confessed Doctor Syndetikon, somewhat dejected.
“Then you’ll have to go over to where the milk cart is, we only trade in duplicates– but I think Maxl Steininger over there sells too.”
Off we went to Maxl Steininger near the milk cart. He was immediately willing to let us have a ‘blue Metzler’ from the ‘second series’ for a fiver. I was about to grab one. But my friend winked at me.
“Too expensive,” he said to Maxl Steininger in a businesslike manner.
“Well, three blue Metzler & Company for a tenner– I can’t give them any cheaper, they’ll be more expensive again tomorrow,” Xaber Wimmer said.
Xaber Wimmer seemed to be an authority, an advertising stamp exchange matador. That’s why I quickly offered the tenner and got my three ‘blue Metzler & Company’ from the ‘second series’ in return. They were very charming stamp prints.
Hm,” I said, “but what do you actually do with them?”
“They were originally intended to be stuck on the back of a company’s envelopes,” said Doctor Syndetikon, “to advertise the company– but this purpose has now been overshadowed by the collecting frenzy with which the stamps are being stuck into books these days.”
True– up ahead, the legitimate trade in advertising stamps had already degenerated into a scuffle. Now even feet were involved. Some young boots were obviously trying to push down the stomachs of unruly opponents who were lying on the floor, and thus also push down the price.
“Just like on the Vienna stock exchange on Black Friday back then,” said my friend Hugentobler.
We joined some quieter groups and negotiated in the course of 15 minutes:
1 Agricultural machinery exhibition, red, third series
1 International flying competition, green, last series
2 Tourist office, yellow, first series, almost sold out,
3 Beautification society, city of Unterhaching, brown, only series, damaged, below market value,
1 Cattle & pig show, pink with blue spots, highly sought after, with mark-up.
When we left the advertising exchange, there was excited trading in Metzler & Company, third series, green with red polka dots. The value jumped by fifty percent on the news that new stamps of this series would no longer be issued. Some sellers who had traded with the promise of delivery by the end of the month without actually owning the stamps– because these know-it-alls believed they could ‘cover’ them again later at lower prices– sought to liquidate their contracts at a loss. The new price had in the end risen to a breakfast sandwich and there was wild excitement. Hands stretched up into the air. Whole clusters of boys scrambled to obtain materials from the few vendors. Business was boiling over.
We left the advertising exchange in a hurry. At the main post office, I posted the purchase with registered mail to my loyal friend Alfred and briefly told him the mood on the stock exchange in a note:
“Pre-market sluggish. Some demand in international air race, green, last series. Keen offers at soft prices in electrical exhibition, all series rumored of a doubling of circulating stocks. A later denial through the mediation of the RealGymnasium** gave rise to a small recovery. Tourist office, yellow, first series, preview in October, in demand. Beautification society Unterhaching all of series, giving way. Elvira (exhibition of photographic equipment) in strong demand after a slow start. Aftermarket: intense business in Metzler & Company, third series, green with red spots– Without liability. Your loyal uncle Fritz.”
As I was walking home from the post office with my friend Hugentobler, we passed a factory.
“That’s Metzler & Company,” said Doctor Syndetikon. There was a crowd in front of the main gate: the combined advertising stamp deputations of the RealGymnasium and the commercial school had taken two doormen by surprise and forced their way to the counter where advertising stamps were issued, with a wild howl.
“Stock market excesses,” said friend Hugentobler with a shrug, “the state will have to intervene.”
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*The advertising slogan for Syndetikon glue was: ‘Syndetikon, klebt, leimt, kittet alles’ = Syndetikon: glues, sticks, fixes everything.
**RealGymnasium, not a Physical-education Gym, but a high school that is college prep in curriculum.
