not devoid of art can find stamps which seem to him to be entitled to
rank high even in the art world. In beauty of design, in the exquisite
workmanship of the best modern steel engraving, aided by the most
delicate machinery, and in unequalled printing, there are many gems
within the very limited space of a postage stamp that excite and
deserve, and not unfrequently win, the admiration of the most exacting
critics. There are scores of little medallions, mostly on the postage
stamps of foreign states, that surely would pass muster with an
impartial judge of art. They are not the rarities of the stamp album.
Some are even regarded as weeds in the philatelic garden. They are too
often made to serve the revenue-producing necessities of the issuing
state, and for that reason probably, more than for any other, they
are made as attractive as modern art applied to stamp production can
make them.

Great commercial countries, producing their postage stamps by hundreds
of millions, are as contemptuous in their consideration of the art
possibilities of a postage stamp as the cynical artist whose days and
years are devoted to the disfigurement of wall space. This country has
no cause to be proud of the designs or the printing of its postage
stamps. The chief consideration seems to be a low contract price for
the production of recognisable labels for the indication of the
prepayment of postage. That is the commercial view. And yet there are
some foolish people who believe that an artist who could design an
effective and acceptable postage stamp for the British Empire would
add materially to his own fame and to the art standard of the Empire
itself.

Brother Jonathan across the sea is not unmindful of art in the
production of his postage stamps, despite his commercial inclinations