Wm. Schreiber and the South African Stamp Company

William Schreiber, 17 Church Street, Cape Town, published a price list of stamps during May 1887 which he forwarded to collectors.

Dear Sir,-
I take the liberty of forwarding to your Address my Price List of South African Stamps, which
I have quoted at the lowest possible prices.
The Stamps are all guaranteed to be perfect and genuine, I therefore hope to receive your order early,
And remain
Faithfully yours,
W. SCHREIBER.

The eight page booklet, four pages of which offer South African stamps of the ‘Cape of Good Hope’, ‘Natal’, ‘Transvaal, S.A.R.’, ‘New Republic in Zululand’, ‘Orange Free State’, ‘British Bechuanaland’ and ‘Stellaland’. The remarkable thing about this list is the range of stamps he had in stock. He was able to offer Cape of Good Hope 1853 and 1860 single duty Triangular stamps priced per dozen, and single “Wood Block” stamps from ten shillings each. He also offered stamps which today would be considered difficult to find and yet he was offering them by the dozen and Revenue stamps “at per 100” for all the Colonies. The prices quoted in the list were for cash only. Orders amounting to £5 or more could be sent to Messrs. Darter Bros. Walton, Bookseller, Adderley Street, Cape Town. He was also prepared to exchange for Foreign Stamps.

There are four addresses for Schreiber and the South African Stamp Company.

The Price List of South African Stamps booklet (1887) gives the address as '17 Church Street, Cape Town'.

Writing in 1897 Rev. J. de Q. Donehoo records two addresses for Schreiber: 'Wm. Schreiber, 9 Church Street, Cape Town” and “W. Schreiber, South Africa Stamp Co., Box 975, Johannesburg'.

Circa 1899 the South African Stamp Co., had two addresses, Box 1441, Johannesburg and Box 364, Cape Town. The ‘buckle belt’ motif printed in brown, illustrated above is taken from the back of an envelope which entered the post at Cape Town during 1900, addressed to Germany. The address in the motif is Johannesburg Post Office Box 1441 and Cape Town Post Office Box 364. However, it is not known if William Schreiber was still associated with the Company in 1900.

There appears to be no reference to Wm. Schreiber, the South African Stamp Company or the Post Office Box numbers in local directories after 1902.

Acknowledgement
The late Robert Johnson for his permission during 2014 to illustrate the motif from the reverse of a Cape of Good Hope cover illustrated here.

References and Notes:
Price List of South African Stamps from William Schreiber, 17 Church Street, Cape Town, South Africa. (May 1887), passim. [The British Library Shelfmark: Crawford 802(1) and microfilm: C13395].

Donehoo, (Rev.) J. de Q., (1897), Mekeel’s address book of foreign stamp collectors and dealers, St. Louis, Mo., p.20. [The British Library Shelfmark: Crawford 1371 and microfilm: C13936].

The British Library Board have the copyright for permission to illustrate the price list, therefore they are not illustrated here. These were published by me as follows: Woolgar, J., (2014), Stamp Dealers (6) - Wm. Schreiber and the South African Stamp Company, The Transvaal Philatelist, July, (188) pp.42-43.