Page 69 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

a job, but jobs were scarce. So he decided to go into business for himself.

Rummaging around in the attic, he found in an old trunk a letter addressed to
his mother. The letter was written back in 1870. The envelope bore a two-
cent black stamp with a portrait of Andrew Jackson on it. He took the
envelope (known to philatelists as a cover) to a stamp dealer and sold it for
$5.00.

With the money thus secured Jimmy purchased a Scott’s stamp catalog and
three packages containing about three thousand mixed “missionary” stamps
—that is stamps sent in to dealers by church missionaries from all over the
world. Jimmy had long been interested in history and geography and found
the stamps held a great fascination for him.

He conceived the idea of selecting one particular stamp and finding out
everything he could about it. He wrote an interesting story about the man on
the stamp. He then went to the history teacher in the local school and sold her
the idea of using stamps to teach history. In that way he started a stamp
“craze.”

Jimmy tied in with the “fad” by getting five students to act as his agents to
sell stamps to other boys. He went to a printer and had stationery and
approval sheets printed with his name. It wasn’t long before he had turned a
large portion of the original three thousand stamps at a nice profit.

With this money he purchased a larger supply from a wholesale stamp house
in Boston. He began putting up small packets of especially sorted stamps
which he sold through several stores in town on a consignment basis. When
these assortments failed to move fast enough, he changed them about until
they did sell.

Jimmy now sends stamps to all parts of the country and a number of foreign
countries. The number of his boy agents in near-by towns is constantly
increasing. He has made his first thousand dollars and is on the way to his
second thousand.