The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 94

iHb bAZtl lb, MUNIKtAL, SAIUHUAY, AUbUbl lay lamps' value keeps pace with inflation Stars to shine again as Fischer-Spassky rematch takes shane Collection assembled discerningly will attract buyers rr-WT 1 1 i 'J. I LARRY MCINNIS STAMPS Over the 20-year haul, stocks are tops with a return of 1 1.5 per cent; old-master paintings, 11.1 percent; and diamonds, 9.9 per cent. Michael Laurence, publisher of Linn's Stamp News, author of Editor's Choice in each edition, addressed the issue quite eloquently in his June 29 column. "This year, for the first time since 1 982," he wrote, "Salomon reports that stamps are up." He noted that the increase is in line with the rate of inflation. "Personally, I'm content with stamp values that just keep pace with inflation." His opinion is that it's good for the hobby as a hobby.

And I agree. "Think about it," he urged. "A stamp collection, put together lovingly and patiently over many years by a discerning collector who knows what he's doing and learns more as he goes along, will inevitably contain items that other collectors want to own. That's the nature of collections and collecting. When that collection is finally dispersed, chances are good that at least some of its components will realize more, perhaps much more, than the collector paid for them." While there may be some objections to gender reference, the principles are accurate.

Philately or, in the common denominator, stamp collecting is a hobby. Any LARRY BEVAND CHESS event is being billed a success, as it was covered by CNN, and Time magazine will be doing a piece on it. The Quebec Open begins today at the CEGEP du Vieux Montreal, 255 Ontario St. E. in Montreal.

The first round is scheduled for 1 p.m. today and it is still possible to register. Spectators are welcome The event runs to Aug. 8, with rounds on weekends at 1 p.m. and weeknights at 6 p.m.

If you can't afford to devote a whole week to your favorite game, then you should start making plans to take part in a new tournament on the Quebec scene. The town of Asbestos will be host of a weekend swiss Aug. 14-16 with a guaranteed prize fund of $4,000. For details, contact Michel La-londe at (819) 828-3075. Bobby Fischer He's back From the 1992 Chess Olympiad WHITE Gata Kamsky BLACK Lajos Portisch.

i pimijiiujiwiw.iinjp' iiiji.nji. jiijiifM Back in the late 1970s and very 980s, investing in stamps was move: the return was phenomenal, better than gold, much better than diamonds. of people became instant investors and speculators, people who knew nothing about stamps. Then came the 1 982 recession. It toot a year or two for it to have an impact; on the stamp market, but eventually it did.

A decade later, the impact is still felt although some dealers' persist in their ostrich-like view that it didn't happen and isn't happening. Back then, the respected invest-mcrftfirm of Salomon Brothers listed 14 tangible assets and tracked their investment performance. Stahips were always right up there, at of ii.ear the top. But stamps as an investment became a dumb way to go, and Salomon, stopped listing stamps in the assets. Last year, Salo-moirVeturned stamps to the venerable list.

Higher returns In its list of one-year rates of return, issued June 1, stamps' values greyPfcy 3.4 per cent, just above the U.S. inflation rate. There are higher returns: stocks, 9.9 per cent; bonds, 14.5 per cent; 3-month Treasury bills, 4.5 per cent; consumer prices, 3.5 per cent; and foreign exchange, 6.7 per cent. Arid there are lower returns: old masters (paintings), per cent (so get your old masters on stamps for pennies); diamonds, zero; Chinese ceramics, 0.6 per. centLQii, 0.8 per cent; housing, 2.2 per cent; U.S.

farmland, 0.6 per cent; silver, per cent. And that is just for last year! Salomon also issues comparative figures over a 20-year period. Stamps rank fourth in the list of 14, with'a respectable 9.6 per cent return investment. indangered What do Carolina wrens, common loons, Spix's macaws and the Tan'zanian wild-bird trade have in common? Absolutely nothing, ex- cept that I have news for you about them. First, new information on old news.

As a follow-up to my article on the highly endangered Spix's macaw (only one left in the wild and 30 in captivity) a few weeks ago, the Veterinary Hospital for Birds'and Exotic Animals informed me that a pair of the parrots held at Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain, laidfour eggs this spring. One of the eggs hatched under a pair of Illiger's macaws. Unfortunately, it somehow 'broke its leg, which was promptly put into a cast. Within nine days, the chick had rcmaved the cast before the bone had time to heal. The only remaining option was to put a pin through thercg.

I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, the pair laid a second clutch containing two fertile eggs. One. hatched out. For some reason unknown to me, the experts at Loro Parque insist on removing the young to foster them to parents of another species.

Perhaps the latter arc more reliable parents? In any event, they had none available, so they considered putting it back with the original parents. First, though, they tried a youngster of a more common variety. Within 12 hours, it was not fed and was chewed to bits by the inexperienced mother. So for now, the macaw not out of the one involved in it for speculation is, well, a speculator. A recent news story reported that Canadians should be prepared to face another increase in postal rates of one cent at the domestic level.

I don't know why it rated a news story: that's the game plan, isn't it: one-cent per year? Canada Post, on the other hand, is exploiting the commercial market in extremely clever ways. The four-stamp issue for Canada's participation in the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, is a case in point. The issue is sponsored by Kraft. More specifically, by Kraft's Miracle Whip. I have a card, measuring 9'2-by-4'4 inches showing the stamps, in color, with a simulated official cancel dated June 15, 1992.

The obverse really ticks me off. It is a postcard, with a message to "Dear Athlete." It can be sent postage-paid. You can't send a notice of change-of-address without putting postage on the notice, but this is free: taxpayers are paying for it. If that's not stupid enough, the card doesn't go to a "Dear Athlete" but to The Olympic Mailbag, Anti-gonish, N.S., the address of the national philatelic centre. Read "marketing centre." The card that I have also contains Miracle Whip tips, mine from Paige Gordon, an Olympic diver, I suppose, on "Easy Fruit Salad." Are Canadian stamp collectors, philatelists and societies such wimps that a protest about this commercial exploitation cannot be mounted? It's obvious that the commercial exploitation by Canada Post has not been reflected in a decrease in postal rates or service, nor will it be.

I've been to Antigonish many times. I've never noticed athletes, and certainly no Olympic-style ath second-largest exporter of wild birds in the world, trading up to 2 million a year as pets for the U.S., Japan and Europe. With little else to export, Tanzania earns about $15 million with the trade. A worse crime though, is the appalling conditions in which the birds are transported from there. It is so bad that some 60 airlines worldwide now refuse to ship live birds from Tanzania.

The one exception, of course, is that country's national airlines. It's not that the airlines want to ban world trade in birds. What they want is better regulations governing the carriage of them. My column on lawn pesticides a few weeks ago sparked a response from the Quebec Ministry of the Environment in Ste. Foy.

They sent me English and French copies of what appears to be an excellent pamphlet called Improve Your Environment Pesticides at Home: As a Last Resort. Of course, anything you can do at home to lessen the use of chemical pesticides will help out the birds, too. If you would like a free copy, either visit your local office of the Ministry of the Environment or call (800) 561-1616. BBS Here's some cute stories from readers. Wally Sackston of Ste.

Lawrence has a number of valuable ideas that any serious partnership can adopt with profit. He presents alternatives, admits that he cannot solve all the problems without resorting to a certain amount of complexity, and docs a pretty good job in evaluating various options. Lawrence is also very much a realist, which is always refreshing. His pragmatic approach leaves the reader feeling that he will be well prepared for most eventualities once he has digested the considerable contents ol this excellent book. It's available from your favorite book sellers and supply houses (most will supply a free catalogue upon request and most have toll-free numbers).

Information lines The Montreal Bridge eague has two information hot lines. The French-language version is URID-GLM: the Lnglish version is 489-681 1. If you would like to have a game or special event publicized, please contact Red M.uDougall at 399-7058 (office) or 48l-1 (M (residence), The ACHL at the Toronto Summer North American Championships donated S5.0IHI Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, the charity chosen by the host unit. The piescrilatioii was made to Geoige letes. This is a Canada Post scam, plain and simple.

If this commercial promotion continues, I hope" Canada Post can account for the dividend; it should account for the decrease in philatelic sales world-wide at the same time. Steve Forgo is an acknowledged expert on art-on-stamps. He has helped me many times during many years. At Canada '92 this spring, he asked me (as he does every spring) to borrow my copy of Linn's U.S. Stamp Yearbook.

I assured him I had it. But I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it because it didn't arrive until weeks after I had said I was so sure I had it. The latest edition is the ninth in a series. If you have even a passing interest in U.S.

stamps, you should have this. Yeah, I know it sounds like a commercial: what I hope is that someone at Canada Post gets the hint and produces something even approximating this yearbook for Canadian issues. The annual collection, with its review, is good, but there's no comparison. Issue late The book gives a total story about every stamp issued in the U.S. in 1 99 1, with background material not to be found even in the philatelic press.

The 1 99 1 issue was a tad late in coming. Linn's book director, Donna O'Keefe, explained why: "There has never been another year like 1 991. (It saw the appearance of 137 collectible varieties of stamps, stamp envelopes and postal cards," she said. "It was by far the heaviest one-year program in U.S. stamp history." The book is available from Linn's Stamp News, P.O.

Box 29, Sidney, Ohio, 45365, in hardcover at U.S. $30 or U.S. 18, both postpaid. woods yet Anne de Bellevue was doing some gardening this spring and went to pick up some work gloves inside his garden shed. To his surprise, a Carolina wren, a somewhat rare species for the Montreal area, flew out from under the glove.

A quick inspection revealed a nest with at least four eggs in it. After disturbing the poor bird repeatedly over a weekend when getting out his garden tools, Sackston gave up, moved the necessary items to a neighbor's garage, and padlocked the door. The wrens had no trouble getting in and out though, because squirrels had chewed openings in the door at ground level several winters before. There has been a rare sighting for the municipalities of Dorval and Dollard des Ormeaux. Mario Gag-non observed a loon with youngsters cavorting about some tiny ponds there.

This is odd because they generally prefer bodies, of water of substantial size. Mr. Harris of Pierrefonds described a bizarre, macabre scene he had witnessed recently. He had spotted a dead blackbird on the side of a road when suddenly a larger black bird (presumably a crow) came whizzing along with a sparrow in hot pursuit. The crow swooped down and grabbed the carcass in its beak.

Off they flew, the crow with the dead blackbird in its mouth with a sparrow following close behind. Don't ask me what it all means. Caldwell, a blind Canadian bridge expert who competed in Toronto using braille cards. Since its founding in 1964, the ACBL's Charity Foundation has donated over $5 million to worthy organizations. The League's designated charity for 1 992-93 is the National (U.S.) Multiple Sclerosis Society.

From the department of demographics: the average income of the almost 200.000 AC BL members is 60 per cent are women; 90 per cent arc college-educated; and 24 per cent have an average household income of at least $90,000. Their average age is 58. The ACBL has over 4.200 affi-liated clubs in North America in 323 Units in 25 Districts. The ACBL's 13-wcck scries The Bridge Class continues to be very popular. The show, featuring ACBL Supcrtcachcr Audrey Gram, can be seen on public television stations across the continent, Sue limcry, a writer for the AC BL Bulletin, has not missed a North American Championship in 31 years.

She has attended 91 consecutive NAC tournaments, She and Lx-cuitivc Bulletin editor Henry Fran There it was in black and white. Last Sunday, while vacationing in Cape Cod, I picked up the Boston Globe and a headline read: Spassky-Fischer Rematch Set. The article went on to say that the $5-miIIion, nine-game rematch will be played in Yugoslavia, beginning Sept. 2. The winner would pocket two-thirds of the purse while the remaining third would go to the loser.

It has been exactly 20 years since Bobby Fischer, an American, defeated Boris Spassky, a Soviet, to become world champion and put chess on the map. To give you an idea of the impact this match had on chess in this city, the 1972 Quebec Open, held in October, drew 750 participants compared to about 50 in previous years. Fischer has not played since, although he has been offered sums larger than this in the past. While this is great news, before we get too excited, let's look at this "thing a little more closely. The money has been put up by Jesdimir Vasiljevic, owner of a Serbian bank.

He has stated that the match has been organized to defy UN sanctions. (The Security Council has imposed a trade embargo on Yugoslavia.) The report indicates that Spassky has confirmed he will participate, although there is no mention of Fischer. Spassky has always been a willing participant. This event will make him a millionaire and he could retire from the tournament scene which he no longer enjoys. Fischer, on the other hand, has always been the wild card.

Rumors like this have cropped up on a regular basis since 1972. The encouraging news is that the date mentioned is only a month away. While objectively, I can't see what makes this event more likely to happen than previous proposals, I've still got my fingers crossed. Of course, a rematch would make everyone a winner as chess might experience another boom. Paramount Pictures, which is presently filming Searching for Bobby Fischer, in Toronto, would have a new ending and an instant success.

Who knows, maybe the idea of making a comeback, exactly 20 years later, appeals to Fischer. New York no-show What was billed as a 5,000 player simultaneous exhibition in Central Park turned out to be a 500 player event as New York City youngsters did not show up two weeks as expected. Other no-shows were world champion Garry Kasparov and the mayor of New York City. Despite these "minor disappointments" the Problem For Intermediate players White to play and win a cis arc truly walking encyclopedias of bridge. No second chance One of my favorite Montreal bridgeniks is Isabel Wcner, in her 80s still a keen competitor and ferocious opponent whose zest for the game and for life is undiminished.

She is the star of today's deal, which was played recently in a club game. East and West were Chuck I lam and Nick Krnjcvic. North was Susan Hardy. Isabel, South, declared a contract of 4 after a brief, perhaps less-than-classical auction. West, a man who hates to blow a trick on the opening lead, opted for the jack of trumps, which was hardly safe itself.

East decided to take the acc immediately to continue with a second trump, From our comfortable vantage point, wc can sec that it would have been better to switch to a club, but the trump lead seemed relatively promising and East was not displeased to follow his partner's defence. Our heroine soon demonstrated that there was no recovery for the defence, She won the in dummy to run the 0. West won Ins king and exited craftily with a low spade, Declarer took the ace and king of spades, discarding a club, and ruffed a spade. "I hen she ran all her red winners, the last of wlmh forced West to part with a second low club in order to keep a spade higher than dummy's nine. Declarer led the 48 8 jg 7 mm 4 ram a 3 ar Ears 1 lU f' jgjj White Black White Black 1.

d4 Nf6 18.Rh4 c6 2. NI3 c6 l9.Rdl Rac8 3. c4 b6 20.Qd3 Rc6 4. Nc3 Bb7 2l.Rf'4 Qh5 5. Bg5 h6 22.g4 Qg6 6.

Bh4 Bc7 23.Q.xg6 Rxg6 7. e3 Ne4 c5 8. Bg3 Bb4 25.Re4 Rgf6 9. Qc2 Bxc3ch 26.g5 hg5 10. bxc3 d6 27.Rd5 Rh6 11.

Bd3 Nxg3 28.Kc2 Rhl 12. hxg3 Qc7 29.Rxd6 Ral 13. Bc4 Nc6 30.Rd2 Rcl 14. d5 Na5 3I.Nxg5 Rxc3 15. dxc6 Bxe4 32.Rc7 Nc6 0-0 Ne5 17.cx(7ch Qx(7 34.Ne6 l-O Solution Final stage set for Canadian women's team championship DAVID BIRD BIRD'S EYE VIEW young Spix's macaw is being hand-reared.

On a broader note, a program has been initiated by a British college to analyze blood samples collected from all existing Spix's macaws, save for a couple of birds held by a private Brazilian collector. The idea is to examine the DNA fingerprints of the birds to see if they are related genetically. Such information will dictate which birds can be paired together so as to reduce inbreeding. Captive breeding is not just important to the survival of Spix's macaw; it is becoming a critical need for wild birds in general. Each year some 20 million wild birds are traded to supply the pet industry, the European community being the largest market.

About 1 0 per cent of those birds never even see an owner, dying either during or shortly after transport. Tanzania is considered to be the ERIC KOKI8H BRIDGE UN A RIDGED Toronto) and Rcus-Gordon will once again spearhead the team. John Carruthers (Toronto) is the non-playing Captain. Canada fared quite well in the last Olympiad, losing to Great Britain in a very tight semi-final match and losing the bron.c medal on an arbitrary condition of contest. Everybody's bidding Mike Lawrence, whose books arc nil worth reading, has produced a new classic dealing with a vital subject The Complete Guide to Contested Auctions ($14.95, U.S., Milt cover, 360 pages), This is not a light read, but when you consider how many auctions involve both sides, it will be well worth your time to go through the material iPXpxOfr RIM M-OT 93Xj9l- now, picking up West's king.

The was her I Ith trick, and 1-450 was an excellent matchpoint result. West, to his credit, was not too disgruntled to tell me about the hand. I may be more pleased about having the opportunity to share the deal with you than Isabel was in squeezing West for 1 1 tricks. vi i.m kahi DI AI NOKIII A 9 3 9 975 0 in 6 A 9 7 vu.sr KAsr 8764 2 9 A 4 3 K943 0 7 52 l() 2 J54 SOI III in II) 6 0 A K6 llll Krnjrilr Hutch I Imiii n. VHM NOKIII I AM SOI III l' Vi I'mss I l's 37 Tim 4 Vist I'm Coming up next week is the national final stage of the 1992 Canadian national women's teams in Vancouver.

The winners will be eligible to represent Canada in the 199.1 Venice Cup competition, which is expected to be held in Santiago, Chile. For the first time in many years, the perennial favorites will not be participating. To the best of my knowledge, only Sharyn Reus (Montreal)-Dianna Gordon (To-rrtnlo), of that squad, will be competing in Vancouver as a foursome wtth Rhoda Hubert and Beverly faift-Kokish. Local stars Barbara Silitrruin and I cc Atkinson will also play in the final, with Maritime teammates. Turnout at the zonal Mage was very low.and the national final may not; feature a first-class field.

Eager-beaver women arc reminded that 50onc can play in the C'WTC and for getting to the national final are excellent. from there, it is just a step or two further to qualify to play lor in a World Championship, Where arc you? The 1993 event st'aits in the fall. the 1992 World Bridge Team nfTMWad in Salsomnggiore, Italy, kittle 'Thorpe has been forced to withdraw, from Canada's womcn'i team. She hus been replaced by I'aukson of Toronto, who will play with Gloria Silver- man, ran-tine Onion (MouWcal)-Mary Paul.