Stamps with stories - 5. Please click on an image to see a larger version. The St. Louis 'Bears' It was the year 1895.A cleaner while cleaning the basement of a Louisville courthouse stumbled upon a stack of trash papers which he had been instructed to burn.The trash seemed like some postal material which bore large numbers of stamps with the images of bears belonging to St. Louis. He showed this to the keepers of the courthouse who realised a huge sum for this material and rewarded him with a drink. Issued in 1845 the St. Louis "Bears" postmaster provincials is one of the rarest stamps in US postal history and was issued by John Wimer.The stamps bear the Missouri coat of arms surrounded by two bears which gives them the usual nickname of 'Bears'. They were issued in several colors ranging from greenish-gray to gray-lilac and bluish paper. The printing was done by Kershaw who handcrafted the intricate design and were issued in denominatiosn of 5,10 and 20 cents. Collectors initially thought that the 20 c were bogus prints until the cleaners find in 1895 which established beyond doubt the genuineness of the 20 c varieties. Another modern discovery of the St. Louis Bears happened in 1942 when Charnley and Whelen sold a lot of trash to Hemingway Paper Stock company.The owner, Mr. Hemingway discovered another large collection of the bears and made a whopping sale of around a 100000 $ to private collectors and dealers in the New York area. C&W filed a complaint against Hemingway when they discovered their loss but the law favored him. Over a period of time the 'Bears' have made their presence felt at a number of auctions around the world and has changed hands for many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Scott catalogues these stamps at around 20000$ making it indeed a very valuable piece of postal history.