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Two old time stamp dealers died last week-Robert Lippert and Dale Hendricks. Bob Lippert was 82 and Dale was close to eighty. I hadn’t seen much of them the last ten years or so but in the 1970’s they both came regularly to our auctions and for many years Bob was our number one customer. […]

I just got a call at the office from a man who is a new customer. He had a question about something to do with one of our online sales and we started talking about the snow in Boston where he lives. Out of the blue I told him I went to Tufts University in

Almost from the very day that Philately began as a serious hobby, stamp collectors were plagued by forgeries. Forgeries exist in two types; those made for philatelic consumption and those produced to defraud the postal service of revenue (called postal forgeries). These postal forgeries are in nearly all cases not only very rare but highly

For many years, few stamp collections required many steps to be taken for their security. Few were valuable enough for the average burglar to bother with and even if damaged by fire the low value of stamps in general meant that they were easy to replace. But the rise in philatelic values in the last

Most stamp collectors collect for fun pure and simple. But there is no reason why a stamp collector cannot have fun and maximize his chance at making a little money when he goes to sell. Unlike photography or skiing, philately is one of the few hobbies where the participant’s investment in his pastime not only

Most collectors never exhibit their stamps, except perhaps to show their collection to a friend or family member. But many collectors derive great enjoyment from displaying what they have to others in an organized, systematic kind of way. And while a collector may exhibit in any manor that he wishes, certain guidelines can aid in

Most collectors would probably love to specialize in “Inverts of the World”. But few have the resources and even among those who might, there is distinct resistance in many people to spending hundreds let alone thousands of dollars for each stamp you put in your collection. But if you have reached the point of no

The first stamp dealing Apfelbaum was Maurice Apfelbaum who listed his occupation in the 1910 US census as “Stamp Dealer”. He began dealing when his son Earl was only four years old, and by the time Earl was ten he had begun collecting stamps and was going around to dealer shops and bourses with his

The first postage stamps were issued without a preordered method of separation. In 1840, it was revolutionary enough for the stamp itself to be issued. Rowland Hill hardly thought it necessary to provide Great Britain’s postal users with a means of separating their stamps apart, or, in the case of large mail users where speed