Covers From Everywhere........

From a dollar box at the ST. Louis stamp show......

Registered Air Mail from Pakistan to George Herzog, Nassau St. N.Y. 1951.

George Herzog was a quite famous stamp dealer on Nassau St.....at the time Nassau St. was the world capitol of stamp collecting.

Tom, isn't it amazing how many covers are out there sent to well known stamp dealers or collectors ? Thanks to a guy named Clyde Sarzin I have some great Netherlands FDC's From the late 1950's and early 1960's !

I've got a million of them..over the years !

A million that's a lot of covers Phil.

Do you have a special Vault for them in your house

Dianne

Very pretty cover. A great deal for $1!

Unfortunately Lahore, Pakistan is familiar to me from the news stories covering the recent deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team there.

CIPEX Captures the Imagaination of New York City

Fifty-nine years ago when we commemorated the 100th anniversary of the world's first stamp, the city was New York, the show was CIPEX and our world was a different place. When you walked along Fifth Avenue men wearing hats were commonplace. So were stamp shops. Each was a natural part of the landscape.

The Star Stamp Company at 503 Fifth Avenue would sell you a Montserrat KGV Five Shilling chalky paper for $14.75. And there was no shortage of competition...on the same block you could visit The Mercury Stamp Company, Nicolas Sanabria, Carl Pelander, Walter Gisiger, Vahan Mozian, Sylvester Colby, F.R. Ferryman, and F.W. Kessler. If you stopped in to chat with Mr. Kessler he might tell you about a shipment due to arrive from Paris which would contain the first two airmail issues from the Kingdom of Yemen.

Heading down into the subway on 42nd Street you could stop in at Spencer Philatelic Service. Above ground on 42nd Street you could visit Stampazine, the Longacre Hobby Shop, The Booklet Stamp Company, and the auction firm run by Fritz Billig and Fred Rich. In Rockefeller Center Nathan and Edna Deutsh ran the Coronet Stamp Shop.

The Allure of Lower Manhattan

Downtown on Beekman Street wholesaler M.J. Stern welcomed dealers to his "House of a Million Stamps." On Washington Street was Aero World. On Park Row were Harvey Dolin, David F. Chassy, Hugh C. Barr and Stanley Gibbons. Famed Nassau Street remained home to John A. Fox, the Ohlman Galleries, H.E. Swift's Wakonda Stamp Company, The Broadway Stamp Company, M. Meghrig, Lee Gilbert, A. August Tiger and George Herzog.

But in 1947 you would not have found Herman Herst on Nassau Street...Pat was in Shrub Oak, New York, "1392 miles from Houma, Louisiana on US 6." offering "...the Famous Americans complete, all 296 blocks, every number in every position, at $397.50."

And out on Long Island from where it continues to serve collectors today, was the Herrick Stamp Company. Herrick offered the mint Mauritius Jubilee set for $20.00. Bermuda 81-98 for $32.00 and the St. Kitts Centenary set for $170.00.

The Grand Show at Grand Central Palace

If you happened to be in the city May 17th-25th you would have made the pilgrimage to Grand Central Palace for the "Centenary." The Centenary International Philatelic Exhibition or CIPEX.

CIPEX may have been the greatest stamp show America ever hosted. Our collecting world, much more visible and mass appeal, was different then.

The doors opened Saturday, May 17th at ten with the New York Athletic Glee Club and the New York Post Office Band on hand. Admission was fifty cents. Collectors who journeyed to New York from Chicago could have spent time together on a private coach provided by the Pennsylvania Railroad with a special CIPEX return fare of $38.41.

The CIPEX Court of Honor paid tribute to Alfred Lichtenstein, the great collector who was to have chaired the show but suffered a heart attack on a Fifth Avenue bus a few months earlier. The Court of Honor, showing collections by invitation only, served as a focal point for collectors.

Gimbel's moved some of its stock up from 33rd Street and Broadway to Booth C at CIPEX where it featured FDR material. Gimbel's rival, Macy's, was in the process of exiting the stamp business. Its stock was put on for auction by J & H Stolow...7,000 lots in a 240 page spiral bound catalog.

Winnipeg's Kasamir Bileski came to New York, stayed at the Waldorf Astoria during CIPEX and manned booth 75. Booth rental was $400. Philatelic societies and organizations could rent a lounge area for $200. Ten major auctions took place during the show. Billig and Rich took eight days and used two catalogs and four different auctioneers to put 5500 lots to bid. More than fifty nations of the splintered post war world put their stamps on sale and on display. And more than one hundred volunteers were busy guiding wheelchair bound disabled veterans who were avid collectors through the throngs.

It may have been the greatest philatelic exhibition of all time. We can remember its place in stamp collecting fondly, and the days in which its treasures were on display.

Hello everyone.....

Philb......you're right...there's a lot of interesting material to be found even though some collectors don't care for what would appear to be "collector or dealer made" items. I agree that such items should be valued differently but it is still very collectible material.

Bobgggg......wonderful info....you and T360 always amaze me with your ability to find relevant material.

Here's and item that ties a lot of this together.....and it's a decent little freak also !

From Herman Herst Jr.....Shrub Oak NY Jan. 6, 1965...signed "Pat"......I think I've had this about 40 years.

Tom, its true a lot of them are "favor" covers sent to people in the trade like my Hungarian cover to Lindquist publications..eventually they end up in the cover boxes !!

Bob, Interesting article..i went to my first big New York show in 1962 or 1963 when I was working in Manhatten..walking around midtown you could always find a small stamp shop..ordinary covers were in the ten cent box...

Diane, I have to admit I never really counted them..there are large cardboard boxes in the closet and under tables and desks !

Funny... I went to my first show, with my friend Steven, we were both 12 yrs old.

Phil. If the show you went to, was at the old NY Coliseum on
Columbus circle, that was my first show also

Bob I am not home right now..i will check the covers I got there when I get home..the stamp was a one cent green so I had 3 or 4 on the cover..could have been Jackson on the stamp on a guess !

Here's a $3.00 cover from the St. Louis show.....

........Registered Kathmandu to Kathmandu....1961.....not worth a lot but I'd bet there aren't many around.

Yep..thats not a common cover !

nr-notrare.. That Hearst post card is intriguing. Shrub Oak, is around 4-5 miles from where I live. The Postmark was issued by
the White Plains PO, around 25-30 miles south of Shrub Oak.

I think that back in the 60's Shrub Oaks mail was serviced by the Yorktown Heights PO, around 2 miles east of Shrub Oak.

Just trying to figure out why it hit a White Plains Mailbox ?????