Alas, Stanley Piller, Rip

One of a number of covers I purchased from Stanley is this one from possibly Somerville, NJ to Brighton Sussex, England. Really like the US/GB combination.

I would spent a couple of hours at his table looking over his inventory and talking with him about almost anything.

Stanley will be missed.

Greetings,

Does anyone know a way to contact Stanley's company representatives? One of the last purchases I made from Stanley was in September, 2021 at Balpex. I completed payments in November, but other things took precedence with his passing. I waited until December (to give time for grieving) and called the number and sent a letter to the PO Box explaining the situation. No response.

I doubt that the office is still open. Normally it wouldn't matter, but the purchases were fairly expensive. I can certainly wait a few more months, but I'd like to get a reminder to them.

Any suggestions? Thank you for any help you can provide.

bankuptcollector

Never mind. I've been contacted by them.

Very sad to hear of Mr. Piller passing. I enjoyed his table in Sarasota and he was always patient as most things don't fit my collecting interest. I often would buy one cover from his show stock, even if I didn't really need it, just because he was such a cool guy. Wish I got to talk with him more. He was a great man, great asset to the hobby of kings, and condolences to his family.

One story I can share is while I looked at his stock someone came up to him for an opinion on some early Hawaii single stamps on cards. To me they were instantly bogus stamps, but what was neat, even though Mr. Piller knew that too, he took his time looking at them carefully and seriously before telling the news. He treated the person with respect and kindness.

Listening to some of the auction, it is shocking how little some of the material is realizing as a percentage of Stanley's asking price. For some lots, Schuyler is announcing Stanley's retail price to try to generate bidding. I think it was lot 207 (#29 block of 4 on cover) where bidding was stalled around $750 or $800 and Schuyler mentioned that Stanley's retail was $14,000. It finally hammered at $1,150. The 24 cent 1869 on a reduced legal size envelope (lot 246) hammered for $1,000. I wasn't online for that lot, but remember seeing it in Stanley's stock for something like $14,000, or maybe even more. Obviously, some of Stanley's material was priced way above market, but I'm still surprised at some of the realizations.

Most of this is Siegel level stuff, in fact some I know was previously sold by Siegel, so wonder why they didn't use them?

I surmise it was convenience. Both Mrs. Piller and Schuyler are located in California.

I'm enjoying the auction, even though I'm the under bidder more often than not.

Unfortunately, Piller's retail prices have zero bearing on anything just as Lang's prices could be pie-in-the-sky. Rumsey knows that but have a responsibility to themselves and their consignors to extract as much money as they can out of the bidders. I have to agree that so far realizations seem weak with a number of lots not reaching low estimate but that could be a result of overzealous estimates and betting on Piller's name to bump up prices. It seems not to be working and the material is finding its natural price points.

I don't see many lots that would make it to Siegel especially for single stamps.

Siegel has a postal history sale coming up and it is interesting to compare things to the Rumsey sale. IMO Siegel does not engage in hyperbole and puffery that is unwarranted whereas some others do so frequently.

Prices seem to be generally OK relative to the estimates, which is really the only thing to go by. Stanley always opened his mouth very wide on anything he was selling, so not reaching that stratosphere is no surprise.