Alas, Stanley Piller, Rip

I have been informed that Stanley Pillar has passed away.

***Title Corrected - Mod***

Are you talking about Stanley Piller from Walnut Creek?


Peter

A great loss, if true.

Yes, and it is true.

Pillar Piller

RIP

Certainly a force on the Bay Area philatelic scene.

My daughter and I were periodic visitors to his shop during her time at Cal.

Visited his table at both Balpex and Napex this year. Always enjoyed our conversations and doing business with him.

My condolences to his family and colleagues.

RIP

He was quite the character and knowledgeable beyond description. Some of the covers in my collection that I bought from him at Philatelic Show and NOJEX suddenly increased in value...to me.

Ahh jeez. I spent several hours with Stanley on Friday and Saturday at Chicagopex. He had some amazing 19th century U.S. covers. I purchased several documents from him. He was looking forward to an impending trip to Israel. RIP, Stanley.

What a great loss to the philately.

Stanley's eBay ID was stmpdlr, with a feedback score of 19,003. All lots are down now with the last two items selling on November 19, 2021.

I started doing business in his store, which he had taken over in 1976, in the very late 1970's when it was on Grand Avenue in Oakland near the Piedmont city line. He lived in Piedmont for years until he moved to Alamo to live and moved his office to the Walnut Creek tower (current) location.

Boy did he get me some great additions to my collection and boy, thank goodness, did he give me time to pay. With his prices, I needed the time.

Besides being a customer, I assisted him getting hundreds of pounds of material to G. Scott Ward's "kids room" at the APS St. Louis show over the years. Not many knew the support Stanly gave philately's workers and stamp collecting children developers. A far cry from the hard stare he'd give across a show table to figure if you were worthy for the "good bundles."

He was just one of four people who could call me "Danny" and live. My mom (generally not my dad), my wife and one of my Judo instructors, Professor Ken Min, PhD. (not a self called professor as in some martial arts, but a true employed tenured Professor of the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley). That is to say, I held Stanley in high esteem and he understood the privilege he had calling me by that name.

He was the owner of Position 68 from the sheet of the 1918 Inverted Jenny, Scott C3a.

His passing will leave holes in a number of expertising services. It also makes the last cover he sold me sadly just a bit more special (PFC 452591):


Like Stanley, an unusual combination with some unique features found no where else. The purchase transaction had all the best flair of a Stanley deal and back story. For all of Stanley's energy and philatelic drive, to die peacefully in one's sleep the day after returning from yet another major show, puts a quiet artfully embellished finis at the end of a life well lived.

{RE: Cover, one cent parcel post add the extra cent to the one ounce WWI war rate cover; the USPOD had issued a decree that the five cent color error (Sc 505) was to have a face value for postage of two cents, not five.}

At the time, Richmond Hill would have been similar to a small town surrounded by farms out in the borough of Queens, so that address would have been enough.

How rare is that cover? I've never seen the 5c error on cover before.....

RIP Stanley,

That's a nice tribute to him, ParcelPost, quality material all the way!

Jamesg,

The short answer to your question is "quite rare," but as to what that means, you might be interested in the detailed census of 505s and 467s on cover published by Kevin G. Lowther, "The 1917 "Red Error" Part V: Expanded Census of
Covers Sheds Light on What May or May Not be Philatelic," The United States Specialist, v. 83, no. 10 (October 2012), pp. 460-477.

He lists just 18 of the #467, compared to 129 of the #505.
This particular cover would be no. 57 in the census of #505s.

No #485 has apparently ever been found [ed to clarify] on cover.

- Jonathan

Well, jamesg, jleb1979 saved me the trouble of listing the census.

What makes my "Stanley cover" stand out is it is the only one in combination with a parcel post stamp (remember my name) also it was mailed in the first handful of days of the WWI rate effective 11-2-1917.

It is the recorded example of a 505 used during the war rate (11-2-1917 through 6-30-1919). As the first class rate was then 3 cents, this cover is the one which at 2 cents or at 5 cents would pay a correct one or two ounce rate on the cover. I mentioned the USPOD ruling on value, but that does not mean this cover was not accepted as two ounces. It's condition indications are such it could have had two ounces.

Due to the Q-1, Stanley knew I had been chasing the cover for a number of years. Trying to find it offered at a price for which I could buy it and still afford food. Remaining living indoors was optional as I did own several excelled 4-season tents. That said, I had discussed this cover with Stanley when he managed to get it in a trade from the prior dealer days before I contacted that dealer. Stanley had it priced at a lower price than when I first tried to chase it after it came back on market. I would not say it was a "good price" but no bad. It was the second or third time Stanley had the cover to sell over the decades. Now he had been selling PP/PPD material since the late 70's but this time I intended to buy it from Stanley, eventually--I just did not tell him that. Of course I do believe he sensed that this was the time.

Well time passes, I am standing at a table in the food/lobby area and an APS show. I smile and wave and he glances at me. Well, heck, that was a grand gesture for Stanley, acknowledgement. I returned my attention to the program I was reading only to now see Stanley buzzing straight from the convention room door towards me with all of the seriousness of a honey bee going to a flower. Luckily he needed not to sting anyone in in his way. He lands at my table and begins his story (in that time period he told the story to many, but my lips are sealed) then here, he slaps the cover on the table, take this cover, now. Pay me whenever there is absolutely no rush. I just need to get it off my inventory. How much are we talking? Suddenly I found the item was repriced down to exactly to top of the range I was willing to pay.

When I went to Walnut Creek, many months later, to finish paying, I found a relaxed Stanley. I must have stayed in his office over an hour, just he and I shooting the breeze about all things stamps and all things we knew of each other's personal life. As I left, I looked forward to another warm one on one conversation, alas, it is not to be. Our phone chats and show conversations had to suffice. I am still coming to grips with the size of the hole left in me since hearing of his passing as well as my desire to discuss a short list of subjects will not be satisfied.

R.I.P. Stanley.

I never had the pleasure.




I miss those days.

Most folks who had dealings with Stanley at shows saw the expensive material. But back in his old Oakland store front shop he had much less expensive, kid appropriate priced material including fairly price philatelic literature.

Few folks likely knew that Stanley had the philately bug so bad that he even ran a official contract post office in the shop. I only learned about that when I saw him do something to an envelope and I ask, how can you do that Stanley?