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Pillar Of The Community
United States
6447 Posts |
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Just came across email: Quote:
To all our customers & friends:
We are happy to announce that Apfelbaum, Inc. has found a new home with Mystic Stamp Company. While we will miss the day-to-day hustle & bustle of running our business, we are very much looking forward to retiring and spending more time with our families, and maybe even starting a new hobby or two. While we know John will miss writing his blog, which has over 1,000 postings on our site, you can still find all his insights here. You will also be able to find our grandfather Earl's book, Apfelbaum's Corner, in its entirety, on our site as well. While we are still deciding what we will do with our website, we will let you know in the near future.
Apfelbaum & Mystic have been friendly competitors for 100 years. We have grown the hobby together and worked with Don Sundman for over 50 years. We urge you to contact the friendly people at Mystic Stamp Company if you are interested in selling your stamp collection and, if you are looking to add to your collection, we can think of no better place than Mystic Stamps. You can reach them at Info@MysticStamp.com. We trust Don and so should you.
All of us in the stamp community have been working together for many decades and even though we have only met a relative handful of our customers in person, we feel as though we have been friends for years. We will miss you. We wish you all good luck, good health & good fortune. And we say "so long" feeling very grateful.
John, Ken, Missy & Susie
Apfelbaum, Inc A message from Don Sundman, Mystic Stamp Co Quote:
Dear Fellow Collector:
Hello! I'm excited that ApfelbaumInc.com will join and eventually be part of MysticStamp.com. I've known and respected the Apfelbaum family since the 1970s. I've been both been a customer of Apfelbaum and have sold stamps to them. Apfelbaum is a first-rate organization. Our computer folks are working on a plan for the Apfelbaum website. Stay tuned for updates. I'm looking forward to sharing with you everything about the world of stamps…
Happy Collecting, Don Sundman |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
589 Posts |
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I don't really get the Aquisition. What does apfelbaum offer that mystic could not do on it's own. relationships? name brand? |
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Bedrock Of The Community
12595 Posts |
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Since Sundman is one of, if not the biggest fish in the US philatelic dealer pond, I have to believe that he exercised much due diligence and sees an upside. Maybe the customer list does not cross much, and he can reach out to more people. Whatever the case I am always surprised in that in the age of self-selling on E-commerce sites like ebay and Hip and access to hundreds of auctions from your computer a company like Mystic soldiers on. Quite amazing to me. According to online records Mystic had revenue in 2023 of 20.2 million dollars, its highest ever. That is $201,600 per each of its 100 employees. That is a LOT of stamps! |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
5462 Posts |
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Back in the day Apfelbaum was quite the company. A favorite of my father. Later on meh. Good riddance. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
4110 Posts |
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"Apfelbaum is a first-rate organization"
Long time ago, but not so much any more. |
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Valued Member
United States
173 Posts |
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The Mystic catalog model seems well-rooted in the pre-internet era of the last century but it obviously still works for them. When I used to get their mailings, my wife always commented that they looked like the sort of thing her grandmother used to get. Camden is not a big place (grew up nearby) so they must have a significant impact upon the local economy. I do like their hingeless US albums. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
846 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
71 Posts |
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What Apfelbaum has that Mystic is probably lacking is a customer base for non US material, both by auction and direct sales over the years. They probably also have a data base of sellers and large lot buyers that would be of use to Mystic.
Mystic, like it or not, is developing almost a monopoly on direct retail stamp sales, especially to new and casual collectors, and there are still many out there.
The gamble in the business now is the effect of the probable end to the USPS in the hobby. The misnomer is that it will increase interest. The new administration seems set in privatizing the USPS. I am in Louisville where the UPS main US hub is, and know a few higher ups, who are peppering me with questions on USPS operations, stamp sales for first class mail info, package volume, and other info because I was on a citizens advisory committee for the local USPS for years, and also ran a Federal Program that did mass mailings yearly to all business locations in the US. What UPS, Fed Ex, DHL etc. do not want is small piece first class and bulk mailings. They just want the packages. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
4441 Posts |
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Bedrock Of The Community
12595 Posts |
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Quote:
What UPS, Fed Ex, DHL etc. do not want is small piece first class and bulk mailings. They just want the packages. One hundred percent on that one. UPS SurePost exists now to dump the small last mile items. My rural route UPS driver has around 140 stops per day now in an area where houses and businesses are really spread apart and dirt (mud) roads abound. It takes until 6-8 PM to reach us most days. Last mile delivery of letters would mean doing things completely outside of their wheelhouse with Teamsters driving. Not ever going to happen in my opinion. Quote:
I would not be surprised if the Scott catalogs end up at Mystic.   |
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Valued Member
496 Posts |
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Thanks for posting that link Landoquakes. I had forgotten about those corner articles and am now enjoying going through them again. I used to buy Canadian material at Apfelbaum auctions in early 90s. |
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Bedrock Of The Community
12595 Posts |
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Valued Member
135 Posts |
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One of my first forays into stamp auctions on SAN was with these guys. I had lost every lot by at least two increments. Lo and behold, I get a notice and an invoice that I won every lot. Missy was calling the auction. Needless to say, I told them to stuff it and was immediately banned by them. I don't think I missed much. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1826 Posts |
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Does mystic buy collections from the big auction houses? For example, yesterday there was one bidder who bought nearly all the US collections at Kelleher. Similar at Siegel last week. Tough competition for a proverbial underbidder like me. |
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Bedrock Of The Community
12595 Posts |
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Quote:
Does mystic buy collections from the big auction houses? For example, yesterday there was one bidder who bought nearly all the US collections at Kelleher. Similar at Siegel last week. Tough competition for a proverbial underbidder like me. Absolutely. Mystic was one of only two bidders prequalified to bid on an intact collection with an estimate $500-750,000 that Siegel sold in 2016. Mystic won that lot for $745,000 plus tip. They assuredly acquire material from Siegel and anywhere else they can. With their deep pockets if they are interested it would be hard to compete for sure. https://siegelauctions.com/auctions/sale/1143 |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
917 Posts |
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Looks like Mystic is looking for a one-stop shopping place. They will sell you stuff directly, or you can take your chance at an auction. If you don't like their offer for your collection, they will auction it off for you.
I'm skeptical about privatizing the Post office. UPS, Fed Ex, DHL etc. all want it to exist to cover the routes that are not worth their expense. and, as was said earlier, nobody wants to provide 1st class mail service. However, if USPS does become privatized, we can expect all that old postage to become worthless. I can't imagine anyone wanting to take on that debt...especially with all the counterfeit stamps in circulation. |
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Replies: 21 / Views: 4,953 |
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Posted 12/17/2024 6:16 pm
