Interview With Phil Bansner, Philatelic Literature Dealer
Interview With Phil Bansner, Philatelic Literature Dealer
Interview With Phil Bansner, Philatelic Literature Dealer
BY ABHISHEK BHUWALKA
F IGURE 1: P HIL B ANSNER AT THE “ NERVE CENTRE ” OF HISPhil indeed has a very different modus-
OPERATIONS operandi as compared to other dealers. To a
question on his interactions with famous
collectors and other dealers as well as important philatelic purchases, he
says (and I suspect very honestly), “I never did buy a famous collection or
meet with a famous literature collector. I have not owned individual titles
of great rarity.” This is probably an understatement since I have
personally seen important titles of philatelic literature in his online shop,
for example a couple of Fournier Forgeries Albums, a set of the Ferrari
auction catalogues, or The Postage Stamps of Switzerland by Mirabaud
and Reuterskiöld, which I was lucky enough to have bought.
~~~~~~~~~~
During the early 1970s I became more serious about my stamp collection.
I traded off all my old collections and started concentrating on United
States very fine mint never hinged stamps. I was good friends with a local
stamp dealer name Bob Gantner who introduced me to stamp shows. He
During the late 1970s there was a recession that greatly impacted the
mortgage business. I was a mortgage banker without any money to lend. I
knew my banking career was in jeopardy. I resigned my banking position
and went to work full time as a professional philatelist. I joined the ASDA
in 1979 so that I could attend their large regional shows.
The 1980s were hectic with a growing stamp business and active family
life. I was a regular at stamp auctions such as Robert A. Siegel, William A.
Fox,1 Harmer’s of New York, “Simmy’s”,2 Daniel Kelleher, Richard Frajola,
and John Kaufmann 3 to name a few. I diversified my stamp holdings,
taking positions in back of the book issues including proofs and essays,
revenue issues, and match and medicine
stamps. I also started acquiring foreign
stamps, worldwide philatelic literature,
and U.S. advertising covers.
I met ASDA Executive Director Joseph Savarese4 and started a long term
business and personal relationship. “Joe” was a very dedicated employee,
always giving 110% to his job. Beginning 1987 I started to do service
work for the ASDA and became involved as a board member, ethics
committee chairman, Vice President, and two-term President from 1996
to 1999. This was the time of Arthur Morowitz, Lewis Kaufmann, Bob
Feldman, and many other dedicated ASDA members. The Board of
Directors worked for the interests of the ASDA, there was co-operation
with other philatelic societies and well as the U.S. Postal Service. This
work was very satisfying. I ended my work for the ASDA in 1999 but am
still a proud member of the organization.
During the 1990s I worked with the very talented and very personable
Ginny Horn, the librarian of the APRL, then located in State College. The
management of the library was in great hands. I became a trustee and also
President of the board of the APRL. During this time the APS made the
decision to move lock, stock, and barrel to the Match Factory building.5
This has turned out to be a very wise decision as the building is a great
place for the employees to work and is financially very stable. I am
F IGURE 4: P RICE L IST UNDER THE 'E MPIRE G ROUP ' F IGURE 5: A PHILATELIC LITERATURE PRICE LIST UNDER THE
NAME ‘P HIL B ANSNER ’ NAME
The Bookseller of Wyomissing by Abhishek Bhuwalka Page 4 of 10
personally happy with the finances as I signed the mortgage and note for
the APRL, the owner of the facility.
During the 1990s I was doing shows buying and selling U.S stamps, postal
history, and worldwide philatelic literature. My good friend and postal
historian Elwyn Doubleday joined me and my postal history inventory
was greatly expanded. In addition to shows we did mail order sales to
individual collectors by sending photocopies of items they might like.
Elwyn remained with me for several exciting years. I was sorry to lose him
went he returned to New Hampshire.
I made a major move in 1997 when I left the show circuit and began
working from home. The increasing difficulty of travel and the desire to
spend more time at home were important factors in this change. I also
downsized my entire staff so I was truly a sole proprietor. I took my time
on the downsizing so that no one became unemployed. My sister Carol
(the rocket scientist) had been using the pre-commercial Internet for
several years and recommended that I give the commercial version a try.
My son Brad, a computer programmer, natural artist, and web site host
developed my site and keeps it up to date. I started entering items onto
my web site and was amazed when one day someone found me and made
a purchase. No longer was there a need to use the mail for selling. With
My best estimate is 40% stamps, 35% postal history, and 25% literature.
I skim each title that crosses my desk, not only for condition but for
content. It allows me to gain insight about different stamp issues and
postal history. I may digress from my write-up work to do an in depth
reading of a title that I find particularly interesting. Great for the mind but
does little for the check book. I wish I had the memory capacity to have
stored the content on over 15,000 titles in my database. I made a good
decision when I expanded into the philatelic literature business; I feel I
have done something that benefits the entire hobby. It has been
successful, financially and personally.
One subject you will find in many general and specialized publications are
articles on the state of stamp collecting as a hobby. From the 1870s to date
you read, “The hobby is on the decline”, “There are no new stamp
collectors,” “Stamp clubs are disappearing,” “There are no young stamp
collectors,” “All stamp collectors are old,” “Ours is the last generation
collecting stamps.” I think these articles will appear in stamp publications
in the year 2120! I believe philately attracts the same percentage of the
population that it always has. There is nothing better than being in your
stamp den doing research on our favourite topic. We develop contacts
with other collectors if we need assistance. If we want to display our
collections we can choose from our stamp club, a stamp show, or Internet
web sites.
NOTES
1 Here is more about Fox from Phil. “William A. Fox (1929-2008) was based in New
Jersey and later Florida. I only met him near the end of his career. He was an insider
of a passing generation of stamp dealers. He was an exceptional philatelist. He ran
United States and worldwide stamp and postal history. I became friendly with “Bill”
and he helped me with his advice about the business of stamp dealing. I wish I had
known him better and longer. His philatelic biography would be very interesting.”
More about Fox is on Trish Kaufmann’s website:
https://www.trishkaufmann.com/provenance.
2 “Simmy (Seymour M.) Jacobs was a larger than life stamp auctioneer who
operated out of Boston from the late 1950s into the 1970 s. He was part of the
investment craze. He spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of his wares. A good
number of stamp dealers got their start by working as stamp buyers for Simmy’s. I
did receive an invitation to go fishing on his boat. Several people got seasick and we
did not catch any fish. Back at the dock Simmy laughed and said, “A thousand dollar
trip going nowhere and doing nothing.” Again, I did not know Simmy well enough to
create a biography but rest assured it would be an exciting one.” The reader would
be interested to know that it was Simmy who coined the word ‘Jumbo’ sometime
after 1970 to describe stamps with unusually large margins; such stamps which
were not much more valuable than the usual stamps skyrocketed in value
thereafter. See https://www.stampauthentication.com/grading-stamps.
3 John Kaufmann was a dealer and owner of John W. Kaufmann, Inc., a stamp
auction house. Many readers will be familiar with Patricia (Trish) Kaufmann, the
famed Confederate States of America dealer and expert, who was John’s first
employee and later his wife. John passed away in 1988 and Trish closed the firm in
1989. See https://www.trishkaufmann.com/about-trish-kaufmann and
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/patricia-kaufmann.
4Joseph Savarese was the head of the ASDA’s operations for 36 years until 2013.
See https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/2015/january/guyer-of-
aps-named-asda-executive-director-1.html
5More on the APS’ and APRL’s move from State College to the historic match
factory in Bellefonte, including some photographs, can be found in the pages of The
Philatelic Literature Review from the early 2000s. See, for example, the 3rd Quarter
2000 (“Stamps & Matches”), 1st Quarter 2002 (“APRL Acquires Match Factory”), 2nd
The Bookseller of Wyomissing by Abhishek Bhuwalka Page 9 of 10
Quarter 2002 (“Moving Forward”, “Match Factory Open House”, “A Letter to the
Membership at Large”, “Reverence for our Past, A Vision for our Future”), 3rd
Quarter 2002 (“APRL and APS Move Storage to Match Factory”), and 2nd Quarter
2004 (“We’re Here!”) issues.