Search Results for: alfred f. lichtenstein

Alfred F. Lichtenstein (1876-1947) grew up in Brooklyn and as a boy got interested in stamp collecting. Lichtenstein was no ordinary stamp collector. At the Foundation he was often referred to as “the philatelist’s philatelist.” He was extremely concerned about condition even when dealing with great rarities. As former PF Curator Peter A. Robertson put it: “Some great collectors, such as Alfred H. Caspary, for example, who was Honorary Chairman of the PF Expert Committee in 1953-54, sought to obtain as many different copies of rare stamps as possible. Of course, this is a staggering collection. Lichtenstein, however, could never rest until he had the best copy in existence. He was always in pursuit of that elusive ‘superb’ item. Consequently, his collection was perhaps the most distinguished holding of elite material ever assembled. For several areas he built collections that no one else had ever rivaled.”

Lichtenstein’s eclectic philatelic appetite roamed over many continents. His U.S. collection contained one of the greatest “Western Express” holdings. He also built an important collection of Canada and British North America. Through the decades, he kept expanding his philatelic tastes. His Mauritius collection contained the famous cover with two of the One Penny “Post Office” Mauritius stamps (PF Certificate # 200,000), which was later purchased by Raymond and Roger Weill. He assembled an impressive and extensive Ceylon collection, and the greatest grouping of Cape of Good Hope, and the most impressive collection of the stamps of the Gambia.

Lichtenstein retained a strong predilection for stamps of the classic period. He is reported to have commented once to Ernest A. Kehr that all stamps issued after 1870 were “junk.” He took a special pride in his Lallier Album, printed in 1870, which he continued to fill with choice material until it was bulging with superb gems. Lichtenstein was also a prominent philatelic judge, heading the 1913, 1926 and 1936 international exhibitions held in the United States. He was the guiding force behind the 1947 International Exhibition (CIPEX) although he did not live to see it. The name of Alfred Lichtenstein lives on in the prestigious Lichtenstein Medal, established by the Collector’s Club of New York in 1952.

In the early 1940’s, Lichtenstein and other major American philatelists including Theodore Steinway, Hugh M. Clark and Harry Lindquist began plans to establish a non-profit educational institution to serve philately and to be the central reference center for philatelic expertizing and the storing and dissemination of important information. On March 16, 1945, the dream was realized when The Philatelic Foundation was chartered by the State University of New York as a not-for-profit educational institution.

Lichtenstein was elected the first Chairman of the Foundation’s Expert Committee, and later that year the PF issued its first Certificates. Originally housed in the Collectors Club in those early years, the Foundation received less than 1,000 applications for Certificates per year; today at least that many are submitted every month! The enormous stamp holdings of Alfred Lichtenstein and his daughter, Louise Boyd Dale, were auctioned by Harmer’s in 1968-71, 1989-92 and 1997. The catalogs for those sales will stand forever as a monument to the passion with which Alfred Lichtenstein had pursued his chosen avocation. The Philatelic Foundation has been honored by his pioneer efforts, which have encouraged us to serve philately in a manner consistent with his vision.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

A list of all those have been involved with founding and sustaining The Philatelic Foundation since 1945 read like a “Who’s Who” of Philately. Many of the most distinguished provenances of United States and World philately have their associations with our organization: Lichtenstein, Dale, Steinway, Boker, Hubbard, Grunin… the list is endless. World-class experts have been an integral part as well: Ashbrook, Neinken, Boggs, Bloch, Green… to name just a few. But how did this all come to be?

“To understand why it was established, we can start by talking about what it was like before The Philatelic Foundation. Suppose you were interested in buying a grilled stamp and you wanted to know if it was any good. The dealer certainly vouched for it (“This is the best copy of this stamp ever known”). At that point, if you were smart you would have said, “Can I hold it for a few days?”

And you would have marched around as quick as your legs could carry you to every dealer you knew who you felt had any information on the subject, and you would say, “Would you take a look at this stamp, please? It’s supposed to be a 15 cent Z Grill.” One dealer might look at it and say it looked pretty good to him; then two more would say it looked pretty good. But the fourth dealer would say, “What a fake.”

At that point you wouldn’t know what to do, and were left flying by the seat of your own pants. You weren’t educated enough to know the Grills by yourself, and you hated to pay the big price they commanded as the price of your education. This, of course, set you out on the track of which dealers you could trust and which dealers you couldn’t trust.

In other words, you were out there on your own. It’s as if you were trying to get a college degree by going to the library and talking to people, without having anybody around to explain some of the fine points of what you were reading, or clearing up the information in the books that was hard to understand.

It was for this reason that the Foundation was born… as an educational institution. That’s what the charter of The Philatelic Foundation is all about. We are here to educate. To some people, we are only here to expertize, but the two go hand-in-hand. Ideally, if we could create enough experts, we wouldn’t need an Expert committee.”

That’s some of the “why” of the PF. Now, let’s get to “who” and “when.” The Philatelic Foundation was granted a Charter by the University of the State of New York on March 16, 1945, as a Non-Profit Educational Institution. The original incorporators were Hugh M. Clark, Alfred F. Lichtenstein, Harry L. Lindquist, Theodore E. Steinway, George R. M. Ewing, Robert L. Graham, Jr. and Malcolm Johnson. Mr. Lichtenstein’s daughter, Louise Boyd Dale, also took an early and active role. Initially housed on the fourth floor of the Collectors Club, the PF moved to separate quarters a few years later. The role of “Staff Expert” or “Curator in Chief” was filled by such notables as Wintrop Boggs, Kelly Stryker,Peter Robertson and William Crowe; today, Lewis Kaufman occupies that “hot seat.”

From the start, The Philatelic Foundation was serious about assembling the best references (both stamps and literature) that were available. To that end, it was fortunate in being able to acquire the reference collection of John Luff, built over half a century and encompassing the whole world to about 1948 (the PF wouldn’t issue certificates for stamps printed after 1948 for many years, not then having suitable reference material). The PF also acquired the research notes and correspondence of Stanley Ashbrook, collections of Sperati and Fournier forgeries, a complete photographic record of the famous Caspary collection on its original pages, and continues to receive photographic records of major specialized collections.

These holdings, together with thousands of years of collective experience on the part of the staff and the volunteer consultants (collectors, dealers and auctioneers alike), have made the PF’s certificates the standard of excellence, accuracy and confidence in the philatelic world. Having issued just a thousand certificates in 1945 to over a half million certificates now, an opinion of authenticity issued by the PF is the most authoritative and respected in the hobby. And the opinions and digital images of the stamps and covers on those certificates are available on-line and have been used for serious research, everything from pin-pointing new classic plate varieties that have been included in the standard catalogs, to uncovering and helping stop fakers and forgers and manipulators of stamps and covers.

The Philatelic Foundation today truly fulfills the vision of its founders. It deserves the support of every serious philatelist. Become a contributor, send us copies of your latest philatelic handbook or monograph, offer to come in and discuss areas in which you are the recognized authority… There’s a lot of ways you can be part of The Philatelic Foundation family!

We have posted a few articles on people who were crucially involved in the early years of our organization, as listed below.

Already a stamp collector with a major collection, on the death of her father,
Alfred F. Lichtenstein (1876-1947), the Vassar-educated Louise Boyd Dale (1913-1967) inherited her father’s world class collection. One should recall, however, that in the 1940’s philately was almost exclusively a “For Men Only” fraternity. This did not deter the daughter of the great philatelist. She energetically continued to build upon the great collection. Not content to rest upon her father’s philatelic laurels, she became a major philatelist in her own right. She greatly expanded the U.S. area of the collection, and many of the choice U.S. items from the April 19, 1989 auction of Harmers of New York, like the unique imperforate pairs of the 1875 Government Reprints of the 1857 issue, were her acquisitions. She also immersed herself in philatelic scholarship and research, and she presented lectures at the Collectors Club, most notably on “The Bordeaux Issues of France.”

Long before women were fully accepted in American society (e.g., at the time of her death in 1967, women were still barred from attending Yale, Harvard or Princeton Universities), Louise Boyd Dale rose to the top of American philately. In 1952 she was named Chairman of The Philatelic Foundation’s Expert Committee. Working with Executive Secretary Ethel Harper, Dale oversaw the first move of the PF to its own facilities. In 1953, she persuaded Alfred H. Caspary to serve as Honorary Chairman of the Expert Committee. She continued to build up the Foundation’s Reference Library and Reference Collection, oversaw the establishment of the PF’s weekly “Philately on the Air” syndicated radio broadcasts, instituted the first PF Seminars, inaugurated the PF’s series of publications and entered into an arrangement with Columbia University to grant college degree credits for Winthrop Boggs’ “Foundations of Philately” Course.

These were years of tremendous growth and expansion, and under the tenure of Louise Boyd Dale the PF entered the modern age. Dale was also an accredited philatelic judge, and in 1956 became the first woman to serve on the jury for an International Philatelic Exhibition (FIPEX, New York). The philatelic community mourned the passing of Louise Boyd Dale in 1967 at the age of 54.

In October, 1968, the H. R. Harmer firm commenced a series of eleven sales of the first part of the famed Dale-Lichtenstein Collection. In 1989, Harmer’s of New York started bringing down the gavel on the second part of this legendary Collection. This series of auctions ranks with the greatest philatelic auctions of all time, and stands as a monument to both Alfred Lichtenstein and to Louise Boyd Dale.

The Mortimer L. Neinken Medal for Meritorious Service is an award presented by the Philatelic Foundation on a yearly basis. It is a widely recognized, prestigious award and is the highest honor awarded by the Philatelic Foundation. The winner’s include a “who’s-who” of philately and is presented to those who have shown absolute selfless service to philately.

The award, first presented in 1981, was renamed in 1984 in honor of Mortimer L. Neinken (1896-1984) after his passing. Neinken was a well-known student of classic 19th century United States stamps. He supplemented much of Stanley Ashbrook’s publications and published numerous articles and books on 19th century U.S. stamps – much of which is still relevant and widely used today. He was an expert for the Philatelic Foundation and even served as the Chairman. Some of his best known publications include “The United States Ten Cent Stamps of 1855-1859” and “The United States One Cent Stamp of 1851-1861”. Neinken also wrote “United States: The 1851-57 Twelve Cent Stamp (1964)”. His distinguished awards include the Luff Award (1962) for Distinguished Philatelic Research, the Lichtenstein Award (1971) and was entered into the American Philatelic Society’s Hall of Fame (1985).

The following is a list of winners over the years: