Donald Sundman

Donald Sundman joined the Philatelic Foundation board in 2006 and is Secretary and Vice-Chairman of the PF and a member of the marketing committee.

Sundman is a lifelong collector, President of Mystic Stamp Company since 1978, and chairman of the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Council of Philatelists. He has sponsored over 5,500 collectors for membership in the American Philatelic Society, a record in the history of the APS. Sundman and his brother David co-sponsor the NPM Maynard Sundman Philatelic Lecture series. Attempting to protect collectors from a controversial U.S. Postal Service decision, in 1994 Mystic filed suit to prevent the destruction of the recalled 1994 Legends of the West error sheets. In 1998, Mystic purchased America’s rarest stamp, the 1868 1-cent Z Grill, for a record price of $935,000. In 2005, Sundman traded the 1-cent Z Grill in an even exchange for the unique 1918 Jenny Invert Plate-Number Block, valued at $2.97 million at that time. The historic exchange of America’s most famous and valuable rarities was covered by the worldwide media, captivating the imaginations of collectors around the globe.

Mystic Stamp Company was founded in 1923 by collector Lawrence Shaver and purchased in 1974 by the Sundman family, the same year when Donald Sundman joined Mystic. Mystic now has 140 colleagues and serves tens of thousands of collectors yearly.