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Back in 1856,
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00:00:04,704 --> 00:00:07,140
this British Guiana stamp was
worth one penny,
3
00:00:07,173 --> 00:00:12,212
and in 1970 it was bought for
$284,000.
4
00:00:12,245 --> 00:00:14,514
Today, this one-of-a-kind was
sold again,
5
00:00:14,547 --> 00:00:16,216
and as Gerald Harrington
reports,
6
00:00:16,249 --> 00:00:18,118
it was for a whole lot
more than that.
7
00:00:18,151 --> 00:00:19,719
[Harrington]
The stamp auction drew nearly
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00:00:19,753 --> 00:00:21,755
a thousand collectors
and investors,
9
00:00:21,788 --> 00:00:25,558
and bidding was brisk on most of
the 424 lots auctioned off.
10
00:00:25,592 --> 00:00:28,495
The stamp that promised to draw
the most attention and money
11
00:00:28,528 --> 00:00:31,765
was the one-of-a-kind
British Guiana one-center.
12
00:00:31,798 --> 00:00:36,603
Pennsylvania collector Irwin
Weinberg paid a record $280,000
13
00:00:36,636 --> 00:00:38,872
for the British Guiana
ten years ago.
14
00:00:38,905 --> 00:00:41,341
He said he bought it as a hedge
against inflation
15
00:00:41,374 --> 00:00:43,209
and that inflation is here.
16
00:00:43,243 --> 00:00:45,111
As the sale drew near,
17
00:00:45,145 --> 00:00:47,881
Weinberg was philosophical about
parting with his stamp.
18
00:00:47,914 --> 00:00:50,517
A postage stamp is not
a human being.
19
00:00:50,550 --> 00:00:54,387
And uh, you really have to
be reasonable,
20
00:00:54,421 --> 00:00:56,389
and you've had your pleasure.
21
00:00:56,423 --> 00:00:58,291
And, uh, who knows?
22
00:00:58,324 --> 00:01:00,260
Uh, I'm not, I'm not young,
but I'm not really old.
23
00:01:00,293 --> 00:01:03,129
It's not impossible that someday
I might own it again.
24
00:01:14,474 --> 00:01:16,376
[man]
I think that in a lifetime,
25
00:01:16,409 --> 00:01:19,345
if you have more than
one great idea,
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00:01:22,482 --> 00:01:24,951
uh, you'd probably go down
as a genius.
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00:01:28,822 --> 00:01:31,257
I only ever had
one great idea.
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That was it.
29
00:01:37,964 --> 00:01:40,333
[music plays]
30
00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:49,302
[Neil Steinberg]
The idea of stamps is that they were
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00:02:49,335 --> 00:02:51,638
your introduction
to the world,
32
00:02:53,673 --> 00:02:55,642
And that great men--
33
00:02:55,675 --> 00:03:00,013
you know, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt was a stamp collector.
34
00:03:00,046 --> 00:03:03,283
The vibrant activity
of active men
35
00:03:03,316 --> 00:03:06,319
when they weren't traveling
the world, climbing peaks,
36
00:03:06,352 --> 00:03:09,489
we're collecting stamps from
the great nations.
37
00:03:09,522 --> 00:03:13,660
I think it speaks
to the yearning
38
00:03:13,693 --> 00:03:15,828
for the past that people have.
39
00:03:32,645 --> 00:03:37,517
When I started, I was a little boy
in Berea, Ohio, you know, in the '60s,
40
00:03:37,550 --> 00:03:39,419
and you go to Woolworth's and
they have those packages,
41
00:03:39,452 --> 00:03:41,054
you know, 500 stamps of the
world or whatever,
42
00:03:41,087 --> 00:03:43,356
and you start to get them
and sort them
43
00:03:43,389 --> 00:03:45,291
and see the ones you like,
44
00:03:45,325 --> 00:03:48,394
and you have the big generic
book of world stamps.
45
00:03:48,428 --> 00:03:50,563
You get your little hinges and
you put them in,
46
00:03:50,597 --> 00:03:51,998
and it's a very controlled task.
47
00:03:52,031 --> 00:03:53,600
And when you think
about being,
48
00:03:53,633 --> 00:03:55,668
let's say eight
or nine years old,
49
00:03:55,702 --> 00:03:57,937
there's not a lot of worlds
that you can control, really.
50
00:03:57,971 --> 00:04:00,073
Your life is in someone else's
hands,
51
00:04:00,106 --> 00:04:03,042
you go to school, and so it's,
it's, it's the first
52
00:04:03,076 --> 00:04:04,811
sort of private, interior life
53
00:04:04,844 --> 00:04:08,548
that a child can have,
at least for me.
54
00:04:08,581 --> 00:04:10,383
And as I got to be 10 and 12,
55
00:04:10,416 --> 00:04:12,485
I would then go off to the
department stores,
56
00:04:12,518 --> 00:04:14,821
which in Cleveland were
May Company and Higbee's and Halle's,
57
00:04:14,854 --> 00:04:16,923
and they had these wonderful
stamp departments.
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00:04:16,956 --> 00:04:19,425
[news reporter] What's the product?
It's one that holds
59
00:04:19,459 --> 00:04:22,562
enrapturing fascination for the
more than 12,000,000 Americans
60
00:04:22,595 --> 00:04:26,599
who enjoy the nation's most
popular hobby, stamp collecting.
61
00:04:26,633 --> 00:04:30,570
So avidly do these hobbyists
pursue their avocation that
62
00:04:30,603 --> 00:04:33,473
a whole industry has developed
for the purpose of cataloging,
63
00:04:33,506 --> 00:04:36,009
expertizing, reporting,
buying, selling
64
00:04:36,042 --> 00:04:39,479
and otherwise dealing in or
with posting stamps.
65
00:04:39,512 --> 00:04:42,582
I was always very daunted
by the expanse of it.
66
00:04:42,615 --> 00:04:44,517
I was never going to buy,
I didn't have a ton of money.
67
00:04:44,550 --> 00:04:46,619
I'm a child, right?
I had a paper route.
68
00:04:46,653 --> 00:04:48,554
But, at the time, it was this
wonderful place where you can
69
00:04:48,588 --> 00:04:51,457
pay money and get these stamps
that you saw in Scott's
70
00:04:51,491 --> 00:04:53,493
that was so wonderful to have,
71
00:04:53,526 --> 00:04:56,029
and you would aspire to that and
that's why you were working.
72
00:04:58,064 --> 00:05:01,601
My grandfather, Sam, was a sign
painter in the Bronx,
73
00:05:01,634 --> 00:05:03,936
and he had the storied,
at least in my family,
74
00:05:03,970 --> 00:05:07,540
stamp collection with sheets
of Winged Globes
75
00:05:07,573 --> 00:05:10,510
and things that he'd collected
in New York in the '20s and '30s
76
00:05:10,543 --> 00:05:12,745
that was sold after he died.
77
00:05:12,779 --> 00:05:15,548
And it was sort of the original
sin of my family
78
00:05:15,581 --> 00:05:19,152
that my vile Uncle Morty sold my
grandfather's stamp collection
79
00:05:19,185 --> 00:05:24,123
to pay for his son's crass Waldorf Astoria
bar mitzvah in 1964.
80
00:05:24,157 --> 00:05:26,893
And the funny thing is, there
were parts of that collection
81
00:05:26,926 --> 00:05:29,495
that weren't-- literally,
weren't nice enough to sell,
82
00:05:29,529 --> 00:05:33,399
and somehow found their way to
me in big sorts of envelopes.
83
00:05:33,433 --> 00:05:35,635
And so I had these first-day
covers from
84
00:05:35,668 --> 00:05:37,937
the Famous American Series
of 1940,
85
00:05:37,970 --> 00:05:40,573
the whole set of them.
And they were nice,
86
00:05:40,606 --> 00:05:42,875
and they just weren't
extraordinarily valuable.
87
00:05:42,909 --> 00:05:45,878
The major thing I did was
I collected Israeli First Day Covers,
88
00:05:45,912 --> 00:05:48,014
because I grew up, you know,
in '67,
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00:05:48,047 --> 00:05:50,650
the big war, the Six Day War.
90
00:05:50,683 --> 00:05:54,787
And so, uh, Israeli covers not
only have a cache in the corner,
91
00:05:54,821 --> 00:05:56,656
like a First Day cover
would have here,
92
00:05:56,689 --> 00:05:58,891
but Israeli stamps have
a little tab,
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00:05:58,925 --> 00:06:01,494
like a decorative tab
along the bottom,
94
00:06:01,527 --> 00:06:03,663
and so you would have these tabs
stamps on their cover.
95
00:06:03,696 --> 00:06:05,965
And there was... I always liked
covers because you could
96
00:06:05,998 --> 00:06:08,501
see more of the history
of the stamps.
97
00:06:08,534 --> 00:06:10,670
Somehow when the stamp was by
itself on an album,
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00:06:10,703 --> 00:06:13,473
it seemed kind of lost
and alone.
99
00:06:39,232 --> 00:06:42,468
Part of stamp collecting is
the thrill of communications,
100
00:06:42,502 --> 00:06:46,105
in the sense that this was how
messages were conveyed,
101
00:06:46,139 --> 00:06:47,940
and these messages
had gone aboard
102
00:06:47,974 --> 00:06:49,942
the Macon or
the Graph Zeppelin.
103
00:06:49,976 --> 00:06:52,512
I love Zeppelin's as a child,
I didn't own any.
104
00:06:52,545 --> 00:06:55,248
The only Zeppelin stamps I had
with those cheap Germans stamps
105
00:06:55,281 --> 00:06:56,983
that they had,
Zeppelin series.
106
00:06:57,016 --> 00:06:58,818
But, of course,
I always aspired
107
00:06:58,851 --> 00:07:01,521
to the three American air mail
Zeppelin stamps,
108
00:07:01,554 --> 00:07:03,890
the 65 cent, the $1.30,
and the 2.60.
109
00:07:03,923 --> 00:07:05,925
You never forget this stuff.
110
00:07:05,958 --> 00:07:09,061
And I would look through Linn's
Stamp News, I was a subscriber,
111
00:07:09,095 --> 00:07:11,564
and it just was like this whole
little, you know--
112
00:07:11,597 --> 00:07:13,499
I was delivering papers,
and I was taking the money,
113
00:07:13,533 --> 00:07:15,501
and I was buying stamps
and coins with them.
114
00:07:15,535 --> 00:07:18,971
I was never like a value guy
where I was trying to, uh,
115
00:07:19,005 --> 00:07:21,741
where I was trying to get the
most expensive stamps
116
00:07:21,774 --> 00:07:23,709
and have them appreciate it and
all that sort of stuff.
117
00:07:23,743 --> 00:07:25,645
That wasn't what I was trying
to do as a child.
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00:07:25,678 --> 00:07:28,781
I was trying to scratch my itch
to get the stamps
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00:07:28,815 --> 00:07:30,616
that I could get my hands on.
120
00:07:30,650 --> 00:07:32,251
If you had tapped me on
the shoulder
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00:07:32,285 --> 00:07:34,620
and asked me what I was doing,
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00:07:34,654 --> 00:07:37,757
I guess I would say that I was
a stamp collector,
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00:07:37,790 --> 00:07:39,792
and I was building my
collection.
124
00:08:05,284 --> 00:08:07,787
It became a sign of
elder-hood,
125
00:08:07,820 --> 00:08:11,791
of some infirm guy in his shawl
with his tongs, you know,
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00:08:11,824 --> 00:08:13,559
tending to his fixation.
127
00:08:13,593 --> 00:08:16,128
When you look at images and
advertising,
128
00:08:16,162 --> 00:08:17,964
I don't think you ever see
someone collecting stamps.
129
00:08:17,997 --> 00:08:20,700
It's not a positive image,
which is a shame.
130
00:08:20,733 --> 00:08:23,302
You know, I write a column
four days a week,
131
00:08:23,336 --> 00:08:27,006
and, uh, and...
it, uh...
132
00:08:27,039 --> 00:08:28,274
and it didn't print out the
second one.
133
00:08:28,307 --> 00:08:29,909
I can just tell you about it.
134
00:08:29,942 --> 00:08:31,344
It used to be
a full page where
135
00:08:31,377 --> 00:08:33,246
I would have different
things in.
136
00:08:33,279 --> 00:08:35,047
So I comment on the passing
stories of the day,
137
00:08:35,081 --> 00:08:37,083
and what happened is the USPS,
138
00:08:37,116 --> 00:08:39,352
in a desperate attempt
to keep afloat,
139
00:08:39,385 --> 00:08:41,988
basically said that you can put
anything you want on a stamp.
140
00:08:42,021 --> 00:08:43,723
You can have your
picture taken,
141
00:08:43,756 --> 00:08:45,791
you can put your dog there
and print it out
142
00:08:45,825 --> 00:08:47,894
and it's a real good U.S.
postage, and you stick it in.
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00:08:47,927 --> 00:08:49,996
And I kind of just said
it was--
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00:08:50,029 --> 00:08:51,964
The headline was "Department of
Bartered Dignity,"
145
00:08:51,998 --> 00:08:55,001
where you know, if the idea
was that this--
146
00:08:55,034 --> 00:08:57,637
Why does being on a stamp mean
anything?
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00:08:57,670 --> 00:08:59,338
Well, it's, it's,
it's an honor,
148
00:08:59,372 --> 00:09:01,874
and if anyone can do it,
it kind of fits in perfectly
149
00:09:01,908 --> 00:09:05,778
with the "prizes for everyone"
aspect of modern life has sadly had.
150
00:09:05,811 --> 00:09:09,682
It seemed to be eating the seed
corn of the interest in stamps.
151
00:09:09,715 --> 00:09:12,218
Okay, if stamps, in part,
are interesting because
152
00:09:12,251 --> 00:09:13,953
what the government chooses
153
00:09:13,986 --> 00:09:15,988
to put on a stamp signifies
something,
154
00:09:16,022 --> 00:09:17,723
well, if anyone can put anything
on a stamp,
155
00:09:17,757 --> 00:09:19,191
that probably signifies
something, too,
156
00:09:19,225 --> 00:09:20,826
but not something good.
157
00:09:20,860 --> 00:09:22,728
And how could you
collect them?
158
00:09:22,762 --> 00:09:25,398
You only have 24 hours in a day
that never expands.
159
00:09:25,431 --> 00:09:27,633
And when you look at the demands
on people...
160
00:09:27,667 --> 00:09:31,070
that my kid can sit down and
learn to fly and pilot his,
161
00:09:31,103 --> 00:09:34,874
you know, his plane on an
enormous beautiful TV
162
00:09:34,907 --> 00:09:36,375
and spend all day doing that,
163
00:09:36,409 --> 00:09:38,411
or playing basketball,
which he does,
164
00:09:38,444 --> 00:09:40,413
and just say, "Hey,
no, no, no, no,
165
00:09:40,446 --> 00:09:44,684
there's a basketball series of
stamps that Malta did in 1974,"
166
00:09:44,717 --> 00:09:48,020
that just doesn't work anymore,
you know.
167
00:09:48,054 --> 00:09:50,222
So, I can't sit here
and say to you,
168
00:09:50,256 --> 00:09:54,360
well, stamps are this fabulous
porthole into the world
169
00:09:54,393 --> 00:09:56,429
that people should have returned
to when there's
170
00:09:56,462 --> 00:09:59,699
so much more effective porthole
that they are turning to.
171
00:09:59,732 --> 00:10:01,968
You don't have to
force them at all.
172
00:10:02,001 --> 00:10:04,403
I do think that when we're
learning with the death of newspapers
173
00:10:04,437 --> 00:10:06,238
that, you know, the things we
thought were vital
174
00:10:06,272 --> 00:10:08,641
turned out to be just expendable
activities.
175
00:10:13,079 --> 00:10:15,381
I don't want to over romanticize
things,
176
00:10:15,414 --> 00:10:19,018
so I don't think that if this,
if this hobby fades,
177
00:10:19,051 --> 00:10:20,753
that it's going to represent
178
00:10:20,786 --> 00:10:24,123
some sort of signal lost to
humanity.
179
00:10:30,863 --> 00:10:36,202
[Douglas Weisz] I would be crushed if there
weren't stamp shows anymore,
180
00:10:36,235 --> 00:10:38,070
or organized philately,
181
00:10:38,104 --> 00:10:40,106
or the American Philatelic
Society.
182
00:10:40,139 --> 00:10:44,910
Philately and postal history
and the mail tells our history.
183
00:10:44,944 --> 00:10:47,279
We're missing just yet another
opportunity
184
00:10:47,313 --> 00:10:50,449
to learn something
and connect with each other
185
00:10:50,483 --> 00:10:52,351
if... if it disappears.
186
00:10:52,385 --> 00:10:55,254
I really think it matters a lot
to a lot of people.
187
00:10:57,089 --> 00:10:58,858
It matters to me.
188
00:11:22,281 --> 00:11:25,151
Before you had stamps, you would
write your letter,
189
00:11:25,184 --> 00:11:27,386
and you would fold it up
190
00:11:27,420 --> 00:11:29,321
and then you take another
piece of paper
191
00:11:29,355 --> 00:11:31,924
and you would cover up
that letter
192
00:11:31,957 --> 00:11:34,994
and seal it with a wax seal.
193
00:11:35,027 --> 00:11:37,029
You could send them prepaid,
194
00:11:37,063 --> 00:11:39,999
or you could send them
postage due,
195
00:11:40,032 --> 00:11:43,002
and the receiver
could refuse it
196
00:11:43,035 --> 00:11:46,038
but would pay for
the postage rate.
197
00:11:46,072 --> 00:11:48,541
So the first envelope was
in the 1830s,
198
00:11:48,574 --> 00:11:50,843
um, and they weren't
widely used
199
00:11:50,876 --> 00:11:54,013
because if you use
two pieces of paper
200
00:11:54,046 --> 00:11:56,015
in the beginning it was
more money.
201
00:11:56,048 --> 00:12:02,021
History and stamp collecting are
intertwined inextricably.
202
00:12:02,054 --> 00:12:05,858
Without history,
203
00:12:05,891 --> 00:12:08,360
you can't really be interested
in stamps,
204
00:12:08,394 --> 00:12:11,464
and stamps tell our history.
205
00:12:11,497 --> 00:12:14,500
The most fabulous piece of
postal history
206
00:12:14,533 --> 00:12:18,437
that I personally have ever
handled was a stamped letter
207
00:12:18,471 --> 00:12:23,542
from Samuel Maverick to his son
Nathaniel in Barbados in 1651.
208
00:12:23,576 --> 00:12:26,378
The first known letter from the
Colonies outbound
209
00:12:26,412 --> 00:12:29,515
and the first known letter
inbound to Barbados.
210
00:12:29,548 --> 00:12:32,218
Maverick, the first settler
of Boston,
211
00:12:32,251 --> 00:12:34,286
had the first home
on Noodle Island,
212
00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:35,921
which is now Logan Airport.
213
00:12:35,955 --> 00:12:38,090
The saying, "He's quite
a maverick,"
214
00:12:38,124 --> 00:12:41,193
comes from Samuel Maverick.
215
00:12:41,227 --> 00:12:44,396
It's awe-inspiring, actually,
216
00:12:44,430 --> 00:12:48,067
to hold history like that in
your hands.
217
00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:52,505
I feel like a custodian of these
things, not an owner,
218
00:12:52,538 --> 00:12:55,441
and it's a responsibility,
219
00:12:55,474 --> 00:12:57,943
it's a huge responsibility to
handle that.
220
00:12:57,977 --> 00:13:01,514
It's why people collect stamps
and covers.
221
00:13:01,547 --> 00:13:05,117
It's to learn about
our history.
222
00:13:05,151 --> 00:13:07,086
I'm really into New Orleans,
223
00:13:07,119 --> 00:13:10,489
so the more kind of things that
you show on your cover
224
00:13:10,523 --> 00:13:15,094
that make me feel like I'm here,
the happier I am.
225
00:13:15,127 --> 00:13:18,297
This is a two-sided cover
226
00:13:18,330 --> 00:13:21,233
from the Roosevelt Hotel
in the '60s.
227
00:13:21,267 --> 00:13:26,238
I think this was a $10 purchase,
but on the back of this cover,
228
00:13:26,272 --> 00:13:28,874
you see fishing in
Lake Pontchartrain on the Gulf,
229
00:13:28,908 --> 00:13:31,377
here's a swordfish,
horse racing,
230
00:13:31,410 --> 00:13:33,913
the Sazerac Bar,
which was very famous.
231
00:13:33,946 --> 00:13:36,415
Of course Mardi Gras festival
right here,
232
00:13:36,448 --> 00:13:39,185
and there's their hotel right
there, the Roosevelt.
233
00:13:39,218 --> 00:13:41,086
The Sugar Bowl,
234
00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,155
New Orleans is famous for the
Sugar Bowl even today.
235
00:13:43,189 --> 00:13:45,224
And this is back in the '60s.
236
00:13:45,257 --> 00:13:51,096
You have a whole a history
and a display of New Orleans
237
00:13:51,130 --> 00:13:54,066
on one... on one cover.
238
00:14:05,144 --> 00:14:09,648
I have no family, um, really.
239
00:14:09,682 --> 00:14:12,585
Not that they're not alive,
I just have no family.
240
00:14:12,618 --> 00:14:15,921
It's given me a community that
has become my friends
241
00:14:15,955 --> 00:14:18,524
and people that mean
a lot to me.
242
00:14:18,557 --> 00:14:20,192
I learned about what they were
collecting.
243
00:14:20,226 --> 00:14:22,127
I learned about them,
244
00:14:22,161 --> 00:14:24,597
and they were willing to share
their lives with me,
245
00:14:24,630 --> 00:14:29,001
so they've really become my...
my community.
246
00:14:29,034 --> 00:14:31,437
I'm really worried without
things like philately
247
00:14:31,470 --> 00:14:33,572
and euchre night on Tuesdays,
248
00:14:33,606 --> 00:14:36,108
that we're losing something,
249
00:14:36,141 --> 00:14:39,545
we're losing our culture here in
the United States,
250
00:14:39,578 --> 00:14:41,647
and I don't think you can
replace that
251
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,617
with Facebook or Twitter
or any of that.
252
00:14:44,650 --> 00:14:47,553
I think that our lack of
connection to each other
253
00:14:47,586 --> 00:14:52,458
is breeding fear and anger
and misunderstanding.
254
00:14:52,491 --> 00:14:54,293
People don't go
to stamp shows
255
00:14:54,326 --> 00:14:56,662
to collect the things
that you find there.
256
00:14:56,695 --> 00:15:00,966
They go to stamp shows to get
together, to be social.
257
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,503
I think it just gives everyone
a familiarity,
258
00:15:04,536 --> 00:15:06,438
something in common,
259
00:15:06,472 --> 00:15:09,608
a jumping-off point so that they
can have a community.
260
00:15:09,642 --> 00:15:11,977
I think we need
more community,
261
00:15:12,011 --> 00:15:14,113
and I think philately is
perfect.
262
00:15:14,146 --> 00:15:15,948
[music plays]
263
00:15:19,718 --> 00:15:23,055
[news reporter] Crowds of philatelists,
stamp collectors to you,
264
00:15:23,088 --> 00:15:25,357
attend the annual show of the
Michigan Stamp Club.
265
00:15:25,391 --> 00:15:28,627
Among them these two winners
of the World's Fair beauty contests.
266
00:15:28,661 --> 00:15:30,529
They wanted to get posted on
postage,
267
00:15:30,562 --> 00:15:33,232
that is, valuable postage
like this.
268
00:15:33,265 --> 00:15:35,668
[music plays]
269
00:16:21,146 --> 00:16:23,549
[Jim Forte]
I don't know why I collect,
270
00:16:23,582 --> 00:16:26,785
and I don't know why
anybody collects.
271
00:17:14,366 --> 00:17:17,302
When I got started, it was in
the middle of the 1960s,
272
00:17:17,336 --> 00:17:21,206
and the world was a much larger
place than it is now.
273
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,709
Probably my earliest collecting
memories
274
00:17:23,742 --> 00:17:27,646
is my father used to have
a giant jug of change,
275
00:17:27,679 --> 00:17:30,783
and back in the days when you
were five and six years old
276
00:17:30,816 --> 00:17:33,452
and you'd get up at 7:00
or 6:00 in the morning,
277
00:17:33,485 --> 00:17:35,687
I would sometimes go take that
jar of change
278
00:17:35,721 --> 00:17:38,457
and put all the coins
in date order,
279
00:17:38,490 --> 00:17:41,493
and so you clearly, you know,
you clearly
280
00:17:41,527 --> 00:17:44,396
have that kind of mentality,
you know?
281
00:17:44,430 --> 00:17:48,667
There's definitely a collecting
gene, a collecting personality,
282
00:17:48,700 --> 00:17:51,403
and so, you know,
stamps seem to fill it in.
283
00:17:51,437 --> 00:17:55,474
And it really fulfilled the need
to make order out of chaos.
284
00:17:55,507 --> 00:17:58,710
And a friend of mine had
a collection,
285
00:17:58,744 --> 00:18:00,612
and I remember looking at his
stamps,
286
00:18:00,646 --> 00:18:03,482
and especially looking at some
of the, you know,
287
00:18:03,515 --> 00:18:05,684
engraved British Commonwealth
stamps
288
00:18:05,717 --> 00:18:08,387
from places like Malta
and Cyprus,
289
00:18:08,420 --> 00:18:10,722
and it just seemed so exotic.
290
00:18:10,756 --> 00:18:12,825
I got an album and I got
291
00:18:12,858 --> 00:18:16,361
a H.E. Harris big bag
of worldwide stamps
292
00:18:16,395 --> 00:18:19,498
and was flummoxed on how to get
them off of the paper.
293
00:18:19,531 --> 00:18:22,701
I mean, it was a big learning
experience.
294
00:18:22,734 --> 00:18:26,338
H.E. Harris sent out this
colorful flyer
295
00:18:26,371 --> 00:18:28,774
for this citation album,
296
00:18:28,807 --> 00:18:32,744
and they showed this and it was
open to a page of Angola
297
00:18:32,778 --> 00:18:35,848
where they had dozens of these
colorful stamps.
298
00:18:35,881 --> 00:18:38,383
And you know, there was no point
at that time
299
00:18:38,417 --> 00:18:41,687
where I could afford that album
or those stamps,
300
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,223
and I would look at it,
and they always just...
301
00:18:44,256 --> 00:18:45,691
just sort of liked them.
302
00:18:45,724 --> 00:18:47,426
I mean, it just filled
a special place.
303
00:18:47,459 --> 00:18:49,595
And I don't know why.
304
00:18:51,897 --> 00:18:53,966
H.E. Harris published
a great amount
305
00:18:53,999 --> 00:18:55,801
of number of things on
collecting,
306
00:18:55,834 --> 00:18:57,536
and one of the things they
suggested
307
00:18:57,569 --> 00:18:59,571
was forming a stamp club.
308
00:18:59,605 --> 00:19:02,307
Well, the problem is I might
have known 10 or 20 people,
309
00:19:02,341 --> 00:19:04,910
and there might have been one or
two stamp collectors.
310
00:19:04,943 --> 00:19:09,414
So that really didn't make it
feasible to start a stamp club.
311
00:19:09,448 --> 00:19:13,819
So, it wasn't very, it wasn't--
it was never a social thing.
312
00:19:13,852 --> 00:19:19,258
I mean, it was definitely
something that I did on my own.
313
00:19:19,291 --> 00:19:22,327
I've always been someone who was
more to themselves,
314
00:19:22,361 --> 00:19:25,597
and stamps worked well on
a solitary basis.
315
00:19:25,631 --> 00:19:28,467
I mean, I didn't do too much
with it
316
00:19:28,500 --> 00:19:30,302
for the years I was in college.
317
00:19:30,335 --> 00:19:32,337
Well, that's not true.
318
00:19:32,371 --> 00:19:34,406
I got back into it after a
couple years when I realized
319
00:19:34,439 --> 00:19:37,476
college was a lot easier than
everybody said it was gonna be.
320
00:19:37,509 --> 00:19:39,778
But I always assumed I'd be
doing something else.
321
00:19:39,811 --> 00:19:42,414
It would be like most people,
would be a hobby business,
322
00:19:42,447 --> 00:19:44,249
but when I tried to make it
in the real world,
323
00:19:44,283 --> 00:19:46,552
I found out I wasn't very
successful.
324
00:20:06,538 --> 00:20:08,707
After, you know,
running through
325
00:20:08,740 --> 00:20:10,475
a whole series of
different jobs,
326
00:20:10,509 --> 00:20:14,279
each one less successful than
the last,
327
00:20:14,313 --> 00:20:17,382
what was left was buying
and selling stamps.
328
00:20:17,416 --> 00:20:19,384
I mean, the service businesses
is very difficult.
329
00:20:19,418 --> 00:20:21,486
You know, unless you're
the kind of--
330
00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:24,389
unless you're a good salesman of
yourself and of your service.
331
00:20:24,423 --> 00:20:27,326
A business where you're
selling product,
332
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,328
I mean, the bottom line is,
333
00:20:29,361 --> 00:20:31,496
that you're selling the same
product as everybody else.
334
00:20:31,530 --> 00:20:34,433
It becomes difficult to
differentiate yourself.
335
00:20:34,466 --> 00:20:36,301
And quite frankly, what I've
always seen
336
00:20:36,335 --> 00:20:38,537
is the people that are
successful
337
00:20:38,570 --> 00:20:41,640
are the people that other people
want to do business with.
338
00:20:41,673 --> 00:20:43,875
I remember once I tried
looking up--
339
00:20:43,909 --> 00:20:46,812
I had some spare time, and I did
a Google search
340
00:20:46,845 --> 00:20:48,747
on this psychology of
collecting.
341
00:20:48,780 --> 00:20:54,720
Turns out that all I saw was,
you know, was, um...
342
00:20:54,753 --> 00:20:57,889
What's the right word?
Uh...
343
00:20:57,923 --> 00:21:01,026
It was only about people
who had problems.
344
00:21:01,059 --> 00:21:05,497
So it wasn't very pleasant to
read that. [laughing]
345
00:21:13,805 --> 00:21:16,608
[indistinct chatting]
346
00:21:21,947 --> 00:21:24,916
I'm not what you would call
a "people person",
347
00:21:24,950 --> 00:21:29,588
There's no question that there
is such a thing as emotional intelligence,
348
00:21:29,621 --> 00:21:31,523
and mine is pretty low,
349
00:21:31,556 --> 00:21:33,558
But at the end of the day,
350
00:21:33,592 --> 00:21:35,594
what's nice is when you're
dealing with the collectible,
351
00:21:35,627 --> 00:21:38,964
when the product is what's
important
352
00:21:38,997 --> 00:21:42,601
and it differentiates you
from the next person,
353
00:21:42,634 --> 00:21:45,370
you know, it allows you to
overcome
354
00:21:45,404 --> 00:21:48,640
your lack of emotional
intelligence.
355
00:21:48,674 --> 00:21:52,411
It makes a person feel good
to have these items
356
00:21:52,444 --> 00:21:54,946
and to have these items in this
particular order,
357
00:21:54,980 --> 00:21:58,850
or to have the items, you know,
in a particular manner.
358
00:21:58,884 --> 00:22:00,585
The, you know, to find my--
359
00:22:00,619 --> 00:22:03,622
I think I don't--
How can you tell...
360
00:22:03,655 --> 00:22:07,526
It's hard to suggest
what particular emotion a person gets,
361
00:22:07,559 --> 00:22:11,630
but there's no question that
the collecting gene,
362
00:22:11,663 --> 00:22:14,833
you know, is an emotional gene.
363
00:22:14,866 --> 00:22:17,869
I never get tired of talking
about stamps or Zeppelins
364
00:22:17,903 --> 00:22:20,639
or the people in the hobby
or stamp shows
365
00:22:20,672 --> 00:22:23,075
or where I've been
or anything else
366
00:22:23,108 --> 00:22:24,976
that relates to stamps
and mail.
367
00:22:25,010 --> 00:22:27,579
[music plays]
368
00:22:58,910 --> 00:23:00,879
My mother always tells
the story:
369
00:23:00,912 --> 00:23:03,515
I didn't play with dolls in
the traditional way.
370
00:23:03,548 --> 00:23:05,117
Instead I lined them up
on a shelf,
371
00:23:05,150 --> 00:23:07,085
and every day
I rearranged them.
372
00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:10,088
I collected coins with pennies
and looked for dates.
373
00:23:10,122 --> 00:23:13,225
I collected stamps, put them in
a box, collected sea shells.
374
00:23:13,258 --> 00:23:15,460
I just collected everything,
375
00:23:15,494 --> 00:23:18,697
and as I would go to various
places where I could buy things,
376
00:23:18,730 --> 00:23:20,232
coin shows, stamp shows,
377
00:23:20,265 --> 00:23:22,701
antique shows, flea markets,
whatever,
378
00:23:22,734 --> 00:23:25,904
what I found was the exhibitors
were always the dealers,
379
00:23:25,937 --> 00:23:28,106
except when I went to
a stamp show.
380
00:23:28,140 --> 00:23:31,143
At a stamp show, the collector
was the exhibitor.
381
00:23:31,176 --> 00:23:33,545
They could put their stuff on
display,
382
00:23:33,578 --> 00:23:35,814
and that's what really
excited me.
383
00:23:35,847 --> 00:23:37,816
When I was a teenager,
384
00:23:37,849 --> 00:23:39,885
my grandfather gave me some
photographs of Zeppelins.
385
00:23:39,918 --> 00:23:41,920
I had no idea what a Zeppelin
was.
386
00:23:41,953 --> 00:23:44,556
First thing I did was I went to
the public library,
387
00:23:44,589 --> 00:23:48,693
and I looked up a very classic
book about the Graf Zeppelin,
388
00:23:48,727 --> 00:23:50,629
and I just read it so eagerly,
389
00:23:50,662 --> 00:23:52,731
and I just was amazed
390
00:23:52,764 --> 00:23:55,801
that this entire part
of history existed,
391
00:23:55,834 --> 00:23:57,869
and I didn't know anything
about it.
392
00:23:57,903 --> 00:24:00,806
So I started to look for
everything I could about Zeppelins.
393
00:24:00,839 --> 00:24:04,776
And of course I'm on a teenager
budget, so what could I find?
394
00:24:04,810 --> 00:24:06,711
I could find some picture
postcards,
395
00:24:06,745 --> 00:24:08,914
could find a couple
inexpensive stamps,
396
00:24:08,947 --> 00:24:11,917
I could find an occasional,
maybe, bookmark
397
00:24:11,950 --> 00:24:14,286
or something that wasn't too
costly,
398
00:24:14,319 --> 00:24:18,990
but every piece I've found added
to this bigger, growing story.
399
00:24:19,024 --> 00:24:22,761
And when I found out that they
carried mail,
400
00:24:22,794 --> 00:24:25,096
and I actually bought my first
piece of mail
401
00:24:25,130 --> 00:24:27,098
for a couple of dollars and held
it in my hands,
402
00:24:27,132 --> 00:24:29,768
it was the first time I held
something
403
00:24:29,801 --> 00:24:31,736
that had been on a Zeppelin,
404
00:24:31,770 --> 00:24:34,039
and it just, just grabbed me
405
00:24:34,072 --> 00:24:36,641
and it's held me tight
ever since.
406
00:24:52,657 --> 00:24:55,093
And perhaps
the highlight moment
407
00:24:55,126 --> 00:24:57,028
when I was only, like,
21 years old
408
00:24:57,062 --> 00:24:58,763
is I bought a piece of mail
409
00:24:58,797 --> 00:25:01,600
that survived the crash of
the Hindenburg,
410
00:25:01,633 --> 00:25:04,336
and it was like a major,
major acquisition
411
00:25:04,369 --> 00:25:06,137
at that stage in my life.
412
00:25:06,171 --> 00:25:08,740
When many people are out looking
to buy a car,
413
00:25:08,773 --> 00:25:11,109
I was looking to buy a piece of
mail from the Hindenburg.
414
00:25:13,678 --> 00:25:16,982
There were over 17,000 pieces of
mail on the Hindenburg.
415
00:25:17,015 --> 00:25:18,884
After the disaster,
416
00:25:18,917 --> 00:25:22,254
they've found only about 200
burnt pieces of mail
417
00:25:22,287 --> 00:25:24,356
that survived in the wreckage,
418
00:25:24,389 --> 00:25:27,826
and they put their hands in and
they grabbed those out
419
00:25:27,859 --> 00:25:29,728
and then they sorted
through them
420
00:25:29,761 --> 00:25:32,831
and made lists of the people
who are the addressees,
421
00:25:32,864 --> 00:25:34,699
and then they had
to figure out,
422
00:25:34,733 --> 00:25:36,668
how are we going to return this
to these people?
423
00:25:36,701 --> 00:25:39,037
And then they went back and
found a few more pieces.
424
00:25:39,070 --> 00:25:41,306
So these burnt pieces of mail
425
00:25:41,339 --> 00:25:45,143
that survived the first disaster
ever caught on film
426
00:25:45,176 --> 00:25:48,880
are just among the greatest
treasures in our hobby.
427
00:25:57,255 --> 00:26:01,192
So I actually started out
buying, for several dollars,
428
00:26:01,226 --> 00:26:03,862
uh, pieces of mail
when other people might have
429
00:26:03,895 --> 00:26:07,766
spent that couple dollars to buy
a thousand stamps in a packet.
430
00:26:07,799 --> 00:26:10,869
Later, I actually started some
stamp albums,
431
00:26:10,902 --> 00:26:13,872
because what I found was when I
was meeting other philatelists,
432
00:26:13,905 --> 00:26:17,108
they were so engrossed with
their stamp albums,
433
00:26:17,142 --> 00:26:19,177
they kind of motivated me.
434
00:26:21,279 --> 00:26:23,248
For me, stamps have
opened the door.
435
00:26:23,281 --> 00:26:26,885
When I travel worldwide, I meet
such exciting people,
436
00:26:26,918 --> 00:26:30,121
I don't know how I could ever
meet these people in my life
437
00:26:30,155 --> 00:26:32,123
if it wasn't through philately.
438
00:26:32,157 --> 00:26:35,060
And I can actually go to a stamp
show in a foreign country
439
00:26:35,093 --> 00:26:37,162
and know over a hundred people,
440
00:26:37,195 --> 00:26:39,197
and they invite me into their
homes.
441
00:26:39,230 --> 00:26:42,167
I get all kinds of experiences
in life.
442
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,903
It's that getting off
the beaten track
443
00:26:44,936 --> 00:26:46,838
and having the exposure to
things
444
00:26:46,871 --> 00:26:48,974
that you just don't even know
are there.
445
00:26:49,007 --> 00:26:50,909
You can't even put them on
your bucket list
446
00:26:50,942 --> 00:26:53,411
because it's only through the
stamps taking you there
447
00:26:53,445 --> 00:26:55,780
that you find out things even
exist.
448
00:26:55,814 --> 00:26:59,784
So they have truly been a door
opener for me in my life.
449
00:26:59,818 --> 00:27:03,288
I have a Ph.D. in American
History,
450
00:27:03,321 --> 00:27:05,991
I have a lifelong devotion to
the hobby,
451
00:27:06,024 --> 00:27:09,327
I have lifelong experience
in philately,
452
00:27:09,361 --> 00:27:11,930
and all that knowledge pulled
together
453
00:27:11,963 --> 00:27:15,166
made me an ideal candidate to
come and be in charge
454
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,068
of our nation's stamp
collection,
455
00:27:17,102 --> 00:27:19,137
as the curator of our nation's
stamp collection.
456
00:27:19,170 --> 00:27:23,141
That is this collection of every
citizen of the United States.
457
00:27:23,174 --> 00:27:25,143
And we have over 6,000,000
items.
458
00:27:25,176 --> 00:27:28,346
The collection is well
over a hundred years old.
459
00:27:28,380 --> 00:27:30,448
I'm only the tenth curator
hired
460
00:27:30,482 --> 00:27:32,317
to be in charge of this
collection.
461
00:27:32,350 --> 00:27:35,020
So it's a great honor,
but it's great fun,
462
00:27:35,053 --> 00:27:37,022
because, you know,
I get to look at like,
463
00:27:37,055 --> 00:27:38,890
6,000,000 items and say, okay,
464
00:27:38,923 --> 00:27:42,293
what here deserves to be written
about, researched,
465
00:27:42,327 --> 00:27:47,432
used in an exhibit, brought out
to the public in new ways?
466
00:27:47,465 --> 00:27:50,402
I absolutely believe in
the collector's gene.
467
00:27:50,435 --> 00:27:52,837
I also believe people can learn
to collect.
468
00:27:52,871 --> 00:27:57,208
I think people can adopt their
interests in a variety of ways,
469
00:27:57,242 --> 00:28:00,979
but I think there's a large
group of the population
470
00:28:01,012 --> 00:28:04,115
where they are driven toward
collecting.
471
00:28:04,149 --> 00:28:07,185
It's a way that they define
themselves,
472
00:28:07,218 --> 00:28:09,921
but it's a way that they take
the skills they have
473
00:28:09,954 --> 00:28:12,157
and the interest they have and
the energy they have
474
00:28:12,190 --> 00:28:14,993
and they channel it into one
direction
475
00:28:15,026 --> 00:28:16,494
in such a positive way.
476
00:28:16,528 --> 00:28:18,396
And the great thing
in our hobby is,
477
00:28:18,430 --> 00:28:20,865
when you meet another person
with this gene,
478
00:28:20,899 --> 00:28:22,901
you don't have to justify
who you are,
479
00:28:22,934 --> 00:28:25,236
why you do what you do or how
you do what you do,
480
00:28:25,270 --> 00:28:27,405
we get it right away!
481
00:28:27,439 --> 00:28:29,340
Just start, just think of
something,
482
00:28:29,374 --> 00:28:31,776
something you like,
something of interest to you.
483
00:28:31,810 --> 00:28:34,012
Is it the American flag?
Is it the USA?
484
00:28:34,045 --> 00:28:36,014
Have you always wanted
to go to Chile?
485
00:28:36,047 --> 00:28:38,850
Have you, uh, do you like
tea pots?
486
00:28:38,883 --> 00:28:40,251
It doesn't matter what
the subject is,
487
00:28:40,285 --> 00:28:42,020
it doesn't matter
where it is,
488
00:28:42,053 --> 00:28:43,555
it doesn't matter
the historical period.
489
00:28:43,588 --> 00:28:46,858
It doesn't matter,
because I guarantee you
490
00:28:46,891 --> 00:28:48,960
there is something in
philately for you.
491
00:28:48,993 --> 00:28:51,262
[music plays]
492
00:29:04,209 --> 00:29:06,277
It's a passion, you know,
493
00:29:06,311 --> 00:29:09,581
and if you're lucky enough in
life, you'd develop a passion.
494
00:29:09,614 --> 00:29:11,316
You'll find something
that you just,
495
00:29:11,349 --> 00:29:13,952
you just can't live without.
496
00:29:15,587 --> 00:29:17,489
It was my dad pretty much
that got me
497
00:29:17,522 --> 00:29:19,891
into stamp collecting as
a young, young boy.
498
00:29:19,924 --> 00:29:21,926
He would buy stamps for me,
499
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:24,596
but also he was in the Navy,
so he would receive letters
500
00:29:24,629 --> 00:29:27,465
and correspondence from friends
all over the world.
501
00:29:27,499 --> 00:29:29,134
And so, of course, you know,
we would collect,
502
00:29:29,167 --> 00:29:31,002
cut the stamps off
the envelopes
503
00:29:31,035 --> 00:29:32,570
and talk about the countries
they came from
504
00:29:32,604 --> 00:29:34,839
and then put them
in the album.
505
00:29:34,873 --> 00:29:36,508
And then when I went away to
school and went to university,
506
00:29:36,541 --> 00:29:38,510
you put that sort of
thing away.
507
00:29:38,543 --> 00:29:42,347
About five years, I was in my
mid-20s, I would guess,
508
00:29:42,380 --> 00:29:44,549
I was in an accident,
I hurt my neck,
509
00:29:44,582 --> 00:29:46,584
and I ended up having to be in
bed for about a month.
510
00:29:46,618 --> 00:29:49,921
And after the first week, I was
going stir-crazy of boredom
511
00:29:49,954 --> 00:29:52,423
and remembered I had this old
collection in the closet
512
00:29:52,457 --> 00:29:55,059
and pulled this thing out
and started looking at it.
513
00:29:55,093 --> 00:29:57,262
And, as opposed to when
you're a young person,
514
00:29:57,295 --> 00:30:01,099
you sort of just collect
randomly items from around the world,
515
00:30:01,132 --> 00:30:03,268
whatever comes in the mail,
things like that.
516
00:30:03,301 --> 00:30:05,003
And obviously when
I went back to
517
00:30:05,036 --> 00:30:07,405
this collection and started
looking at it,
518
00:30:07,438 --> 00:30:09,908
I was viewing it with a,
you know, with adult eyes
519
00:30:09,941 --> 00:30:12,043
and from a totally different
perspective.
520
00:30:17,682 --> 00:30:19,417
I think the first thing that
attracted me
521
00:30:19,450 --> 00:30:22,053
was simply the artistry.
522
00:30:25,557 --> 00:30:28,459
The engraving is absolutely
magnificent.
523
00:30:28,493 --> 00:30:30,428
And as you look closer
at this stuff,
524
00:30:30,461 --> 00:30:33,598
you start realizing how
remarkable it is.
525
00:30:33,631 --> 00:30:38,002
And what happened is
that you...
526
00:30:38,036 --> 00:30:41,539
you start... small,
527
00:30:41,573 --> 00:30:44,275
and you just collect
what you like.
528
00:30:48,346 --> 00:30:51,349
So I started collecting the
general stamps of Great Britain.
529
00:30:51,382 --> 00:30:54,519
And while the modern stamps
told more stories
530
00:30:54,552 --> 00:30:57,455
because of the subject matter
than the early stamps,
531
00:30:57,488 --> 00:30:59,457
the Victorian ones,
in particular,
532
00:30:59,490 --> 00:31:02,260
had this depth and variety
533
00:31:02,293 --> 00:31:04,529
that I started becoming
addicted to.
534
00:31:29,988 --> 00:31:33,057
Prior to 1840,
the recipient of the mail
535
00:31:33,091 --> 00:31:36,227
had to pay the cost of
the postage.
536
00:31:36,261 --> 00:31:39,030
And there's a-- there's an
apocryphal story,
537
00:31:39,063 --> 00:31:41,332
whether or not it's true,
I don't know,
538
00:31:41,366 --> 00:31:43,968
but a man named Rowland Hill,
539
00:31:44,002 --> 00:31:45,703
who was in England,
an Englishman,
540
00:31:45,737 --> 00:31:50,174
saw a young lady being delivered
a letter by a postman,
541
00:31:50,208 --> 00:31:53,144
and she took the letter
and she looked at it,
542
00:31:53,177 --> 00:31:56,114
and then she gave it back to
the postman and said,
543
00:31:56,147 --> 00:31:58,016
"No, I'm not paying for it, but
you know, thank you anyway."
544
00:31:58,049 --> 00:32:01,019
A shilling for the letter
indeed!
545
00:32:01,052 --> 00:32:04,222
You can tell the Post Office
to take it back to London
546
00:32:04,255 --> 00:32:06,357
and I hope it costs them
a shilling!
547
00:32:06,391 --> 00:32:08,259
And off he went.
548
00:32:08,293 --> 00:32:10,328
And so Rowland Hill walked up to
the young lady and said,
549
00:32:10,361 --> 00:32:12,363
"Well, you know,
what's going on here?"
550
00:32:12,397 --> 00:32:14,399
And she said, "Oh, well, it's
a letter for my boyfriend,
551
00:32:14,432 --> 00:32:19,070
"and, uh, on the envelope,
he writes sort of secret codes
552
00:32:19,103 --> 00:32:21,406
"to me to let me know that
everything's okay,
553
00:32:21,439 --> 00:32:24,342
"and I can look at the envelope,
know he's oaky
554
00:32:24,375 --> 00:32:26,344
and I don't have to pay
anything for it."
555
00:32:26,377 --> 00:32:28,413
Rowland thought about this
for a long time.
556
00:32:28,446 --> 00:32:30,581
As I say, this is an
apocryphal story.
557
00:32:30,615 --> 00:32:32,617
I mean, there are a whole host
of other reasons
558
00:32:32,650 --> 00:32:34,686
why postage stamps
were invented,
559
00:32:34,719 --> 00:32:36,754
but that's one of the stories
behind it.
560
00:32:36,788 --> 00:32:40,291
The population has increased by
almost one-third
561
00:32:40,325 --> 00:32:42,460
in the last 30 years,
562
00:32:42,493 --> 00:32:44,429
and yet there are no more
letters
563
00:32:44,462 --> 00:32:47,465
sent through the post then when
I was a boy.
564
00:32:47,498 --> 00:32:50,501
I tell you, sir, as a commercial
undertaking,
565
00:32:50,535 --> 00:32:52,370
the Post Office is a failure.
566
00:32:52,403 --> 00:32:56,274
Post is too expensive, people
can't afford it.
567
00:32:56,307 --> 00:33:01,212
Now my plan is to sell to the
public some kind of a mark
568
00:33:01,245 --> 00:33:03,247
which they could put on
the letters themselves
569
00:33:03,281 --> 00:33:06,217
to show that they've
been paid for.
570
00:33:06,250 --> 00:33:08,519
A printed cover,
571
00:33:08,553 --> 00:33:11,289
a small sticky label.
572
00:33:11,322 --> 00:33:13,758
In fact, a kind of a stamp.
573
00:33:13,791 --> 00:33:17,762
The Penny Postal Reform Act
of 1840
574
00:33:17,795 --> 00:33:19,797
changed the way that mail
was delivered,
575
00:33:19,831 --> 00:33:22,667
and changed-- for the first
time, mail was prepaid.
576
00:33:22,700 --> 00:33:25,470
And to do this, they decided
that you--
577
00:33:25,503 --> 00:33:28,072
he invented the concept
of using a stamp.
578
00:33:28,106 --> 00:33:30,308
[man]
Rowland Hill's plan was adopted,
579
00:33:30,341 --> 00:33:33,544
and penny postage came into
course.
580
00:33:33,578 --> 00:33:35,380
Until the stamps were ready,
581
00:33:35,413 --> 00:33:38,316
people handed in their letter
with a penny.
582
00:33:38,349 --> 00:33:42,320
The stamps were urgently needed
to simplify the work.
583
00:33:42,353 --> 00:33:44,288
The treasury held
a competition,
584
00:33:44,322 --> 00:33:47,325
inviting the public to send in
designs for a stamp.
585
00:33:47,358 --> 00:33:50,762
Over 2,700 entries
were received.
586
00:33:50,795 --> 00:33:53,331
None of them was considered
satisfactory.
587
00:33:53,364 --> 00:33:57,435
So Rowland Hill,
in collaboration with a firm of printers,
588
00:33:57,468 --> 00:33:59,804
made this design.
589
00:33:59,837 --> 00:34:02,340
[Ian] In Britain,
everyone knows of the Penny Black,
590
00:34:02,373 --> 00:34:04,842
which, of course, was the
world's first postage stamp.
591
00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:07,545
So because Britain was
the first country
592
00:34:07,578 --> 00:34:09,847
to come up with the idea
of the stamp,
593
00:34:09,881 --> 00:34:11,649
Britain remains the only country
in the world
594
00:34:11,682 --> 00:34:14,218
that doesn't have to put its
name on a stamp.
595
00:34:14,252 --> 00:34:17,121
Every other country in the world
does, Britain doesn't.
596
00:34:17,155 --> 00:34:20,658
But there is always a picture
of the reigning monarch.
597
00:34:20,691 --> 00:34:23,127
I was collecting Great Britain,
and I'd reached the point
598
00:34:23,161 --> 00:34:26,764
where the only material that was
left in the catalog as it were
599
00:34:26,798 --> 00:34:29,700
or in the spaces in my album
was material I couldn't afford.
600
00:34:29,734 --> 00:34:31,869
It was expensive
or it was rare.
601
00:34:31,903 --> 00:34:35,173
And so I started looking at what
was called the Back of the Book.
602
00:34:35,206 --> 00:34:38,443
These are officials and other
types of stamps
603
00:34:38,476 --> 00:34:41,212
that are not specifically used
for postage,
604
00:34:41,245 --> 00:34:43,881
and there's a whole series of
stamps that were used,
605
00:34:43,915 --> 00:34:46,150
were called overprints.
606
00:34:46,184 --> 00:34:48,453
And these were basic stamps that
had, for one reason or other,
607
00:34:48,486 --> 00:34:52,223
printing done upon them to be
used for different purposes
608
00:34:52,256 --> 00:34:53,825
or for different rates.
609
00:34:53,858 --> 00:34:55,927
And these more affordable.
610
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:57,695
And I started filling them in
611
00:34:57,728 --> 00:35:00,398
and actually completed one
section.
612
00:35:00,431 --> 00:35:02,900
It's called the British Offices
in China,
613
00:35:02,934 --> 00:35:06,204
which basically is Hong Kong
stamps of the 1900s
614
00:35:06,237 --> 00:35:08,406
that had the word "China"
printed on them.
615
00:35:08,439 --> 00:35:10,875
[music plays]
616
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:20,785
I was at a stamp show one day
and was talking to a dealer
617
00:35:20,818 --> 00:35:23,654
and he said, "Well, you know,
you've got one of these, right?"
618
00:35:23,688 --> 00:35:25,389
And he pulls out this stamp,
619
00:35:25,423 --> 00:35:27,892
and it's a one-cent stamp,
one-penny stamp,
620
00:35:27,925 --> 00:35:31,896
and it's, uh--
the crown is broken.
621
00:35:31,929 --> 00:35:34,265
I said, "No, I don't
have this."
622
00:35:34,298 --> 00:35:36,434
And so he started spouting off,
"Well, you know,
623
00:35:36,467 --> 00:35:38,769
"you've got the inverted
watermark and you've got this."
624
00:35:38,803 --> 00:35:41,339
And I said, "Well, no.
What are you talking about?"
625
00:35:41,372 --> 00:35:43,441
And he said, "Well,
how are you collecting?
626
00:35:43,474 --> 00:35:45,643
Are you using one of the great
reference works?"
627
00:35:45,676 --> 00:35:47,979
And I said, "Well, I'm using
the standard catalog,
628
00:35:48,012 --> 00:35:49,814
the Scott catalog."
629
00:35:49,847 --> 00:35:51,549
And he sort of rolled his eyes
a little bit,
630
00:35:51,582 --> 00:35:53,518
and you could see I haven't
figured out...
631
00:35:53,551 --> 00:35:55,853
I really didn't know
an awful lot.
632
00:35:55,887 --> 00:35:58,556
And he said, "Well,
you should call the American Philatelic Society
633
00:35:58,589 --> 00:36:02,460
and they've got,
if you're interested in this,
they have information."
634
00:36:02,493 --> 00:36:04,462
It was extraordinary,
it was eye-opening,
635
00:36:04,495 --> 00:36:06,731
because suddenly I realized
that, you know--
636
00:36:06,764 --> 00:36:08,733
I barely begun to scratch
the surface
637
00:36:08,766 --> 00:36:10,001
of what I was actually
collecting.
638
00:36:10,034 --> 00:36:11,969
There was so much more to it.
639
00:36:12,003 --> 00:36:14,472
It wasn't just the art,
it was the story of the stamps
640
00:36:14,505 --> 00:36:17,975
and how they were used and the
rates that they paid
641
00:36:18,009 --> 00:36:20,678
and why they were even
overprinted in the first place.
642
00:36:20,711 --> 00:36:23,681
And the more I started to sort
of dig into this,
643
00:36:23,714 --> 00:36:26,751
the more I found out that
actually wasn't known.
644
00:36:26,784 --> 00:36:28,953
And suddenly the light bulbs
went off.
645
00:36:28,986 --> 00:36:30,821
I mean this was
the coolest bit.
646
00:36:30,855 --> 00:36:32,523
When you, when you find
something
647
00:36:32,557 --> 00:36:34,358
and it's not in the book,
648
00:36:34,392 --> 00:36:36,561
it's not in a catalog,
it's not in a journal.
649
00:36:36,594 --> 00:36:38,696
And you suddenly realize you've
found something
650
00:36:38,729 --> 00:36:41,499
that nobody's found before.
651
00:36:41,532 --> 00:36:44,302
And it just...
652
00:36:44,335 --> 00:36:46,938
Well, you're screwed.
[laughs]
653
00:36:46,971 --> 00:36:49,507
You're absolutely
doomed at this point,
654
00:36:49,540 --> 00:36:53,544
because suddenly this passion
hits you.
655
00:36:53,578 --> 00:36:56,681
There was something
that only I knew
656
00:36:56,714 --> 00:36:58,549
or I'd figured out or found
657
00:36:58,583 --> 00:37:00,518
and that you can share with
somebody else and say,
658
00:37:00,551 --> 00:37:03,454
"Hey, look, you know, this is
really cool stuff."
659
00:37:04,822 --> 00:37:06,591
This is the Broken Crown.
660
00:37:06,624 --> 00:37:08,626
That right there
661
00:37:08,659 --> 00:37:11,729
is the stamp that started the
whole thing off, you know?
662
00:37:11,762 --> 00:37:13,998
Why? Because the crown
is missing,
663
00:37:14,031 --> 00:37:15,900
Half the crown's cut off.
664
00:37:18,736 --> 00:37:20,871
Seems basic,
seems simple,
665
00:37:20,905 --> 00:37:24,041
but for some reason, that set
this whole thing in motion.
666
00:37:24,075 --> 00:37:27,545
You know, so from what was
one page of stamps,
667
00:37:27,578 --> 00:37:31,549
you know, it turned into book
after book after book.
668
00:37:31,582 --> 00:37:33,851
And I'm not stopping
anytime soon.
669
00:37:33,884 --> 00:37:38,656
This was the Broken Crown,
which was the first major error
670
00:37:38,689 --> 00:37:40,725
to be discovered on these
stamps.
671
00:37:40,758 --> 00:37:42,994
What is interesting is,
as I said earlier about
672
00:37:43,027 --> 00:37:46,797
how different printings of the
stamps were different colors,
673
00:37:46,831 --> 00:37:48,899
what makes this really fun
is that we know
674
00:37:48,933 --> 00:37:51,068
there were three printings
of the one penny.
675
00:37:51,102 --> 00:37:55,640
So the first printing was this
sort of regular brown color,
676
00:37:55,673 --> 00:37:57,508
and there's the broken crown.
677
00:37:57,541 --> 00:37:59,543
So we know it appeared on
the first printing.
678
00:37:59,577 --> 00:38:02,880
The second printing was this
sort of reddish brown color.
679
00:38:02,913 --> 00:38:04,782
And there's the broken crown.
680
00:38:04,815 --> 00:38:06,784
So we know it was still on
the second printing.
681
00:38:06,817 --> 00:38:08,686
But this is where it gets
really cool.
682
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,555
This is the third printing,
it's the dark-brown.
683
00:38:11,589 --> 00:38:13,124
Exactly the same position.
684
00:38:13,157 --> 00:38:15,526
The stamp is exactly
the same position.
685
00:38:15,559 --> 00:38:16,994
The crown has been fixed.
686
00:38:17,028 --> 00:38:20,731
So now we know that
at some point
687
00:38:20,765 --> 00:38:22,767
between that printing
and that printing,
688
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,370
they fixed it.
689
00:38:26,404 --> 00:38:27,805
That's awesome!
690
00:38:34,845 --> 00:38:37,448
So what that led to, of course,
was the trip
691
00:38:37,481 --> 00:38:39,684
to the British Museum and the
British Library,
692
00:38:39,717 --> 00:38:41,085
where I sat and went through
microfilms
693
00:38:41,118 --> 00:38:42,953
for days and days and days
694
00:38:42,987 --> 00:38:45,623
trying to figure out what
happened on this stuff.
695
00:38:45,656 --> 00:38:47,892
Who reported it?
How did this happen?
696
00:38:47,925 --> 00:38:49,627
And I came across some
correspondence
697
00:38:49,660 --> 00:38:51,629
from the postmaster
in Shanghai,
698
00:38:51,662 --> 00:38:55,766
you know, in-- I think it was
1920, 1921,
699
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,002
writing back and saying,
"Hey, you know,
700
00:38:58,035 --> 00:38:59,737
"we just discovered this.
701
00:38:59,770 --> 00:39:01,972
"How come you guys
never noticed this?"
702
00:39:02,006 --> 00:39:06,410
And, uh, it was this little
postman or postmaster in Shanghai
703
00:39:06,444 --> 00:39:08,412
was the first one to
report this back.
704
00:39:08,446 --> 00:39:10,648
So the printers, you know,
the post office got annoyed,
705
00:39:10,681 --> 00:39:12,550
and the printers fixed it.
706
00:39:12,583 --> 00:39:13,851
You know, suddenly you've got
this whole story,
707
00:39:13,884 --> 00:39:15,720
all over one stamp.
708
00:39:15,753 --> 00:39:17,755
Brilliant.
709
00:39:28,499 --> 00:39:33,037
There's a stamp that I've wanted
since I was a little boy,
710
00:39:33,070 --> 00:39:37,675
and it has nothing to do with
either Queen Victoria stamps
711
00:39:37,708 --> 00:39:39,677
or British offices in China,
712
00:39:39,710 --> 00:39:41,912
but it's called
the Tyrian Plum.
713
00:39:41,946 --> 00:39:44,515
It's an iconic British stamp,
714
00:39:44,548 --> 00:39:47,051
and I've wanted it my whole
life, basically.
715
00:39:47,084 --> 00:39:48,919
And one finally
came up for sale,
716
00:39:48,953 --> 00:39:50,988
and I had to, uh...
717
00:39:51,021 --> 00:39:53,858
had to do a lot of borrowing
and figuring out how to do it.
718
00:39:53,891 --> 00:39:56,794
Oh, I'm going to be so much
trouble
719
00:39:56,827 --> 00:39:59,697
if people find out
how much I spent.
720
00:39:59,730 --> 00:40:01,899
No, it's...
721
00:40:01,932 --> 00:40:06,837
Yeah, it was, I think,
$157,000, so...
722
00:40:06,871 --> 00:40:10,708
You know, you read about
the Bond villains
723
00:40:10,741 --> 00:40:14,712
that want to steal a Mona Lisa,
and they're going to be a--
724
00:40:14,745 --> 00:40:17,014
they want it because they're
going to keep it in the basement
725
00:40:17,047 --> 00:40:19,717
and look at it, and you think,
God, what a freak!
726
00:40:19,750 --> 00:40:21,018
And I totally get that,
727
00:40:21,051 --> 00:40:23,721
I completely get
that person now.
728
00:40:23,754 --> 00:40:25,556
You know?
[laughing]
729
00:40:25,589 --> 00:40:28,859
[music plays]
730
00:40:28,893 --> 00:40:32,229
It has an absolutely unique
color.
731
00:40:34,064 --> 00:40:36,534
I mean, early on, the big
question was,
732
00:40:36,567 --> 00:40:40,237
how does another country know
that a stamp is valid?
733
00:40:41,939 --> 00:40:43,741
And one of the ways
that they did it
734
00:40:43,774 --> 00:40:46,110
was that they color-coded
stamps.
735
00:40:46,143 --> 00:40:48,512
You'll note, particularly in
the United States stamps,
736
00:40:48,546 --> 00:40:50,114
all of the three-cent stamps
737
00:40:50,147 --> 00:40:53,117
that were issued back in the
'40s and '50s,
738
00:40:53,150 --> 00:40:54,885
they're all purple.
739
00:40:54,919 --> 00:40:56,687
That was so other countries
and agencies
740
00:40:56,720 --> 00:40:58,989
could identify that the stamps
were valid.
741
00:40:59,023 --> 00:41:01,759
So this was sort of used
commonly throughout the world.
742
00:41:01,792 --> 00:41:04,929
When they issued the two-pence,
the Tyrian Plum,
743
00:41:04,962 --> 00:41:07,264
it's just a unique color.
744
00:41:07,298 --> 00:41:09,733
I'm not sure that that color
has ever been used again on British stamps.
745
00:41:09,767 --> 00:41:12,102
But it's just-- There's
something about this piece
746
00:41:12,136 --> 00:41:15,806
that's just iconic and unique
and different
747
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:17,808
It's just always...
748
00:41:17,842 --> 00:41:19,176
always affected me.
749
00:41:19,210 --> 00:41:20,778
This is something that
just...
750
00:41:20,811 --> 00:41:23,280
I always wanted it.
751
00:41:23,314 --> 00:41:25,649
There's really not a lot
to say about it.
752
00:41:25,683 --> 00:41:29,787
Just... ugghh.
[laughs]
753
00:41:29,820 --> 00:41:31,956
[music plays]
754
00:41:31,989 --> 00:41:35,192
[Stephen Heller]
I think everybody collects something...
755
00:41:35,226 --> 00:41:37,628
even if they collect
nothing.
756
00:41:39,029 --> 00:41:41,932
You want to show them off.
757
00:41:41,966 --> 00:41:45,202
You have gotten them through
some kind of travail,
758
00:41:45,236 --> 00:41:48,806
some kind of struggle or
challenge.
759
00:41:48,839 --> 00:41:53,878
You want to show that you have
them, that you own them.
760
00:41:53,911 --> 00:41:57,581
The display is very important,
761
00:41:57,615 --> 00:42:01,685
because the display says
who you are creatively.
762
00:42:01,719 --> 00:42:06,924
Collecting is a obsessive
activity.
763
00:42:08,692 --> 00:42:12,196
The greater you invest
in the collection,
764
00:42:12,229 --> 00:42:17,268
the more you invest in detriment
of your mental health.
765
00:42:17,301 --> 00:42:22,873
That desire is to fulfill
a goal,
766
00:42:22,907 --> 00:42:26,176
to fill one's life with
something
767
00:42:26,210 --> 00:42:29,713
that is beyond themselves,
768
00:42:29,747 --> 00:42:33,784
to fill one's life
with memories
769
00:42:33,817 --> 00:42:36,720
that may or may not
belong to them.
770
00:42:36,754 --> 00:42:40,124
[Jackie Tohn]
It's such a huge part of my family,
771
00:42:40,157 --> 00:42:42,259
and that it was, like, something
that we could connect on.
772
00:42:42,293 --> 00:42:44,862
And it's just a really cool
window
773
00:42:44,895 --> 00:42:47,131
into something you never
knew about.
774
00:42:52,102 --> 00:42:55,239
[David Feldman]
Things from way far-off lands
you never heard of,
775
00:42:55,272 --> 00:42:57,174
with names of far-off lands
you never heard of.
776
00:42:57,207 --> 00:43:00,778
There's a romance,
I would say a romance.
777
00:43:00,811 --> 00:43:03,881
I wasn't realizing the animal
was growing,
778
00:43:03,914 --> 00:43:06,150
my heart was growing.
779
00:43:06,183 --> 00:43:10,354
[Carlos Vergara]
It's something that is a direct
tie-in to my homeland.
780
00:43:10,387 --> 00:43:13,057
It's a fly-on-the-wall-view
of history
781
00:43:13,090 --> 00:43:15,793
that is hard to obtain
in any other way.
782
00:43:15,826 --> 00:43:18,729
[Alex Haimann]
Mail was the best way for me
to personally connect
783
00:43:18,762 --> 00:43:21,398
with someplace beyond just
seeing a picture of something,
784
00:43:21,432 --> 00:43:24,001
but rather to hold something
from that place,
785
00:43:24,034 --> 00:43:26,804
to have a connection
to that day and time.
786
00:43:26,837 --> 00:43:30,741
[Michael Russem]
I don't know how people really
exist without collecting.
787
00:43:32,876 --> 00:43:35,980
I don't know what they do
with their time
788
00:43:36,013 --> 00:43:39,917
when there's nothing to do.
789
00:43:39,950 --> 00:43:42,786
How do they procrastinate?
790
00:43:42,820 --> 00:43:46,991
I guess maybe they watch
television, which is fine.
791
00:43:50,961 --> 00:43:53,764
[pipe inhaling and exhaling]
792
00:44:10,214 --> 00:44:14,318
I remember it like it was
yesterday.
793
00:44:16,987 --> 00:44:19,823
Two years ago,
I had a client.
794
00:44:19,857 --> 00:44:21,759
Still have the client,
but I had a client.
795
00:44:21,792 --> 00:44:23,160
And he wanted
a particular stamp.
796
00:44:23,193 --> 00:44:26,964
The stamp catalogued £5,000.
797
00:44:26,997 --> 00:44:30,167
It was the last stamp needed to
complete a particular country,
798
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:32,836
and it is the heart and soul
of that country,
799
00:44:32,870 --> 00:44:35,239
and it is massively
under-cataloged.
800
00:44:35,272 --> 00:44:37,975
It has been since I started
buying them
801
00:44:38,008 --> 00:44:41,879
when they catalogued $500
apiece, years and years ago,
802
00:44:41,912 --> 00:44:45,816
Now they're £5,000.
Still too cheap, in my opinion.
803
00:44:45,849 --> 00:44:48,452
I said, "Fine, I can present you
the stamp, it's very difficult,
804
00:44:48,485 --> 00:44:50,320
"it's the key to the whole
subject,
805
00:44:50,354 --> 00:44:51,755
"it's the only stamp we have
been able to find,
806
00:44:51,789 --> 00:44:53,524
and I want $25,000 for it."
807
00:44:53,557 --> 00:44:56,994
He said, "I'll think about it."
That's fine.
808
00:44:57,027 --> 00:45:02,299
A month goes by, and I get
a catalog from overseas.
809
00:45:02,332 --> 00:45:04,935
And it is a beautiful,
beautiful,
810
00:45:04,968 --> 00:45:08,872
specialized collection of that
particular subject
811
00:45:08,906 --> 00:45:11,008
of which this stamp belonged.
812
00:45:11,041 --> 00:45:13,477
Must have taken him
30, 40 years to put together.
813
00:45:13,510 --> 00:45:18,015
I get to the place for the key
stamp, it ain't there.
814
00:45:18,048 --> 00:45:19,783
That doesn't surprise me.
815
00:45:19,817 --> 00:45:23,020
The following week,
I'm working at my desk.
816
00:45:23,053 --> 00:45:27,224
Maureen says, "Mr. J. Worthy
Pfellfelfinger is on the line."
817
00:45:27,257 --> 00:45:29,093
So I picked up the phone.
818
00:45:29,126 --> 00:45:31,562
I didn't say hello,
I didn't say how are you?
819
00:45:31,595 --> 00:45:34,498
I picked up the phone,
I said,
820
00:45:34,531 --> 00:45:37,034
"He didn't have it, did he?"
821
00:45:37,067 --> 00:45:39,169
That's all I said.
822
00:45:39,203 --> 00:45:44,274
Pause. Then he starts to
laugh outrageously.
823
00:45:44,308 --> 00:45:46,443
He said, "You're right,
he didn't have it."
824
00:45:46,477 --> 00:45:49,379
I said, "What did I tell you?"
[laughs]
825
00:45:49,413 --> 00:45:51,215
He said,
"Do you still have it?"
826
00:45:51,248 --> 00:45:52,983
I said, "Yes, I do."
827
00:45:53,016 --> 00:45:54,852
He said, "I'll take it."
I said, "Thank you."
828
00:45:54,885 --> 00:45:57,054
Sent him the stamps.
Sold it him for 25,000.
829
00:45:57,087 --> 00:45:58,455
While I had him on the line,
830
00:45:58,489 --> 00:46:01,091
I said, "Now, let's have
some fun."
831
00:46:01,125 --> 00:46:04,128
"You and I know that this man
understood
832
00:46:04,161 --> 00:46:05,829
"his subject very well.
833
00:46:05,863 --> 00:46:08,031
Yet he didn't have
the stamp."
834
00:46:08,065 --> 00:46:09,533
So I said to my friend,
835
00:46:09,566 --> 00:46:11,969
"How many times in
the last 25 years
836
00:46:12,002 --> 00:46:14,438
did he have a chance
to buy the stamp?"
837
00:46:14,471 --> 00:46:17,908
I said he had four chances
to buy that stamp
838
00:46:17,941 --> 00:46:22,179
in the last 25 years, on either
side of the Atlantic.
839
00:46:22,212 --> 00:46:25,616
And four times he walked
into the auction room,
840
00:46:25,649 --> 00:46:28,585
sat down, prepared to buy
the last stamp
841
00:46:28,619 --> 00:46:30,888
he needed to complete
the subject.
842
00:46:30,921 --> 00:46:33,423
Four times in a row,
he left the sales room
843
00:46:33,457 --> 00:46:35,359
without buying the stamp
because he wouldn't
844
00:46:35,392 --> 00:46:37,895
make the commitment necessary
to secure the stamp.
845
00:46:37,928 --> 00:46:40,230
And four times in a row,
846
00:46:40,264 --> 00:46:42,199
guess who the buyer was.
847
00:46:44,468 --> 00:46:46,870
So there are three copies
in the vault.
848
00:46:49,139 --> 00:46:55,212
Now, you have to have
the strength of your convictions
849
00:46:55,245 --> 00:47:00,017
if you're going to trash
a catalog figure.
850
00:47:00,050 --> 00:47:04,988
But you have to come to some
conclusions after 50 years.
851
00:47:10,227 --> 00:47:13,430
I took it away from him four
times in a row,
852
00:47:13,463 --> 00:47:17,634
with malice in my heart and
pushed him and pushed him
853
00:47:17,668 --> 00:47:19,536
and pushed him and pushed
and pushed
854
00:47:19,570 --> 00:47:21,538
until he couldn't see straight.
855
00:47:21,572 --> 00:47:24,308
Because I said the stamp is
infinitely more important
856
00:47:24,341 --> 00:47:27,110
than the catalog tends to
indicate.
857
00:47:27,144 --> 00:47:30,214
At the end of the day,
as far as I'm concerned,
858
00:47:30,247 --> 00:47:33,617
I put my money where
my mouth is.
859
00:47:33,650 --> 00:47:37,454
If I'd been desperately wrong in
the last 50 years
860
00:47:37,487 --> 00:47:41,692
on all these kinds of decisions
that I have to make from time to time,
861
00:47:41,725 --> 00:47:45,696
I would've been out of business
40 years ago.
862
00:47:45,729 --> 00:47:49,099
I don't have to have a client
to buy that stamp.
863
00:47:49,132 --> 00:47:53,470
I know exactly how it fits into
the firmament
864
00:47:53,503 --> 00:47:56,306
of the particular collection.
865
00:48:02,546 --> 00:48:04,648
My father got me
a stamp album,
866
00:48:04,681 --> 00:48:06,483
and I outgrew it
rather quickly
867
00:48:06,516 --> 00:48:08,285
and bought a bigger one
about that big,
868
00:48:08,318 --> 00:48:10,053
and for about four
or five years,
869
00:48:10,087 --> 00:48:12,990
I collected stamps from
all over the world,
870
00:48:13,023 --> 00:48:15,025
which gave me a little bit
of an idea
871
00:48:15,058 --> 00:48:17,427
of what some countries
were like
872
00:48:17,461 --> 00:48:19,630
and what sorts of things
they had.
873
00:48:19,663 --> 00:48:23,433
Eventually it got so fat
and it got too big,
874
00:48:23,467 --> 00:48:25,402
it got too big to handle,
875
00:48:25,435 --> 00:48:29,206
and I decided that I wasn't
going to collect
876
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:31,341
anything my father
was collecting.
877
00:48:31,375 --> 00:48:33,443
Don't ask me why.
878
00:48:33,477 --> 00:48:36,980
I had a particular proclivity
for Zanzibar,
879
00:48:37,014 --> 00:48:42,586
and I decided that the British
Empire was too big to handle.
880
00:48:42,619 --> 00:48:47,190
So I decided I'll take
a chunk of it.
881
00:48:47,224 --> 00:48:49,660
And to me, there were more
exotic and interesting things
882
00:48:49,693 --> 00:48:53,230
in Africa than there was
anywhere else in the Empire.
883
00:48:53,263 --> 00:48:56,233
To this day, I feel
just as strongly.
884
00:48:56,266 --> 00:48:58,735
I proceeded to build a
collection of British Africa
885
00:48:58,769 --> 00:49:02,239
for the reigns of Victoria
and George V.
886
00:49:02,272 --> 00:49:05,242
The collection stops in 35'
on the basis of the fact
887
00:49:05,275 --> 00:49:07,678
that the material after '35
is dirt common,
888
00:49:07,711 --> 00:49:10,547
could be bought on any street
corner or anytime you want,
889
00:49:10,580 --> 00:49:13,050
and all the really rare and
exotic and interesting things
890
00:49:13,083 --> 00:49:16,420
are in the 19th and early
20th century.
891
00:49:16,453 --> 00:49:19,323
Someone once said that one
person in seven
892
00:49:19,356 --> 00:49:21,391
in Switzerland was a stamp
collector.
893
00:49:21,425 --> 00:49:24,761
Well, that's an awfully big
percentage of the proletariat.
894
00:49:24,795 --> 00:49:26,396
Nothing like what
we have here.
895
00:49:26,430 --> 00:49:28,632
It's still a giant market
here.
896
00:49:28,665 --> 00:49:32,769
But, uh, it is as
I can divine
897
00:49:32,803 --> 00:49:35,272
from doing shows all over
Hell's Half-Acre,
898
00:49:35,305 --> 00:49:39,309
it can be wildly addictive.
899
00:49:39,343 --> 00:49:41,545
Ask me.
[laughs]
900
00:49:41,578 --> 00:49:44,281
I'm still-- I'm still hooked
on it, seriously,
901
00:49:44,314 --> 00:49:46,416
after more than 50 years.
902
00:49:46,450 --> 00:49:49,720
Collecting-mania, whether it's
stamps, coins, antiquities,
903
00:49:49,753 --> 00:49:53,590
comic books, trading cards or,
or whatever...
904
00:49:53,623 --> 00:49:59,663
runs hot and heavy in many
people's, uh, makeup.
905
00:50:01,465 --> 00:50:03,500
At the end of the day,
a dealer
906
00:50:03,533 --> 00:50:09,373
needs to learn about valuations
on the basis
907
00:50:09,406 --> 00:50:13,076
of his own experience
with his clients,
908
00:50:13,110 --> 00:50:16,279
especially when the client
is prepared
909
00:50:16,313 --> 00:50:18,315
to spend serious money
on nice material.
910
00:50:18,348 --> 00:50:21,084
It's not a question of whether
I'm purveying the stamp
911
00:50:21,118 --> 00:50:26,356
at 50% of Scott or 250% of
Scott, the stamp's the thing.
912
00:50:26,390 --> 00:50:29,159
At the end of the day, when you
put it on the table,
913
00:50:29,192 --> 00:50:31,395
the response is usually,
"Jesus, George,
914
00:50:31,428 --> 00:50:33,263
do you know how long I've looked
for that stamp?"
915
00:50:33,296 --> 00:50:37,868
I say, "You and the other
17 guys before you."
916
00:50:37,901 --> 00:50:40,303
You all had the same problem.
917
00:50:40,337 --> 00:50:44,241
I studied your problems
918
00:50:44,274 --> 00:50:46,810
and overlaid your problems
919
00:50:46,843 --> 00:50:49,346
with a large group of other
people
920
00:50:49,379 --> 00:50:51,548
who were also serious players.
921
00:50:51,581 --> 00:50:53,683
And lo and behold,
922
00:50:53,717 --> 00:51:00,257
certain truisms came
to the surface.
923
00:51:00,290 --> 00:51:02,359
Not because of one man's
problem,
924
00:51:02,392 --> 00:51:06,897
but because of many people's
problem with the same stamp,
925
00:51:06,930 --> 00:51:10,233
which is why there are a lot of
stamps that I buy,
926
00:51:10,267 --> 00:51:11,835
that are scarce,
927
00:51:11,868 --> 00:51:15,605
that I don't necessarily
have a want-list for.
928
00:51:15,639 --> 00:51:19,743
I have always liked rare things
in the field,
929
00:51:19,776 --> 00:51:22,212
because it has always been
my feeling
930
00:51:22,245 --> 00:51:27,717
that the greatest stamps in
philately are dirt cheap,
931
00:51:27,751 --> 00:51:30,787
irrespective of what
they sell for.
932
00:51:46,870 --> 00:51:49,606
A firm just sold a very nice
example
933
00:51:49,639 --> 00:51:51,741
of the Two Penny Post Office
Mauritius.
934
00:51:51,775 --> 00:51:54,644
A very famous stamp,
935
00:51:54,678 --> 00:51:57,347
a coveted stamp of which there's
about a dozen copies,
936
00:51:57,380 --> 00:51:59,483
although many of them are
institutionalized,
937
00:51:59,516 --> 00:52:01,451
so there's probably
three or four
938
00:52:01,485 --> 00:52:03,453
that possibly could float around
939
00:52:03,487 --> 00:52:06,289
if they were available--
it brought a million dollars.
940
00:52:06,323 --> 00:52:11,428
And that's one of the top five
or six stamps...
941
00:52:11,461 --> 00:52:13,196
on the planet.
942
00:52:13,230 --> 00:52:16,433
Now, if you and I walk over to
Sotheby's
943
00:52:16,466 --> 00:52:19,703
and they're having an
Old Masters' sale,
944
00:52:19,736 --> 00:52:24,908
and they're selling a painting
by Rembrandt's
945
00:52:24,941 --> 00:52:27,878
third cousin twice removed,
946
00:52:30,413 --> 00:52:32,215
how much is that going
to cost us?
947
00:52:32,249 --> 00:52:33,783
Millions and millions
of dollars.
948
00:52:33,817 --> 00:52:35,552
If it was a real Rembrandt,
949
00:52:35,585 --> 00:52:38,355
we couldn't touch it with
a barge pole.
950
00:52:38,388 --> 00:52:39,990
So, as far as I'm concerned,
951
00:52:40,023 --> 00:52:42,392
paying a $1,000,000 for a
Tuppence Mauritius
952
00:52:42,425 --> 00:52:44,261
is a goddamn gift.
953
00:52:46,396 --> 00:52:49,633
Because it is one of the more
revered objects on the planet
954
00:52:49,666 --> 00:52:52,235
as far as philately is
concerned.
955
00:52:54,271 --> 00:52:58,775
I have always felt that great
stamps, of all countries,
956
00:52:58,808 --> 00:53:02,846
are very inexpensive in relation
to objects
957
00:53:02,879 --> 00:53:06,449
of that degree of scarcity
and rarity
958
00:53:06,483 --> 00:53:10,020
in other collecting fields.
959
00:53:10,053 --> 00:53:12,389
Which is why I am very
comfortable
960
00:53:12,422 --> 00:53:17,894
buying very rare and exotic
things because I respect them.
961
00:53:17,928 --> 00:53:20,697
I respect them enough to put my
own money into them
962
00:53:20,730 --> 00:53:23,433
even if I don't necessarily have
a client for it.
963
00:53:23,466 --> 00:53:25,502
But when the client
materializes,
964
00:53:25,535 --> 00:53:27,771
as he does in the fullness of
time,
965
00:53:27,804 --> 00:53:29,739
you can certainly pull something
off that's not available
966
00:53:29,773 --> 00:53:32,442
anywhere in the world
at this point.
967
00:53:36,846 --> 00:53:39,916
You know, you have to be
fortunate in stamp collecting
968
00:53:39,950 --> 00:53:43,019
to, you know, to be at the right
place at the right time.
969
00:53:43,053 --> 00:53:45,522
You know, somebody looking,
for instance,
970
00:53:45,555 --> 00:53:47,524
for the one-cent Z-Grill
971
00:53:47,557 --> 00:53:49,526
might be looking for a long
time,
972
00:53:49,559 --> 00:53:51,461
'cause I own it.
973
00:54:18,922 --> 00:54:22,759
Why stamps? In my case it was
because of my mother.
974
00:54:22,792 --> 00:54:25,929
Um, she, she collected stamps,
975
00:54:25,962 --> 00:54:29,399
but they were sheets of 100 U.S.
commemoratives,
976
00:54:29,432 --> 00:54:30,934
and she bought them at
the post office.
977
00:54:30,967 --> 00:54:33,970
She wasn't a stamp collector,
but, um,
978
00:54:34,004 --> 00:54:35,705
you know, in the late '30s
and early '40s,
979
00:54:35,739 --> 00:54:38,475
she bought pounds and pounds
980
00:54:38,508 --> 00:54:41,578
and hundreds and hundreds of
commemorative sheets
981
00:54:41,611 --> 00:54:43,013
in order to send me to college.
982
00:54:43,046 --> 00:54:45,515
She thought of it as an
investment.
983
00:54:45,548 --> 00:54:48,051
She told me about them,
showed them to me,
984
00:54:48,084 --> 00:54:51,388
and said, "We'll go to
San Francisco, and, uh,
985
00:54:51,421 --> 00:54:53,690
and this is your college
tuition."
986
00:54:53,723 --> 00:54:55,925
Surprise, surprise.
987
00:54:55,959 --> 00:54:59,029
There were four dealers
in San Francisco,
988
00:54:59,062 --> 00:55:00,964
and I took them to each of
the dealers.
989
00:55:00,997 --> 00:55:03,099
They weren't worth the
paper they're printed on.
990
00:55:03,133 --> 00:55:07,871
In other words, a 3-cent
hundred commemorative sheet
991
00:55:07,904 --> 00:55:10,106
wasn't worth $3.
992
00:55:10,140 --> 00:55:13,943
And so knowing that that wasn't
what my mother had intended,
993
00:55:13,977 --> 00:55:15,679
I didn't sell the stamps.
994
00:55:15,712 --> 00:55:17,614
I took them home,
and the look on her face
995
00:55:17,647 --> 00:55:19,983
was of ultimate depression
996
00:55:20,016 --> 00:55:22,719
because she counted on them
appreciating
997
00:55:22,752 --> 00:55:24,587
to send me to college.
998
00:55:24,621 --> 00:55:26,389
My tuition was gone.
999
00:55:26,423 --> 00:55:30,560
20, 30 years later when I,
uh, you know,
1000
00:55:30,593 --> 00:55:33,997
began to have some money
that was disposable,
1001
00:55:34,030 --> 00:55:37,467
I said, well, I'm gonna...
I'm gonna, do this right.
1002
00:55:37,500 --> 00:55:41,438
I'm going to show my mom that
she had the right idea,
1003
00:55:41,471 --> 00:55:44,574
she just bought the wrong
stamps.
1004
00:55:44,607 --> 00:55:48,445
I started with my home country,
the U.S.
1005
00:55:48,478 --> 00:55:50,146
That's what I collected
as a kid.
1006
00:55:50,180 --> 00:55:54,651
A matter of fact, I still had
my, uh very basic
1007
00:55:54,684 --> 00:55:58,988
U.S. collection with that one
cent Colombian stamp in it.
1008
00:55:59,022 --> 00:56:02,692
And so I wanted
to fill in the spaces,
1009
00:56:02,726 --> 00:56:04,160
you know, from
the United States.
1010
00:56:04,194 --> 00:56:07,430
That's what--
That's what I knew.
1011
00:56:07,464 --> 00:56:09,966
You know, the presidents,
the, uh, you know,
1012
00:56:09,999 --> 00:56:15,071
the national parks
and all of the stamps
1013
00:56:15,105 --> 00:56:20,944
of the early, you know,
20th, uh... 20th century.
1014
00:56:20,977 --> 00:56:22,679
I think it was very fortunate
1015
00:56:22,712 --> 00:56:26,950
that between 1992
and 2004 or 5,
1016
00:56:26,983 --> 00:56:29,753
when ultimately I completed it,
that I was able to do that
1017
00:56:29,786 --> 00:56:34,691
because that's a sort of a freak
of a philately that you could
1018
00:56:34,724 --> 00:56:39,696
find a willing seller for
exactly what you wanted to buy.
1019
00:56:39,729 --> 00:56:43,099
There's this misconception
because Mr. Gross
1020
00:56:43,133 --> 00:56:45,602
isn't so much involved in the
social world of stamps,
1021
00:56:45,635 --> 00:56:47,904
He's a little bit hidden from
the world.
1022
00:56:47,937 --> 00:56:50,140
So they all think he's
just somebody who was just spending money,
1023
00:56:50,173 --> 00:56:52,242
he has plenty of money and he
just spends it.
1024
00:56:52,275 --> 00:56:54,711
In 1992, he was slowly buying.
1025
00:56:54,744 --> 00:56:57,213
He didn't know the right
markets, uh, what to pay.
1026
00:56:57,247 --> 00:56:59,682
But then he saw the Ishikawa
sale.
1027
00:56:59,716 --> 00:57:02,085
It was about a $10,000,000
collection at that time.
1028
00:57:02,118 --> 00:57:04,621
So we started with lot number
one in the sale and he said,
1029
00:57:04,654 --> 00:57:06,656
"So what's that worth?"
and I would tell him.
1030
00:57:06,689 --> 00:57:08,258
He said, "Do you think I should
have it for my collection?"
1031
00:57:08,291 --> 00:57:10,560
I said, "Well, yeah,
that one's very nice."
1032
00:57:10,593 --> 00:57:12,695
Lot number two.
"No, I don't think you should have that.
1033
00:57:12,729 --> 00:57:14,631
There are better examples
out there."
1034
00:57:14,664 --> 00:57:16,166
Lot number three. "What do you
think that's worth?"
1035
00:57:16,199 --> 00:57:18,134
"Oh, that's 100,000."
Lot number four.
1036
00:57:18,168 --> 00:57:20,103
So we went through
the whole sale,
1037
00:57:20,136 --> 00:57:21,704
and in the end, we had
millions of dollars
1038
00:57:21,738 --> 00:57:23,173
worth of bids ready.
1039
00:57:23,206 --> 00:57:25,108
And so I said,
"What's your game plan?"
1040
00:57:25,141 --> 00:57:27,010
And he said, "Well, what do you
mean, what game plan?
1041
00:57:27,043 --> 00:57:28,878
I said, "Well, people have
a budget.
1042
00:57:28,912 --> 00:57:30,947
"They usually go, I'd rather go
after these,
1043
00:57:30,980 --> 00:57:35,852
or I want these four items,
or only spend up to $200,000."
1044
00:57:35,885 --> 00:57:37,954
But remember,
now we had millions of dollars
worth the bids.
1045
00:57:37,987 --> 00:57:39,956
He goes, "Well, hell, if I can
buy it all, that'd be great!"
1046
00:57:42,892 --> 00:57:45,995
[William Gross]
The Z-Grill was an interesting
story in and of itself,
1047
00:57:46,029 --> 00:57:49,666
and that was done with the
company Mystic
1048
00:57:59,075 --> 00:58:02,779
The stamp that was really
exciting for our company
1049
00:58:02,812 --> 00:58:06,082
and for my family is the
one-cent Z-Grill,
1050
00:58:06,115 --> 00:58:09,686
and in 1998, the stamp was
coming up for sale.
1051
00:58:09,719 --> 00:58:11,754
And I remember when I got
into stamps
1052
00:58:11,788 --> 00:58:15,892
and reading about the stamp
and it was valued at $30,000.
1053
00:58:15,925 --> 00:58:17,193
And I thought,
how can that be?
1054
00:58:17,227 --> 00:58:18,928
And I didn't understand that.
1055
00:58:18,962 --> 00:58:20,930
And then it sold for almost
a $100,000
1056
00:58:20,964 --> 00:58:23,333
to Jerry Buss in the late '70s
1057
00:58:23,366 --> 00:58:25,768
and then sold to a fellow
named Zoellner
1058
00:58:25,802 --> 00:58:28,338
for $400,000 in the '80s.
1059
00:58:28,371 --> 00:58:31,608
There's two known ones in the
New York Public Library,
1060
00:58:31,641 --> 00:58:33,643
now in the Smithsonian,
1061
00:58:33,676 --> 00:58:36,779
and this was the other one that
was available to collectors.
1062
00:58:36,813 --> 00:58:39,349
So it was really the key to
a complete U.S. collection.
1063
00:58:39,382 --> 00:58:42,318
This is a stamp that was an
experimental stamp,
1064
00:58:42,352 --> 00:58:45,154
putting an impression
on those stamps
1065
00:58:45,188 --> 00:58:47,190
so that it could break
the paper fibers
1066
00:58:47,223 --> 00:58:49,826
and ink would be absorbed
in the paper,
1067
00:58:49,859 --> 00:58:52,829
and as a result, the stamp
couldn't be counterfeited.
1068
00:58:52,862 --> 00:58:57,200
And the Z-Grill, put onto a
variety of different stamps,
1069
00:58:57,233 --> 00:59:01,137
just survived in small, small
quantity
1070
00:59:01,170 --> 00:59:04,107
on this one cent blue
Benjamin Franklin stamp.
1071
00:59:04,140 --> 00:59:06,376
And we believe only two
are known.
1072
00:59:06,409 --> 00:59:08,745
And for many people, that would
be considered
1073
00:59:08,778 --> 00:59:10,947
the great rarity
in American philately.
1074
00:59:10,980 --> 00:59:12,882
If you don't own that,
1075
00:59:12,916 --> 00:59:15,785
you can't have a complete
19th century collection.
1076
00:59:15,818 --> 00:59:17,720
I really wanted to own it,
1077
00:59:17,754 --> 00:59:20,857
and so I went to the auction in
New York with my son,
1078
00:59:20,890 --> 00:59:23,893
who is 11 years old, and he had
the bidding paddle,
1079
00:59:23,927 --> 00:59:25,895
and we approved it with the
auctioneer.
1080
00:59:25,929 --> 00:59:27,864
And so he actually bid
on the stamp,
1081
00:59:27,897 --> 00:59:30,633
and we bought it for $935,000.
1082
00:59:30,667 --> 00:59:33,870
Mystic had used the Z-Grill for
three or four years
1083
00:59:33,903 --> 00:59:35,939
as a, um, an advertisement,
1084
00:59:35,972 --> 00:59:39,876
and they'd carry it around to
all their displays and sales
1085
00:59:39,909 --> 00:59:44,180
at various, uh, you know, stamp
functions in the country.
1086
00:59:44,213 --> 00:59:47,183
[chuckles]
Definitely, yeah, I was
1087
00:59:47,216 --> 00:59:49,185
unnaturally attached to that
stamp,
1088
00:59:49,218 --> 00:59:51,888
and that, uh, I just,
I loved the owning it,
1089
00:59:51,921 --> 00:59:54,891
and I used to pull it out from
time to time and look at it,
1090
00:59:54,924 --> 00:59:57,226
and it's just funny how this
little piece of paper
1091
00:59:57,260 --> 00:59:58,962
could give me that much
pleasure.
1092
00:59:58,995 --> 01:00:01,030
I wrote him. I wrote him a
letter and said,
1093
01:00:01,064 --> 01:00:04,133
you know, your advertising is
probably getting a little tired.
1094
01:00:04,167 --> 01:00:06,035
Wouldn't you like to, uh,
you know,
1095
01:00:06,069 --> 01:00:08,738
exchange that for something
more exciting?
1096
01:00:13,876 --> 01:00:19,215
A block of a Inverted Jenny's
was coming up for sale.
1097
01:00:19,248 --> 01:00:21,417
I suggested to him
ahead of time
1098
01:00:21,451 --> 01:00:23,987
than if I bought the inverted
Jenny Block,
1099
01:00:24,020 --> 01:00:27,690
that would be a better
advertising gimmick for him
then the Z-Grill,
1100
01:00:27,724 --> 01:00:33,029
and I would exchange the Block
for the, you know, the Z-Grill.
1101
01:00:33,062 --> 01:00:34,897
So that's how I got it.
1102
01:00:34,931 --> 01:00:39,936
It was a pretty well advertised
exchange, I guess.
1103
01:00:39,969 --> 01:00:41,971
Um...
1104
01:00:42,005 --> 01:00:46,275
They're not looking at us,
they're looking at the stamp.
1105
01:00:46,309 --> 01:00:49,712
Don, thank you very much.
I appreciate it very much.
1106
01:00:49,746 --> 01:00:50,947
Thanks.
1107
01:00:50,980 --> 01:00:53,383
[applause]
1108
01:00:57,020 --> 01:00:59,088
Well, this was a key stamp
for Mr. Gross
1109
01:00:59,122 --> 01:01:01,958
because it was the last stamp
he needed to, uh,
1110
01:01:01,991 --> 01:01:03,760
achieve the title of having
the most complete
1111
01:01:03,793 --> 01:01:05,828
U.S. stamp collection
ever formed.
1112
01:01:05,862 --> 01:01:07,864
It was the last space,
1113
01:01:07,897 --> 01:01:10,967
and what it did, of course,
was to complete the collection,
1114
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:14,070
which was sort of like the last
piece in the puzzle.
1115
01:01:14,103 --> 01:01:15,872
It's a very little piece.
1116
01:01:15,905 --> 01:01:18,841
And so it was more valuable to
me than to him,
1117
01:01:18,875 --> 01:01:22,478
and I would probably agree that
he got a good deal.
1118
01:01:22,512 --> 01:01:24,480
[chuckles]
1119
01:01:24,514 --> 01:01:28,818
Uh, I, uh,
it was like...
1120
01:01:28,851 --> 01:01:31,287
I-I... It's hard
to put it in words.
1121
01:01:31,320 --> 01:01:33,423
There was, like, some deep
emotions going on,
1122
01:01:33,456 --> 01:01:36,426
and it just felt like, uh, that,
that it was like
1123
01:01:36,459 --> 01:01:38,327
a passing of the guard,
1124
01:01:38,361 --> 01:01:40,129
that I was privileged to own
this wonderful stamp
1125
01:01:40,163 --> 01:01:42,231
and then it went to a good home.
1126
01:01:44,333 --> 01:01:47,437
Here's our block.
1127
01:01:47,470 --> 01:01:49,872
And so a block is four stamps,
1128
01:01:49,906 --> 01:01:53,009
and a plate number is the number
on the bottom
1129
01:01:53,042 --> 01:01:55,078
of the salvage underneath
the stamp.
1130
01:01:55,111 --> 01:01:59,148
And that's used by the printers
to track the different plates
1131
01:01:59,182 --> 01:02:01,017
that are used to print the
stamp.
1132
01:02:01,050 --> 01:02:04,787
This is unique because the plate
numbers
1133
01:02:04,821 --> 01:02:07,023
would have been trimmed off on
the top of the sheet.
1134
01:02:07,056 --> 01:02:08,991
Because it was inverted,
1135
01:02:09,025 --> 01:02:11,994
this plate number showed up in
the bottom salvage.
1136
01:02:19,068 --> 01:02:21,404
[music plays]
1137
01:02:37,019 --> 01:02:41,891
I loved the Z-Grill because
it's the key to a unique
1138
01:02:41,924 --> 01:02:44,193
collection or a complete
collection of U.S. stamps.
1139
01:02:44,227 --> 01:02:46,996
And so to own that stamp was
a dream come true.
1140
01:02:47,029 --> 01:02:49,465
I never thought that I would,
in a million years,
1141
01:02:49,499 --> 01:02:51,234
we'd own that stamp.
1142
01:02:51,267 --> 01:02:53,469
And then when we bought it
and we had it,
1143
01:02:53,503 --> 01:02:55,404
it was such a special feeling.
1144
01:02:55,438 --> 01:02:57,940
A feeling that I wish
I could have bottled
1145
01:02:57,974 --> 01:03:01,477
and then pull out from time to
time to re-experience.
1146
01:03:01,511 --> 01:03:03,613
You don't want to hold on to
them for 40 years
1147
01:03:03,646 --> 01:03:08,584
because that kills the market
and kills the interest.
1148
01:03:08,618 --> 01:03:11,521
Not that everybody could
accumulate a Z-Grill,
1149
01:03:11,554 --> 01:03:14,090
the one cent Z-Grill or an
Inverted Jenny,
1150
01:03:14,123 --> 01:03:18,261
but you have to turn it over for
the good of philately, I think.
1151
01:03:18,294 --> 01:03:21,097
I've done that with, uh,
you know,
1152
01:03:21,130 --> 01:03:24,400
my Great Britain and UK
collection.
1153
01:03:24,433 --> 01:03:26,235
I've done that with actually
1154
01:03:26,269 --> 01:03:28,404
almost all collections other
than the U.S.
1155
01:03:28,437 --> 01:03:30,573
I've auctioned them off
for charity
1156
01:03:30,606 --> 01:03:34,210
for, uh, you know,
Doctors Without Borders,
1157
01:03:34,243 --> 01:03:36,512
for a number of charities
that, you know,
1158
01:03:36,546 --> 01:03:39,348
the auction in New York
about four years ago
1159
01:03:39,382 --> 01:03:43,519
with my classic UK
collection,
1160
01:03:43,553 --> 01:03:45,354
you know, raised
nine million bucks.
1161
01:03:45,388 --> 01:03:48,090
And so that was
given back.
1162
01:03:48,124 --> 01:03:51,327
A number of, uh, wealthy
collectors
1163
01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:56,199
now own a majority of
the prizes.
1164
01:03:56,232 --> 01:03:58,501
I do think that's a little
unfair,
1165
01:03:58,534 --> 01:04:01,304
and that's why I think it's
incumbent
1166
01:04:01,337 --> 01:04:05,141
to turn it over,
1167
01:04:05,174 --> 01:04:07,009
to give it back.
1168
01:04:21,190 --> 01:04:25,161
I was about 10 years old
or so,
1169
01:04:25,194 --> 01:04:29,699
and my brother knew I was
thinking about stamp collecting,
1170
01:04:29,732 --> 01:04:32,368
because all the little kids did
at that time,
1171
01:04:32,401 --> 01:04:37,006
and he bought me an edition of
the Scott Catalog,
1172
01:04:37,039 --> 01:04:41,677
which is a book that prices all
the stamps of the world.
1173
01:04:41,711 --> 01:04:47,483
Now, at that time it was a book
of maybe 70 or 80 pages.
1174
01:04:47,516 --> 01:04:51,254
Today, it's a book
of 200 pages,
1175
01:04:51,287 --> 01:04:54,490
each in six different volumes.
1176
01:04:54,523 --> 01:04:58,294
That's how stamps have
mounted and grown.
1177
01:04:58,327 --> 01:05:00,429
And he gave me a little stamp
album
1178
01:05:00,463 --> 01:05:03,299
to put the stamps in that
I got my hands on.
1179
01:05:03,332 --> 01:05:08,037
When I was about 15 years old,
1180
01:05:08,070 --> 01:05:11,440
and I saved up $18,
1181
01:05:11,474 --> 01:05:14,477
and I took my $18 with me to
New York,
1182
01:05:14,510 --> 01:05:16,679
and I found a stamp dealer
1183
01:05:16,712 --> 01:05:19,282
who sold me a whole box
full of stamps,
1184
01:05:19,315 --> 01:05:24,620
because I always had
a little entrepreneurial
spirit about things.
1185
01:05:24,654 --> 01:05:29,525
Maybe I should find out how that
business operated.
1186
01:05:29,558 --> 01:05:32,395
How I'm going to sell this box
full of stamps?
1187
01:05:32,428 --> 01:05:34,597
So I wrote a little ad
1188
01:05:34,630 --> 01:05:38,100
describing the box and
the stamps in it.
1189
01:05:38,134 --> 01:05:41,203
Priced it $18.75.
1190
01:05:41,237 --> 01:05:44,307
Well, apparently it turned
a number of people on
1191
01:05:44,340 --> 01:05:48,244
because I got something like
10 to 20 orders.
1192
01:05:48,277 --> 01:05:52,415
So I go back to New York and see
the same stamp dealer
1193
01:05:52,448 --> 01:05:54,417
and buy more stuff.
1194
01:05:54,450 --> 01:05:56,585
The stamp dealer said to me,
1195
01:05:56,619 --> 01:06:00,756
"What are you gonna do with all
these names you got?"
1196
01:06:00,790 --> 01:06:02,491
I said, "What do you mean?"
1197
01:06:02,525 --> 01:06:04,427
He said, "Well, these were
customers."
1198
01:06:04,460 --> 01:06:06,262
You now have developed them."
1199
01:06:06,295 --> 01:06:08,631
It was August of 1945,
1200
01:06:08,664 --> 01:06:10,800
and I did my first
price list.
1201
01:06:10,833 --> 01:06:16,205
And as of last week,
I'm up to number 3,630.
1202
01:06:16,238 --> 01:06:18,774
[music plays]
1203
01:06:33,322 --> 01:06:36,158
Right around 1970,
1204
01:06:36,192 --> 01:06:39,829
the Vietnam War was going on
at a good clip.
1205
01:06:39,862 --> 01:06:44,300
Investing in what I call
"paper gold"
1206
01:06:44,333 --> 01:06:46,736
might not be a bad idea.
1207
01:06:46,769 --> 01:06:49,839
So I got a half a dozen people
together locally,
1208
01:06:49,872 --> 01:06:52,675
and we went out and bought
stamps,
1209
01:06:52,708 --> 01:06:56,312
and I dominated the big auctions
in New York,
1210
01:06:56,345 --> 01:06:58,247
buying the stamps,
1211
01:06:58,280 --> 01:07:01,484
like the famous stamp of the
upside-down airplane.
1212
01:07:01,517 --> 01:07:05,821
I got a phone call at home,
a local newspaper calling
1213
01:07:05,855 --> 01:07:10,493
saying that they had just got
news that this rare stamp
1214
01:07:10,526 --> 01:07:13,429
was going to be sold at
public auction
1215
01:07:13,462 --> 01:07:16,332
and was I going to be
interested in it.
1216
01:07:16,365 --> 01:07:20,369
Was I going to buy
the British Guiana stamp?
1217
01:07:23,372 --> 01:07:26,509
Well, I had seen it
once before.
1218
01:07:26,542 --> 01:07:29,512
I was only 12 years old
at the time.
1219
01:07:29,545 --> 01:07:34,550
I was at the New York
World's Fair.
1220
01:07:34,583 --> 01:07:40,389
There it was, in a case of
glass, the one-cent Magenta.
1221
01:07:45,394 --> 01:07:47,663
[man]
Ladies and gentlemen,
1222
01:07:47,696 --> 01:07:51,534
before we go and sell
lot number 279,
1223
01:07:51,567 --> 01:07:53,669
I would like to make a little
announcement.
1224
01:07:53,702 --> 01:07:57,373
This is the British Guiana,
one cent, black on magenta,
1225
01:07:57,406 --> 01:07:59,842
issued in 1856.
1226
01:07:59,875 --> 01:08:03,779
This is known as the world's
most valuable stamp,
1227
01:08:03,813 --> 01:08:06,449
known as the most valuable
object
1228
01:08:06,482 --> 01:08:08,617
for its size and weight in
existence.
1229
01:08:08,651 --> 01:08:10,586
We hope to prove that shortly.
1230
01:08:10,619 --> 01:08:12,688
That night,
I get out of my seat,
1231
01:08:12,721 --> 01:08:15,324
and I walked to the back
of the room,
1232
01:08:15,357 --> 01:08:17,593
and I just didn't do anything
1233
01:08:17,626 --> 01:08:21,564
until it hit about
150,000 or so,
1234
01:08:21,597 --> 01:08:25,601
and then I put my hand up and
just kept it up.
1235
01:08:25,634 --> 01:08:29,271
[man]
At 260,000, at 260,000 I have,
1236
01:08:29,305 --> 01:08:31,574
this against you, ma'am,
at 260,000.
1237
01:08:31,607 --> 01:08:36,545
At $280,000, in the far rear
at $280,000.
1238
01:08:36,579 --> 01:08:40,449
At 280,000 I have,
at 280,000.
1239
01:08:40,483 --> 01:08:42,952
Fair warning, this is
the last call.
1240
01:08:42,985 --> 01:08:48,524
Sold to Mr. Irwin Weinberg at
$280,000.
1241
01:08:48,557 --> 01:08:53,429
It was like a mob of mad men
1242
01:08:53,462 --> 01:08:55,865
coming right at me.
1243
01:08:59,368 --> 01:09:01,604
I was never so frightened
in my life.
1244
01:09:01,637 --> 01:09:03,639
I couldn't believe where they
were going.
1245
01:09:03,672 --> 01:09:05,374
They were coming to me!
1246
01:09:05,407 --> 01:09:08,244
The next morning, I thought
to myself,
1247
01:09:08,277 --> 01:09:09,945
I'm going downstairs
1248
01:09:09,979 --> 01:09:12,948
and see what they say in the
newspapers about it.
1249
01:09:12,982 --> 01:09:16,452
So I go to the newspaper stand
and I said,
1250
01:09:16,485 --> 01:09:19,255
"Do you mind if I look at the
New York Times for a minute?
1251
01:09:19,288 --> 01:09:21,257
I'm looking to see if there's
something there."
1252
01:09:21,290 --> 01:09:23,859
I went all through the paper
and didn't see a thing.
1253
01:09:23,893 --> 01:09:25,761
I looked in the business
section,
1254
01:09:25,794 --> 01:09:28,898
the entertainment section,
nothing. Hmm.
1255
01:09:28,931 --> 01:09:31,000
I put it back and said,
"Thank you very much."
1256
01:09:31,033 --> 01:09:35,371
She said, "Excuse me, sir, but
did you look at the front page?"
1257
01:09:35,404 --> 01:09:38,641
I said, "No." She said,
"You better look at it."
1258
01:09:38,674 --> 01:09:41,911
I looked at it, turned it over
and there I was.
1259
01:09:45,047 --> 01:09:47,483
Well, the British Guiana
is a storied,
1260
01:09:47,516 --> 01:09:49,385
wonderful, storied stamp.
1261
01:09:49,418 --> 01:09:52,488
It was issued in 1856
in British Guiana
1262
01:09:52,521 --> 01:09:55,491
in a situation where the stamps
that had been
1263
01:09:55,524 --> 01:09:59,328
produced in Britain for British
Guiana were delayed.
1264
01:09:59,361 --> 01:10:02,731
And so the local post office had
to produce their own stamps.
1265
01:10:02,765 --> 01:10:06,035
But the stamps they produced
were so crude in the sense
1266
01:10:06,068 --> 01:10:09,505
that the postmaster said the
postal clerks
1267
01:10:09,538 --> 01:10:12,374
really had to sign each stamp,
initial it,
1268
01:10:12,408 --> 01:10:18,314
before delivering it in order to
ensure it's a genuineness.
1269
01:10:18,347 --> 01:10:21,650
But the famous one-cent,
the famous one-cent.
1270
01:10:21,684 --> 01:10:23,452
Well, it's unique.
1271
01:10:23,485 --> 01:10:25,955
Only a small number were
produced of one-cents.
1272
01:10:25,988 --> 01:10:27,957
It's unknown how many there were
needed at that point.
1273
01:10:27,990 --> 01:10:29,792
So it was used on newspapers,
1274
01:10:29,825 --> 01:10:32,461
people saved their letters
inside envelopes,
1275
01:10:32,494 --> 01:10:34,496
you had stamps on envelopes,
1276
01:10:34,530 --> 01:10:36,832
but the wrappers around the
newspaper were not saved,
1277
01:10:36,865 --> 01:10:39,034
and so there wasn't the same
sort of opportunity.
1278
01:10:39,068 --> 01:10:41,870
It really wasn't until 1873
1279
01:10:41,904 --> 01:10:43,839
when a 12-year-old boy named
Vaughn
1280
01:10:43,872 --> 01:10:47,376
found one of the one-cent
Magentas.
1281
01:10:47,409 --> 01:10:49,645
Now, he didn't realize that it
was unique.
1282
01:10:49,678 --> 01:10:51,580
He asked a local collector
if he could
1283
01:10:51,614 --> 01:10:53,949
sell the local collector some
of his stamps.
1284
01:10:53,983 --> 01:10:56,885
The local collector said "Sure,"
gave him a few shillings
1285
01:10:56,919 --> 01:10:59,388
and then he in turn sold his
collection
1286
01:10:59,421 --> 01:11:01,457
to a dealer in Scotland.
1287
01:11:01,490 --> 01:11:03,592
And then he in turn sold it to
1288
01:11:03,626 --> 01:11:07,596
the world's greatest collector
of stamps, Count Ferrary.
1289
01:11:07,630 --> 01:11:10,599
At the beginning of the First
World War as an Austrian,
1290
01:11:10,633 --> 01:11:13,602
he fled France as an enemy
alien, went to Switzerland.
1291
01:11:13,636 --> 01:11:15,638
The stamp stayed behind in
Paris,
1292
01:11:15,671 --> 01:11:17,706
and then he died in 1917.
1293
01:11:17,740 --> 01:11:19,708
And in his is will,
1294
01:11:19,742 --> 01:11:21,677
he left his collection to the
Berlin Postal Museum.
1295
01:11:21,710 --> 01:11:24,480
The Germans, of course,
lost the war,
1296
01:11:24,513 --> 01:11:27,683
and the French seized Ferrary's
stamp collection
1297
01:11:27,716 --> 01:11:30,819
as enemy property belonging
to Germany
1298
01:11:30,853 --> 01:11:33,956
and sold it in a celebrated
series of sales.
1299
01:11:33,989 --> 01:11:38,127
And in 1922, the British Guiana
came up for sale
1300
01:11:38,160 --> 01:11:40,462
and set a new world record
for a stamp,
1301
01:11:40,496 --> 01:11:44,366
which it consistently did every
time it was sold at auction.
1302
01:11:44,400 --> 01:11:47,569
At that sale, famously,
you know, King George V
1303
01:11:47,603 --> 01:11:50,072
is supposed to have bid and not
gotten the stamp.
1304
01:11:50,105 --> 01:11:52,074
And it went to a man named
Arthur Hind,
1305
01:11:52,107 --> 01:11:53,809
who was an industrialist,
1306
01:11:53,842 --> 01:11:55,944
and certainly owning
the British Guiana
1307
01:11:55,978 --> 01:11:58,147
made his collection famous,
he realized that.
1308
01:11:58,180 --> 01:12:00,115
He was very proud of that
1309
01:12:00,149 --> 01:12:02,718
and created his own a postcard
of the stamp in fact.
1310
01:12:02,751 --> 01:12:05,020
And then when he died, there was
a great court case
1311
01:12:05,054 --> 01:12:08,691
because he was estranged from
his, uh, his widow,
1312
01:12:08,724 --> 01:12:10,859
and she'd been left the contents
of his house.
1313
01:12:10,893 --> 01:12:13,996
And it turned out that the stamp
actually was still in the house.
1314
01:12:14,029 --> 01:12:16,732
Put it on the market and
ultimately sold it
1315
01:12:16,765 --> 01:12:18,534
to a man named Frederick Small
1316
01:12:18,567 --> 01:12:20,436
who made a lot of money in the
rayon business.
1317
01:12:20,469 --> 01:12:24,807
And in 1970, it was bought by a
syndicate of buyers
1318
01:12:24,840 --> 01:12:26,709
led by Irwin Weinberg,
1319
01:12:26,742 --> 01:12:29,511
famously traveling around the
world with a briefcase
1320
01:12:29,545 --> 01:12:33,649
strapped to people's wrists
by handcuffs.
1321
01:12:33,682 --> 01:12:36,585
Oh, the showmanship!
1322
01:12:38,654 --> 01:12:41,757
Then after that came a lot of
television appearances.
1323
01:12:41,790 --> 01:12:43,158
The Mike Douglas Show.
1324
01:12:43,192 --> 01:12:45,928
To Tell the Truth.
Yeah. Yeah.
1325
01:12:45,961 --> 01:12:47,963
And, uh, they didn't guess me,
by the way.
1326
01:12:47,996 --> 01:12:49,998
[laughing]
1327
01:12:50,032 --> 01:12:54,470
The Japanese came to me and
offered me a marvelous deal
1328
01:12:54,503 --> 01:12:58,006
if I would bring it to Tokyo
and exhibit it.
1329
01:12:58,040 --> 01:13:00,109
And I said, "Well,
I just don't know,
1330
01:13:00,142 --> 01:13:04,079
I have to talk to my partners
and see how they feel about it."
1331
01:13:04,113 --> 01:13:07,549
They said, "But we promise you
one thing.
1332
01:13:07,583 --> 01:13:11,053
"It will be shown in Tokyo
exactly the way
1333
01:13:11,086 --> 01:13:14,757
we showed when we borrowed
the Mona Lisa."
1334
01:13:14,790 --> 01:13:17,559
Well, that was good enough
for me.
1335
01:13:19,728 --> 01:13:23,532
We showed it in London,
Paris,
1336
01:13:23,565 --> 01:13:26,101
Tokyo, Prague,
1337
01:13:26,135 --> 01:13:31,473
Toronto, New York,
and Perth, Australia.
1338
01:13:31,507 --> 01:13:33,041
It would always bring out
1339
01:13:33,075 --> 01:13:36,078
tens of thousands of people
to see it.
1340
01:13:40,115 --> 01:13:43,051
Ten years is a long time
for any investment.
1341
01:13:43,085 --> 01:13:44,987
The partners were getting a
little tired.
1342
01:13:45,020 --> 01:13:48,157
I was getting a little tired.
1343
01:13:48,190 --> 01:13:51,493
And then we decided
we'll sell.
1344
01:13:51,527 --> 01:13:54,129
And the venue was going to be
the same place
1345
01:13:54,163 --> 01:13:57,166
that we bought it through
ten years earlier.
1346
01:13:57,199 --> 01:14:00,769
And I gave a great cocktail
party that night, by the way,
1347
01:14:00,803 --> 01:14:02,905
in our suite at the hotel.
1348
01:14:02,938 --> 01:14:05,941
The New Yorker was there.
Reuters was there.
1349
01:14:05,974 --> 01:14:07,609
Oh, it was a big, big thing.
1350
01:14:07,643 --> 01:14:10,212
Well, what happens is
1351
01:14:10,245 --> 01:14:13,215
we had $280,000 in this thing.
1352
01:14:13,248 --> 01:14:16,618
The stamp opens a $100,000.
1353
01:14:16,652 --> 01:14:20,989
He goes a 100, 125, half, 200,
quarter, half,
1354
01:14:21,023 --> 01:14:24,827
300, quarter, half, 400,
quarter, half, 500.
1355
01:14:24,860 --> 01:14:27,963
I then turn to one of my
children and say,
1356
01:14:27,996 --> 01:14:31,834
"Go to the telephone, call the
liquor store
1357
01:14:31,867 --> 01:14:34,236
and tell them to double
the order."
1358
01:14:34,269 --> 01:14:37,639
And if it wasn't, it should've
been Dom Perignon.
1359
01:14:37,673 --> 01:14:40,609
[man]
750, 800,000.
1360
01:14:40,642 --> 01:14:43,779
$850,000.
1361
01:14:43,812 --> 01:14:45,881
It's knocked down, sold!
1362
01:14:45,914 --> 01:14:48,116
[reporter]
The bidding on the stamp was over so quickly,
1363
01:14:48,150 --> 01:14:50,185
many didn't know
who purchased it.
1364
01:14:50,219 --> 01:14:55,123
The British Guiana sold for
$850,000 plus 10% commission.
1365
01:14:55,157 --> 01:14:57,593
And no one knows what
the new owner will do
1366
01:14:57,626 --> 01:14:59,328
with the world's most precious
stamp.
1367
01:14:59,361 --> 01:15:02,297
The new owner has chosen to
remain anonymous.
1368
01:15:02,331 --> 01:15:05,567
They had nobody else
to talk to but me.
1369
01:15:05,601 --> 01:15:07,903
And I found myself
on the front page
1370
01:15:07,936 --> 01:15:10,272
of the New York Times
the next morning.
1371
01:15:10,305 --> 01:15:15,177
I never dreamed of doing that
twice with the same thing.
1372
01:15:17,813 --> 01:15:22,184
Sometime later, I got a phone
call from John Du Pont.
1373
01:15:22,217 --> 01:15:24,820
He said, "I am the buyer
of the stamp,
1374
01:15:24,853 --> 01:15:27,789
"and I'd like to pick it up.
1375
01:15:27,823 --> 01:15:29,625
"Meet me in New York
1376
01:15:29,658 --> 01:15:31,593
and then we'll see where we go
from there."
1377
01:15:31,627 --> 01:15:33,862
I said, "Great."
So I meet him in New York.
1378
01:15:33,896 --> 01:15:38,000
Du Pont says, "Listen," he said,
"I'm going to go home,
1379
01:15:38,033 --> 01:15:41,637
and if you would like to come
along, I'd love to have you."
1380
01:15:41,670 --> 01:15:45,107
Sure. We went over on the East
Side to the heliport.
1381
01:15:45,140 --> 01:15:48,277
He said to the pilot,
"I want Mr. Weinberg
1382
01:15:48,310 --> 01:15:52,014
to see the Statue of Liberty
on our way out."
1383
01:15:52,047 --> 01:15:57,185
It goes up, right up by the
torch and circles it.
1384
01:15:57,219 --> 01:16:01,990
He said, "I just want you to
know that I feel very strongly
1385
01:16:02,024 --> 01:16:04,693
"that there are very few people
in this world
1386
01:16:04,726 --> 01:16:09,197
"who are qualified personally to
own a treasurer such as this,
1387
01:16:09,231 --> 01:16:13,902
and I believe you are
the other one."
1388
01:16:13,936 --> 01:16:16,305
[music plays]
1389
01:16:21,843 --> 01:16:26,381
I've kept the memory of this
inanimate object alive
1390
01:16:26,415 --> 01:16:31,853
by keeping every scrap of paper
that pertains to it.
1391
01:16:33,956 --> 01:16:38,026
There's a history,
there are other people who've seen it,
1392
01:16:38,060 --> 01:16:40,829
who have owned it.
1393
01:16:40,862 --> 01:16:42,798
There are records.
1394
01:16:42,831 --> 01:16:45,901
I can produce the cancelled
check
1395
01:16:45,934 --> 01:16:47,169
from the British Guiana,
1396
01:16:47,202 --> 01:16:49,871
It's indisputable.
1397
01:16:58,347 --> 01:17:02,217
Du Pont owned it, exhibited it
a couple of times,
1398
01:17:02,250 --> 01:17:04,453
but it's really not been seen
1399
01:17:04,486 --> 01:17:08,724
since the 19...
the late 1980s.
1400
01:17:08,757 --> 01:17:13,795
And then he, in turn,
died in 2010.
1401
01:17:13,829 --> 01:17:18,800
And his estate now has put it up
for sale with us.
1402
01:17:21,036 --> 01:17:22,971
The most famous stamp
in the world.
1403
01:17:23,005 --> 01:17:24,773
I don't know
what it will fetch,
1404
01:17:24,806 --> 01:17:26,808
but let's assume for the sake
of argument,
1405
01:17:26,842 --> 01:17:28,310
brings a price never before
heard of by man or beast.
1406
01:17:28,343 --> 01:17:30,312
$5,000,000.
1407
01:17:30,345 --> 01:17:34,316
Well, you can't buy a third rate
old master for $5,000,000!
1408
01:17:34,349 --> 01:17:36,018
Yeah, I think it's ugly.
1409
01:17:36,051 --> 01:17:37,452
That's not to say
anybody else does.
1410
01:17:37,486 --> 01:17:39,187
I mean, I know that
a lot of people
1411
01:17:39,221 --> 01:17:40,889
who think it's absolutely
magnificent.
1412
01:17:40,922 --> 01:17:42,958
Uh, I know a lot of people
who think
1413
01:17:42,991 --> 01:17:45,060
that what I'm collecting
is ugly or boring.
1414
01:17:45,093 --> 01:17:47,029
That's the beauty of stamp
collecting,
1415
01:17:47,062 --> 01:17:48,964
there's no right
and there's no wrong.
1416
01:17:48,997 --> 01:17:51,967
A hundred Rothkos out there
1417
01:17:52,000 --> 01:17:53,969
and 10,000 Picassos,
1418
01:17:54,002 --> 01:17:56,038
but there's only one Penny
Magenta,
1419
01:17:56,071 --> 01:17:58,140
and someone is going to really
get off on that.
1420
01:17:58,173 --> 01:18:00,008
It won't be me, alas.
1421
01:18:00,042 --> 01:18:04,479
Stamps, I think, are very, very,
very inexpensive.
1422
01:18:04,513 --> 01:18:10,252
They have a lot further
to go value-wise than many other items.
1423
01:18:10,285 --> 01:18:15,457
Somebody pays $28,000,000 for
some obnoxious painting.
1424
01:18:15,490 --> 01:18:19,027
There isn't
a $28,000,000 stamp.
1425
01:18:19,061 --> 01:18:23,131
The great pieces of philately,
in my opinion, are dirt cheap.
1426
01:18:23,165 --> 01:18:25,033
Dirt cheap. They always
have been.
1427
01:18:25,067 --> 01:18:27,302
[indistinct chatting]
1428
01:18:31,039 --> 01:18:32,407
[gavel pounds]
1429
01:18:32,441 --> 01:18:33,809
Good evening, ladies and
gentlemen.
1430
01:18:33,842 --> 01:18:35,343
My Name is David Redden,
1431
01:18:35,377 --> 01:18:37,345
and I want to welcome you to
Sotheby's
1432
01:18:37,379 --> 01:18:41,149
and our sale this evening of
the British Guiana.
1433
01:18:41,183 --> 01:18:47,055
And I will start the bidding
at $4,500,000.
1434
01:18:47,089 --> 01:18:49,458
It's at $4,500,000 now.
1435
01:18:49,491 --> 01:18:53,261
At $5,000,000 now, bidding at
$5,000,000.
1436
01:18:53,295 --> 01:18:56,264
At $5,500,000.
1437
01:18:56,298 --> 01:18:59,367
At $5,500,000.
1438
01:18:59,401 --> 01:19:03,071
At $6,000,000 now,
$6,000,000.
1439
01:19:03,105 --> 01:19:05,941
$6,500,000.
1440
01:19:05,974 --> 01:19:08,543
At $6,500,000.
1441
01:19:08,577 --> 01:19:12,013
At $7,500,000.
1442
01:19:13,915 --> 01:19:18,353
At $7,500,000.
Any advance?
1443
01:19:21,089 --> 01:19:23,558
At $7,700,000.
1444
01:19:23,592 --> 01:19:25,994
At $7,700,000.
1445
01:19:26,027 --> 01:19:29,297
$7,800,000.
1446
01:19:29,331 --> 01:19:32,000
$7,900,000.
1447
01:19:32,033 --> 01:19:36,304
On the telephone,
at $7,900,000.
1448
01:19:36,338 --> 01:19:41,076
Fair warning,
at $7,900,000.
1449
01:19:41,109 --> 01:19:45,480
On the telephone, then,
$7,900,000.
1450
01:19:45,514 --> 01:19:50,018
[pounds gavel]
$7,900,000.
1451
01:19:50,051 --> 01:19:53,121
[applause]
1452
01:20:14,142 --> 01:20:17,012
You have to accept this idea.
1453
01:20:17,045 --> 01:20:20,916
The British Guiana is
"the" unique.
1454
01:20:20,949 --> 01:20:24,386
Unique means
there is no other.
1455
01:20:24,419 --> 01:20:29,157
Nothing has a history like
the British Guiana.
1456
01:20:29,191 --> 01:20:35,130
It's sheer ugliness makes it
beautiful, really.
1457
01:20:35,163 --> 01:20:37,098
Yeah.
1458
01:20:39,267 --> 01:20:44,105
[Redden] This sets a brand-new world
record for a stamp,
1459
01:20:44,139 --> 01:20:48,143
and the fact that this rather
wonderful
1460
01:20:48,176 --> 01:20:50,212
but very small object
1461
01:20:50,245 --> 01:20:54,482
brought nearly $9.5 million
1462
01:20:54,516 --> 01:20:58,386
shows that the market is strong,
it's really strong.
1463
01:21:04,359 --> 01:21:06,962
[music plays]
1464
01:21:22,310 --> 01:21:24,112
I'm Stuart Weitzman,
1465
01:21:24,145 --> 01:21:26,982
and women say I'm more famous
for my shoes,
1466
01:21:27,015 --> 01:21:28,650
but for the past few days,
1467
01:21:28,683 --> 01:21:30,986
a lot of the stamp collectors in
the world know me
1468
01:21:31,019 --> 01:21:34,422
because I've bought the British
Guiana stamp.
1469
01:21:36,992 --> 01:21:40,962
When I was ten years old,
my brother collected stamps,
1470
01:21:40,996 --> 01:21:44,733
and I inherited his collection
when he went off to university.
1471
01:21:44,766 --> 01:21:47,202
There isn't a place in the
international album
1472
01:21:47,235 --> 01:21:49,004
to put the British Guiana.
1473
01:21:49,037 --> 01:21:51,640
No one who has this album
ever expects
1474
01:21:51,673 --> 01:21:54,242
that it's anything more than
symbolic,
1475
01:21:54,276 --> 01:21:56,978
to show us that there are
great rarities.
1476
01:21:58,546 --> 01:22:01,449
I was reading about the British
Guiana stamp
1477
01:22:01,483 --> 01:22:06,521
in a New York Times article on
its up-and-coming sale
1478
01:22:06,554 --> 01:22:08,556
several months down the road.
1479
01:22:08,590 --> 01:22:10,525
It had been publicized
for a long time.
1480
01:22:10,558 --> 01:22:13,261
The man who owned it, we all
know the story,
1481
01:22:13,295 --> 01:22:15,497
he had killed his wrestler,
1482
01:22:15,530 --> 01:22:17,999
spent the rest of his life
in jail,
1483
01:22:18,033 --> 01:22:19,534
and until he passed away,
1484
01:22:19,567 --> 01:22:22,070
the stamp was not available
for sale.
1485
01:22:22,103 --> 01:22:26,608
And I, I can see that page with
that hole where that stamp goes.
1486
01:22:26,641 --> 01:22:31,112
And I said, "Okay, I'm going to
make a phone call."
1487
01:22:34,115 --> 01:22:38,620
I've often had a frustration
with items
1488
01:22:38,653 --> 01:22:41,256
that I think the world
should see
1489
01:22:41,289 --> 01:22:45,427
and have a chance to appreciate
that owners don't let out.
1490
01:22:45,460 --> 01:22:48,396
And I often try
to convince the owner
1491
01:22:48,430 --> 01:22:51,099
to display them or sell them.
1492
01:22:51,132 --> 01:22:54,235
There are a lot of people who
would have a great interest
1493
01:22:54,269 --> 01:22:58,640
in seeing items such as this
stamp and documents
1494
01:22:58,673 --> 01:23:01,276
that are rare and other things
of that nature.
1495
01:23:01,309 --> 01:23:03,378
Not everyone cares.
1496
01:23:03,411 --> 01:23:07,082
Um, but enough people do that
they should have that chance.
1497
01:23:07,115 --> 01:23:09,284
That's the beauty, of course,
of museums.
1498
01:23:09,317 --> 01:23:11,486
Anybody can see anything
in a museum.
1499
01:23:11,519 --> 01:23:13,822
They're not warehouses.
1500
01:23:13,855 --> 01:23:17,359
They're not storing things,
there for showing things.
1501
01:23:17,392 --> 01:23:20,295
I decided that this would be
a good way
1502
01:23:20,328 --> 01:23:22,797
to fulfill one of
my ambitions,
1503
01:23:22,831 --> 01:23:25,467
and, uh, alleviate one of my
frustrations
1504
01:23:25,500 --> 01:23:28,303
about the fact that:
here's the stamp.
1505
01:23:28,336 --> 01:23:30,672
160-170 years old.
1506
01:23:30,705 --> 01:23:33,641
Very few people have ever had
a chance to see it.
1507
01:23:33,675 --> 01:23:35,610
The few owners
who have had it
1508
01:23:35,643 --> 01:23:38,480
have kept it under
lock and key.
1509
01:23:38,513 --> 01:23:42,283
You know, the excitement of
obtaining something
1510
01:23:42,317 --> 01:23:47,555
at a highly publicized auction,
the adrenaline that flows.
1511
01:23:47,589 --> 01:23:51,393
Any bidder will tell you.
1512
01:23:51,426 --> 01:23:53,728
I don't know how
you duplicate that,
1513
01:23:53,762 --> 01:23:56,097
and the pleasure I am getting
out of it
1514
01:23:56,131 --> 01:23:59,267
for its availability
to the public,
1515
01:23:59,300 --> 01:24:04,439
I expected but never as much as
it's been so far.
1516
01:24:04,472 --> 01:24:08,243
It's at the Smithsonian Postal
Museum in Washington
1517
01:24:08,276 --> 01:24:12,847
and temporarily on display at
events around the world.
1518
01:24:12,881 --> 01:24:16,651
The British Guiana stamp
certainly has its fame,
1519
01:24:16,684 --> 01:24:20,388
not because of its beauty
and design.
1520
01:24:20,422 --> 01:24:25,360
When I hear someone say,
"It's a gorgeous magenta color,"
1521
01:24:25,393 --> 01:24:27,295
I think, I make leather
1522
01:24:27,328 --> 01:24:29,831
that's better-looking magenta
than that, you know?
1523
01:24:29,864 --> 01:24:33,501
It isn't about being
a gorgeous stamp.
1524
01:24:33,535 --> 01:24:35,470
That's not what it's about.
1525
01:24:35,503 --> 01:24:37,539
The stamp is about being rare
1526
01:24:37,572 --> 01:24:43,144
and having stories behind it
and how it was found.
1527
01:24:43,178 --> 01:24:47,382
I met people whose business
was stamps
1528
01:24:47,415 --> 01:24:50,285
and others whose hobby was
stamps.
1529
01:24:50,318 --> 01:24:52,387
They both had a great passion
for it.
1530
01:24:52,420 --> 01:24:56,257
I got the impression that those
for whom it was a business,
1531
01:24:56,291 --> 01:24:57,792
it was also a hobby.
1532
01:24:57,826 --> 01:25:00,829
All collectors have
the same passion.
1533
01:25:00,862 --> 01:25:05,400
You know, you almost never think
you can get everything you want,
1534
01:25:05,433 --> 01:25:07,602
and you really,
generally don't.
1535
01:25:07,635 --> 01:25:10,472
So the challenge is there,
continually.
1536
01:25:10,505 --> 01:25:14,409
The story behind what you find
is exciting.
1537
01:25:14,442 --> 01:25:17,879
So many collectors have told me
how they found this piece
1538
01:25:17,912 --> 01:25:20,615
that they're showing or that
piece that they're showing.
1539
01:25:20,648 --> 01:25:24,719
They're the Sherlock Holmes of
their trade.
1540
01:25:24,752 --> 01:25:27,822
It's, uh, it's brought a little
extra fun in my life.
1541
01:25:27,856 --> 01:25:29,891
Truthfully, it has.
1542
01:25:29,924 --> 01:25:35,396
If I were in a position where
someone wanted to buy it from me
1543
01:25:35,430 --> 01:25:39,601
and it would've resulted in,
say, in a wonderful profit
1544
01:25:39,634 --> 01:25:41,636
that I would not
have expected,
1545
01:25:41,669 --> 01:25:44,472
I would have to think,
1546
01:25:44,506 --> 01:25:46,608
what would I do
with the money?
1547
01:25:49,277 --> 01:25:54,315
I don't show these stamps
to encourage others to go buy things.
1548
01:25:54,349 --> 01:25:56,885
I want people to see it.
1549
01:25:56,918 --> 01:26:00,221
It's simple. It's not more
complicated than that.
1550
01:26:00,255 --> 01:26:02,957
That's exactly
how simple it is.
1551
01:26:02,991 --> 01:26:05,260
Here's something that
I love to see.
1552
01:26:05,293 --> 01:26:08,463
I have a chance,
here's your chance
1553
01:26:23,678 --> 01:26:25,713
Why stamps?
1554
01:26:25,747 --> 01:26:28,016
To those who know, there's no
answer necessary.
1555
01:26:28,049 --> 01:26:31,452
To those who don't,
there's no answer possible.
1556
01:26:31,486 --> 01:26:34,489
And that really is what
it comes down to.
1557
01:26:34,522 --> 01:26:36,291
A lot about collecting,
you know,
1558
01:26:36,324 --> 01:26:39,494
a lot about many of the
interests that I have
1559
01:26:39,527 --> 01:26:41,496
and I think a lot of people
have.
1560
01:26:41,529 --> 01:26:45,366
I'm not sure there's a
logical reason.
1561
01:26:45,400 --> 01:26:50,471
How many walks of life are there
where you can find something,
1562
01:26:50,505 --> 01:26:53,374
you can discover something
about the world
1563
01:26:53,408 --> 01:26:54,842
that nobody else knows,
1564
01:26:54,876 --> 01:26:57,946
nobody else has
discovered, yet?
1565
01:26:57,979 --> 01:27:01,316
It's a unique opportunity,
and, and...
1566
01:27:01,349 --> 01:27:04,752
you can find it in all sorts of
areas of philately.
1567
01:27:04,786 --> 01:27:08,022
It's not just one place.
1568
01:27:08,056 --> 01:27:12,627
You can become the expert in
your field of philately.
1569
01:27:12,660 --> 01:27:14,896
You can write a book that's
never been published.
1570
01:27:14,929 --> 01:27:16,831
You can share it with your
colleagues
1571
01:27:16,864 --> 01:27:21,469
and be esteemed as an expert
in your field.
1572
01:27:21,502 --> 01:27:23,905
It's that opportunity of
discovery.
1573
01:27:23,938 --> 01:27:25,607
It's hard put it into words,
1574
01:27:25,640 --> 01:27:27,809
but I think stamps can be
beautiful.
1575
01:27:27,842 --> 01:27:30,445
It's a progression
of history,
1576
01:27:30,478 --> 01:27:34,549
the culture
and artistic tastes,
1577
01:27:34,582 --> 01:27:36,317
and the topics change
over time.
1578
01:27:36,351 --> 01:27:38,419
So it's really like
a time capsule
1579
01:27:38,453 --> 01:27:40,021
as you look at,
uh, the stamps
1580
01:27:40,054 --> 01:27:41,923
that had been issued over
a hundred years.
1581
01:27:41,956 --> 01:27:44,058
It's generally a curious mind
1582
01:27:44,092 --> 01:27:46,461
that wants to collect
and wants to learn.
1583
01:27:46,494 --> 01:27:48,963
Every collector is really
a curator
1584
01:27:48,997 --> 01:27:50,465
of his own little museum.
1585
01:27:50,498 --> 01:27:51,899
You know, I don't know
1586
01:27:51,933 --> 01:27:53,568
what the future of
our hobbies is,
1587
01:27:53,601 --> 01:27:56,738
but I can imagine, in a really
space--
1588
01:27:56,771 --> 01:27:59,374
outer-space-kind-of-driven
future.
1589
01:27:59,407 --> 01:28:02,343
Someone's going to put
a whole bunch of stamps on a computer chip
1590
01:28:02,377 --> 01:28:04,345
and embed it in the back
of my brain,
1591
01:28:04,379 --> 01:28:07,582
and then I can just flip through
the catalog of life
1592
01:28:07,615 --> 01:28:10,418
and see every stamp
ever coming out
1593
01:28:10,451 --> 01:28:14,789
and just lie there in the chair,
thinking and say,
1594
01:28:14,822 --> 01:28:16,624
"Okay, organize every stamp
1595
01:28:16,658 --> 01:28:19,827
that's got a cat that's
black and white."
1596
01:28:19,861 --> 01:28:21,596
And suddenly, instantly,
1597
01:28:21,629 --> 01:28:23,031
there I'm going to look at
all these cats
1598
01:28:23,064 --> 01:28:25,033
as I'm petting the one
on my lap.
1599
01:28:25,066 --> 01:28:29,103
You know, I just think we can't
even imagine the options
1600
01:28:29,137 --> 01:28:32,740
and possibilities that this
hobby can provide for us.
1601
01:28:32,774 --> 01:28:34,609
It's passion.
1602
01:28:34,642 --> 01:28:37,078
You can't fake passion.
1603
01:28:37,111 --> 01:28:39,514
It doesn't matter whether you're
black, you're white,
1604
01:28:39,547 --> 01:28:41,783
you're man, you're a woman,
you're gay, you're straight,
1605
01:28:41,816 --> 01:28:43,785
you're a Democrat,
you're a Republican,
1606
01:28:43,818 --> 01:28:47,388
we're there because we all have
our own odd passion in stamps.
1607
01:28:47,422 --> 01:28:51,125
I just, I just wish sometimes
that, you know,
1608
01:28:51,159 --> 01:28:52,760
you can communicate
to other people,
1609
01:28:52,794 --> 01:28:54,862
either you get it
or you don't.
1610
01:28:54,896 --> 01:28:59,033
And just-- when you get it,
and the light bulb goes off...
1611
01:28:59,067 --> 01:29:01,002
I mean, shit, it's fun!
1612
01:29:01,035 --> 01:29:02,970
[Ian]
Sorry.
1613
01:29:03,004 --> 01:29:06,107
I look at most things
as passing things, I guess.
1614
01:29:06,140 --> 01:29:08,776
I tend to view the world as...
1615
01:29:08,810 --> 01:29:11,112
7 billion people
1616
01:29:11,145 --> 01:29:13,815
you know, created 15 billion
years ago,
1617
01:29:13,848 --> 01:29:16,484
and there'll be another
15 billion on top of that.
1618
01:29:16,517 --> 01:29:19,120
And so, you know, so a stamp
collection,
1619
01:29:19,153 --> 01:29:22,890
how meaningful is that within
the context of humanity
1620
01:29:22,924 --> 01:29:26,661
and the history that we've had
and will have,
1621
01:29:26,694 --> 01:29:28,996
uh, you know,
when I'm no longer here?
1622
01:29:29,030 --> 01:29:31,666
Um, you know,
it was fun to do.
1623
01:29:31,699 --> 01:29:35,703
Is it the achievement
of my life? No.
1624
01:29:35,737 --> 01:29:39,440
Um, I would hope that would be
my family,
1625
01:29:39,474 --> 01:29:41,743
and, uh, second of all,
my career.
1626
01:29:41,776 --> 01:29:44,512
And this was a hobby,
and, yeah, it was great,
1627
01:29:44,545 --> 01:29:47,582
and I am glad I did it
and sort of proud.
1628
01:29:47,615 --> 01:29:50,885
It's like, um,
it's a fun thing.
1629
01:29:50,918 --> 01:29:52,987
[chuckles]
1630
01:29:53,020 --> 01:29:55,556
I probably haven't looked at my
collection in 20 years,
1631
01:29:55,590 --> 01:29:57,825
which is amazing because I could
tell you all about it.
1632
01:29:57,859 --> 01:29:59,494
I could tell you the various
stamps,
1633
01:29:59,527 --> 01:30:01,696
and you know,
the Lindbergh stamp,
1634
01:30:01,729 --> 01:30:05,700
which was a big deal
because living Americans weren't on stamps,
1635
01:30:05,733 --> 01:30:08,770
but they got around it
by just having the plane as opposed to him,
1636
01:30:08,803 --> 01:30:11,172
which is better because the
plane is more noteworthy anyway.
1637
01:30:11,205 --> 01:30:12,974
It's so odd.
It's like your hometown.
1638
01:30:13,007 --> 01:30:15,009
I know they're there,
I'm glad they're there.
1639
01:30:15,042 --> 01:30:17,111
Every once in a while, my kids
look at them and they say,
1640
01:30:17,145 --> 01:30:19,180
"Why don't you-- you know,
you could sell these."
1641
01:30:19,213 --> 01:30:21,549
I'm like, "Well, but I can't
conceive of selling them
1642
01:30:21,582 --> 01:30:23,551
because they're part
of who I am."
1643
01:30:23,584 --> 01:30:26,854
In a chaotic and often
frightening world,
1644
01:30:26,888 --> 01:30:29,557
stamp collecting is
a way to create
1645
01:30:29,590 --> 01:30:31,626
a beautiful order
and symmetry
1646
01:30:31,659 --> 01:30:36,197
that might be hard for some
people to find anywhere else.
1647
01:30:36,230 --> 01:30:38,866
I will not retire willingly
from this business.
1648
01:30:38,900 --> 01:30:40,735
They will find me slumped over
my desk
1649
01:30:40,768 --> 01:30:42,136
with a pair of gold
stamp tongs,
1650
01:30:42,170 --> 01:30:44,172
deader than a doornail.
1651
01:30:44,205 --> 01:30:47,809
But I will not voluntarily quit
because it's been too much fun.
1652
01:30:47,842 --> 01:30:49,911
I love my clients.
I love my work.
1653
01:30:49,944 --> 01:30:53,614
It's fascinating,
intriguing,
1654
01:30:53,648 --> 01:30:55,183
mind-expanding,
1655
01:30:55,216 --> 01:30:57,585
and something which allows us
1656
01:30:57,618 --> 01:31:03,157
to always be an academic
student of the subject.
1657
01:31:03,191 --> 01:31:06,694
Because there is a
phantasmagoria of things to know
1658
01:31:06,727 --> 01:31:10,998
about an incalculable number of
different items.
1659
01:31:11,032 --> 01:31:14,569
So it's something that one can
devote their life to,
1660
01:31:14,602 --> 01:31:18,239
trying to gain a modest
understanding of,
1661
01:31:18,272 --> 01:31:21,776
and for me, that is the great
fascination of philately
1662
01:31:21,809 --> 01:31:26,814
and is why I love it dearly now
as I did 50 years ago.
1663
01:31:31,052 --> 01:31:33,988
All kids have a dream.
1664
01:31:34,021 --> 01:31:35,923
I talked to myself,
1665
01:31:35,957 --> 01:31:39,026
someday I'm going to get outta
this town.
1666
01:31:39,060 --> 01:31:42,964
That's what I had in
the back of my mind.
1667
01:31:42,997 --> 01:31:46,167
That I was going to go
to New York
1668
01:31:46,200 --> 01:31:49,804
and do a Horatio Alger bit,
1669
01:31:49,837 --> 01:31:53,241
and in due course
1670
01:31:53,274 --> 01:31:57,211
be known to every
head waiter
1671
01:31:57,245 --> 01:32:00,581
and every night club
in New York City
1672
01:32:00,615 --> 01:32:04,719
and take-- own New York City
in that way.
1673
01:32:07,221 --> 01:32:09,824
That's all I wanted to do.
1674
01:32:09,857 --> 01:32:11,893
And all of a sudden,
I'm doing it.
1675
01:32:15,963 --> 01:32:18,633
And by the way, on the back of
that stamp
1676
01:32:18,666 --> 01:32:23,905
are several initials of
the former owners.
1677
01:32:23,938 --> 01:32:26,274
I added mine.
1678
01:32:26,307 --> 01:32:28,175
So if I ever see it again,
1679
01:32:28,209 --> 01:32:31,612
I'll know if it's
the real thing.
1680
01:32:31,646 --> 01:32:33,347
[chuckles]
1681
01:32:33,381 --> 01:32:35,950
[music plays]
1682
01:32:54,969 --> 01:32:57,305
[music plays]
136863
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