My sister and I inherited a stamp collection formed by both my Grandfather and father. Both my parents had substantial incomes. When I was young they used to show me what they considered to be very valuable stamps. I remember my Grandfather was very proud of his collection of Great Britain pointing out to me a large orange stamp with the likeness of Queen Victoria. I will never forget it as the stamp was very large. He impressed upon me it had original gum and was not mounted with paper. Both formed together the stamps of Great Britain and its colonies and a collection of United States stamps in many albums. When my Dad died the collection was split between my sister and I. Neither wanted to continue the collection and I contacted several organizations including The American Philatelic Society.
When I contacted the Society I was put in touch with a man who asked whom else did I contact. I told him the names of three others. He told me the three others were basically crooks and not to deal with them though he used other language. One was a famous firm and today I can't remember the name but I was given a phone number in Denver Colorado. I asked this person whom could I trust and he embellished his organization The American Philatelic Society and told me APS only recommended the best and most honest dealer referrals. He gave me the name of Edward Younger who was located in Danbury CT.
I called Mr. Younger and described to him what I had. He seemed familiar with my father and as I lived in New York State made an appointment with me. My sister who had the British collection lives in San Diego CA and he furnished me the name of Stephen Pattillo who was close by my sister. Dealing with these two persons was the single worst experience of my life and my sister too. Dad specifically told my sister and I what to expect for the collections. Dad's figure of $200,000.00 for both the US and British was based on cash value not catalog value, again conservatively estimated by my dad. Both Younger and Pattillo offered us $40,000, $20,000 for my collection and $20,000 for my sisters. They both told us the estimate by Dad was catalog value and the condition of the stamps were very bad. Younger told me as a representative of APS he should be fully trusted with the offer. I told Mr. Younger I would seek a second opinion and he was very upset telling me he had made a trip in good faith for nothing. He then practically demanded I sell him part of the collection to cover his cost! I felt very threatened and agreed to let him have a page from the collection. I recall it was titled 1893 Columbus. He paid me $500 for the page. My sister went through the same horror with Mr. Pattillo who stormed out of the house because my sister would not sell him the large orange stamp from Great Britain. Frustrated I called the other people on my original list telling them what had occurred.
A Los Angeles organization gave me the names of two auction firms, one in New York and one in Texas. Through one of those firms we realized a net price of $165,000. Neither would comment on the two dealers who tried to swindle us. This situation occurred some years ago and only recently did a friend of my father call me and tell me to Google The American Philatelic Society. After reading the Ripp Off report I felt it only fair to have my own appear so as to warn others to stay away from these crooks.
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