Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth century with the rapid growth of the postal service, as a never-ending stream of new stamps was produced by countries that sought to advertise their distinctiveness through their stamps.
Philip Ferrari de La Renotière was a noted French-born stamp collector, assembling probably the most complete worldwide collection that ever existed, or is likely to exist. Among his extremely rare stamps were the unique Treskilling Yellow of Sweden and the 1856 one-cent "Black on Magenta" of British Guiana.
The Mauritius "Post Office" stamps were issued by the British Colony Mauritius in September 1847, in two denominations: an orange-red one penny (1d) and a deep blue two pence (2d). Their name comes from the wording on the stamps reading "Post Office", which was soon changed in the next issue to "Post Paid". They are among the rarest postage stamps in the world.
David Feldman BA, BBS, RDP(I) is a professional philatelist, auctioneer and author. He held his first stamp auction in 1967. Feldman is Honorary Chairman of David Feldman SA, a Geneva-based auction company, through which he attained record prices for some of the world's most famous postage stamps. In 1993, Feldman auctioned the "Bordeaux Cover", which comprised the 1847 1d Orange-red and the 2d Deep Blue Mauritius "Post Office" stamps, which brought 6,175,000 Swiss francs including all commissions, at that time the highest price ever paid for any philatelic item. He also sold the unique 1855 Sweden Treskilling Yellow stamp at auction in 1996, which at the time was the highest price ever paid for a single stamp, eclipsed in 2014 by the sale of the British Guiana 1c magenta.
The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their names.
Charles James Phillips of London, England, and New York City, was a philatelist highly regarded in both England where he started his philatelic career and in the United States, where he emigrated to in 1922.
David John Springbett (1938-2022) was a British philatelist and former insurance broker, who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 2004.
Mirosław Artur Bojanowicz was a Polish philatelist who settled in England after World War II and became a recognized expert on the stamps of Poland. He frequently served as a judge at international exhibitions and in 1966 was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists; Bojanowicz was one of very few professional philatelists to be accorded this honour.
Lieut. Colonel George S. F. Napier was a British Army officer of the 52nd Oxfordshire Light Infantry.
Dr. William Robert Denison Wiggins FFARCS MRCS was a British medical practitioner and philatelist who in 1963 was awarded the Crawford Medal by the Royal Philatelic Society London for his work The Postage Stamps of Great Britain Part II.
Joaquín Galvez Naranjo was a philatelist who in 1965 was awarded the Crawford Medal by the Royal Philatelic Society London for his work Los primeros sellos de Chile 1853 a 1867. At the time it was published, this book was the first significant work on the philately of Chile since 1919. The book was reprinted by Postilion Publications in the 1990s with an errata sheet and a prologue by Álvaro Bonilla Lara.
Dr. Anton Jerger of Vienna was a philatelist who, in 1983, was awarded the Crawford Medal by the Royal Philatelic Society London for his handbooks on the philately of Austrian Lombardy-Venetia. He amassed a world class collection of this area over fifty years with his wife Elisabeth. The collection was sold in instalments by Corinphila with the first instalment alone raising $1,800,000.
Hugo Goeggel is a Swiss businessman and philatelist, resident in Colombia, who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 2010.
Paulo Rodolpho Comelli FRPSL was a Brazilian philatelist who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 2007.
Hiroyuki Kanai was a Japanese businessman, writer and philatelist.
Hugo Josefsson is a Swedish philatelist who in 1986 won the Grand Prix National at the STOCKHOLMIA 86 international stamp exhibition. In 1990 he was awarded the Strandell Medal by the Scandinavian Collectors Club. He is a specialist in the nineteenth century stamps of Sweden.
Tay Peng Hian FRPSL is a Singaporean businessman and philatelist who was appointed to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists. He is a fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London. Tay is a specialist in the philately of Burma and the Straits Settlements.
Rolf-Dieter Jaretzky is a pharmacist and philatelist who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1997.
Adolf Passer FRPSL was an Austrian philatelist and authority on the stamps of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.
John Barefoot is a British philatelist, stamp dealer, and publisher, best known for his catalogues of revenue stamps which are known collectively as the "Barefoot catalogue".
