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Probably the first professional stamp dealer to set upshop in the world was Stanley Gibbons of London, Eng-land. In America the father of professional stamp dealerswould likely be John W. Scott. Both of these men had adifficult and uncharted course to follow. Both set outearly to publish albums and catalogues of the stamps ofthe world. Both founded firms that grew to be leaders but that, in time, were to see competition grow up allaround them for the hobby they established soon outgrewthe ability of any single person or firm to serve itspurpose. At present in the United States the professional stampworld centers in New York City. Here there are hundredsof stamp shops concentrated along Nassau Street anduptown around 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Thesestamp stores range from one-man specialists, of whichthere are a great many, to ground-floor stores employing anumber of clerks. Also there are a considerable numberof individual dealers and firms engaged solely in sellingstamps at public auction, and during the season — earlyfall to late spring — it is not unusual for several suchauctions to take place each week. On occasion two ormore auctions will be held on the same day although theauction houses try to avoid such conflicts. It would bedifficult to estimate the annual turnover in dollars andcents of all of the stamp dealers in New York. Some ideaof the size of this business may be gathered from the factthat a single auction firm will have an annual total salesrunning more than a million dollars. |
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