INSIDER 29 | COLLECTOR'S CORNER | Selling Collections to Help Solve Global Challenges
Jan 24 2018

By Jakob von Uexkull

When he was nine years old, Jakob von Uexkull’s father offered to exchange his son’s toy pistols for a stamp collection. Jakob agreed and never regretted his decision. A few years later, after moving from Sweden to Germany, he noticed that Swedish and German stamps were considerably more expensive in their respective home countries and began dealing in his free time. His business grew and when he won a scholarship to Oxford, his college complained that he was receiving more mail than the Dean…

RMS Titanic
Apr 20 2012

RMS Titanic By Stephen Goldsmith Historical objects often strike chords that resonate within the hearts of collectors. This is especially true of objects that relate to the 1912 sinking of RMS Titanic, arguably the most compelling maritime disaster of all time. At Spink, three extraordinary Titanic-related items have recently come to light. The first relates to the early part of the Titanic's story, conveying the excitement and optimism that surrounded the debut of world's largest and most l...

The 1901 Pan-American Exposition
Apr 02 2012

Significant in History and Collecting By Matthew Orsini During the 19th century, across Europe and the Americas, a peculiar and often popular multi-form event emerged that significantly advanced many advertising and entertainment channels that remain popular to this day. That event, often labeled an "exposition", came to prominence as a way to promote a cause, or oftentimes many causes, in a manner that regularly resulted in widespread public attendance. The spectacular nature of these events...

The Lure of the Penny Black
Mar 12 2012

Practically every stamp collector in the world would like to own a Great Britain 1840 Penny Black. It doesn't matter if you collect stamps from countries from Abu Dhabi to Zululand or anything in-between. The Penny Black is the Mother (therefore perhaps the Two Pence blue is the Father!) of Postage Stamps. However there is much more to the Lure of the Penny Black than the fact that it was the first Postage Stamp in the world, beating off other contenders for the title, such as the...

Stamp Boxes
Nov 26 2010

Stamp Boxes The postage stamp was first introduced in Britain in 1840 and its use spread rapidly throughout the globe. It made its appearance as part of the reform of the postal system which, by reducing the cost and improving the efficiency, led to a steep rise volume as the service became accessible to a greater proportion of increasingly literate population. This itself was but a part of the revolution in communications brought about by the age of industrialization. Whereas mankind entered...

The Race Across The Atlantic
Sep 14 2010

By Dominic Savastano Today the biggest problem in flying across the Atlantic seems to be knowing which airport terminal you have to leave from and getting to the check point on time. Perhaps we should think for a moment or two of the first non-stop aerial Transatlantic crossing and we might realize that, despite occasional delays and lost luggage, just how lucky we are today. We might even pay homage to the statue of those two intrepid aviators, Captain John Alcock and Lieuten...