Old Time Stamp Dealer Recollections !

Here's a close-up of the cute "Bike Stamp" (I wonder if Herman Herst had a hand in making these covers?  Any information on them???)

Sorry, I thought I posted this in the US Cinderellas thread, my mistake!  Weird.

Thank you Michael for the comments on Herman Herst.  I had a couple run-ins with him when I was a "young whippersnapper" (his words).  Always at our club auctions; he was a wheelchair-bound, feisty old guy who sometimes would get into a bidding war with me.  Often Pat would get quite annoyed when my winning bid would beat his.  Lots of cheaper box lots for usually less than 10 or 12 dollars each.  I made friends with him when he offered a couple dollars for literally pulling a couple odd items out of my winnings.   At the time someone whispered to me "you better not get Pat Herst mad at you!"

I hadn't realized he was "the" (Herman) Pat Herst.   At the time having only read one of his books, "Album Weeds,"  I have been a fan ever since!

Hi Jerry,

Yes, nice memories of bygone stamp days.  I never visited New York until the 1980's but would have loved to visit Nassau Street; by then I think the last store was going or already gone.  

Regarding my confusion about who wrote Album Weeds, I could look it up but you're likely right.  I had two or three Billing-Type books, one of which, I'm sure, was Album Weeds, and likely one or two of the others were indeed written by Herman Herst.  I remember reading his articles, I think, in the 1970's in Linn's Stamp News--remember when, with all the classified ads, Linn's Stamp News ran around one hundred or more big, tabloid/newspaper-style pages!?!?!

Either way I misplaced, gave away, or lost the three Billing-type books I came across (all came from the Hollywood Stamp Club), likely purchased in the mid-to-late 1970's for, I am sure, around $5.00 or less.  I am sure because I would never have spent (nor rarely ever HAD) more than five dollars at any one time.  That was, like ten hours of babysitting money, or probably an entire weekend of lawn-mowing, my only sources of income at age 15 or 16.  That doesn't include my teenage stamp-approval venture "W-B Stamps" which netted me and my stamp collecting friend about three or four dollars a month, if that, after postage and other costs like Linn's advertising!

Sorry for going off-topic, but stamps and reminiscing go together so well.......

We lived in Brooklyn in 1969 to 1970 and my Dad and I attended a dealer bourse on Nassau Street on Sundays. The dealer of choice was Raymond Snitow. He had full page ads in Linn's. I do not recall any negative experiences but I was young buying common stamps like the National Parks, etc.

Yes, Herman “Pat” Herst, Jr. wrote Nassau Street (although originally published in the early 1960s, Amos published an updated version in 1988). This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the Golden Age of stamp dealers in New York. If you clicked on this thread, this book is for you.


If you, like me, want more of Herst’s stories about his life as a stamp dealer, he published two other books of interest. Stories to Collect Stamps By (1968) and Still More Stories to Collect Stamps By (1992). I don’t have the first one yet but am looking forward to getting it.

Over the last year or so, I have developed a deep interest in the history of philately. Not just the history of stamps and postal services (although I’m highly interested in those too), but the history of stamp collecting itself. I would give anything to be able to visit Nassau Street during its heyday of the 1920s-1950s. Just think of all of the marvelous things related to philately that you could see and hear, not to mention just seeing New York City during the Roaring 20s or World War II. Imagine being able to see Lindbergh’s ticker tape parade or being in Times Square on VJ Day!

I thought that everyone might enjoy this video of the heyday of stamp collecting in New York: