The Timeless Writings of Earl Apfelbaum

During Earl’s many decades in the stamp business, he estimated there were between 50 and 100 thousand stamp collectors he met and invariably liked well enough that, had there been the time, he would have kept in contact. Apfelbaum’s Corner was the nearest thing to letters that he had been able to devise. Earl felt that through the column he was able to reach thousands of collectors, many he may have even met. Earl depicted, with great clarity and humor, the life and times of collectors, their collections and the world around them. Thousands eagerly awaited the weekly perspective brought to them by philately’s leading authority.

Today, you can enjoy the timelessness of these writings as we bring the most popular ones back for your reading pleasure. We hope you enjoy them as much as the tens of thousands of philatelists world wide have.

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 10

Stamp exhibitions need an addition to their classifications, because at present they ignore the largest body of collectors: those with general collections mounted in printed albums. Let’s face facts; more people collect in printed than blank albums, and are general or one-of-a-kind collectors, …

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 9

One of the loneliest times in life is the period just after a loved husband or wife has passed away. It them seems that nothing is worth doing. Days become full of emptiness. Remorse and self-pity frequently get the upper hand. All too often, the greatest therapy in this trying situation is overlook …

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 8

There aren’t many collectors today who would remember my father. This is their loss, because in today’s hectic world it is a novelty to find a person like him. Spending an hour with a new collector, man or boy, instructing in the “house” of philately, was far more important t …

Apfelbaum's Corner – Volume 7

Recently, I heard a man who claimed over forty years of collecting tell members of a club that they should never spend a cent for anything but United States stamps and they should always be sure that the postal clerk gives them a plate number with each purchase. There are similarly misguided exponen …

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 6

Mortality in the stamp business is said to be higher than in other lines of business. A check of the advertisers in this paper compared with those five years ago will well prove the point. If one goes back ten, twenty or thirty years, it will be difficult to find many firms that have survived the ye …

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 5

I recently flew from Chicago to Philadelphia in one hour and twenty minutes. Only a few years ago it took a sixteen hour train ride to cover the same distance. Of course, the plane is by comparison a modern miracle. But what has been accomplished by me with the more than half a day saved? Am I putti …

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 4

“Mr. X” is collecting Missouri postal history. “Mr. Y” is keen for Montana. Then there is a long line of people after everything from Hong Kong to Tenerife. Our hope is to always have as much available in each of these lines as our friends have money to spend for their specia …

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 3

With the coming of Spring, we resume our “road work”. No, this isn’t an athletic endeavor. This is travel to view collections that are for sale. Within the next six months we expect to cover 30,000 miles of North American highways, calling on philatelists in their homes or offices …

Apfelbaum’s Corner – Volume 2

We have been asked, “Why do you care what kind of stamp shops there are available to collectors other than your own?” We care because the only way we can keep our hobby growing is by making comfortable, well stocked and pleasantly conducted stamp stores available to collectors. There are …

Apfelbaum's Corner – Volume 1

Labor Day of 1930 marked the dividing point of public opinion as to whether “Hoover’s Depression” was to be a big bump or a careening cataclysm rapidly getting out of control. On this eventful day my father, Maurice, and I embarked on an enterprise intended to provide the proverbia …