Herrick Stamp started our stamp business over seventy years ago with new issue distribution of the 1946 Peace issue from the British Commonwealth nations. Demand was strong and over the next two years, we sold almost nine thousand collections. This launched our Commonwealth new issue service which rapidly became the leader in this field. We also began to retain British Commonwealth stamps for inventory and to gradually build America's largest stock of mint sets 1935 to date.
There were not many new issues in the late 1940's and collectors could afford to collect the entire British Commonwealth. The Silver Wedding issues of 1948 changed that as there were very high face values involved. Some of these sets were in short supply and had a rapid price appreciation that has lasted until today. On account of the popularity and financial success of the 1948 Wedding issue, the 1949 UPU Anniversary Omnibus was a sure fire winner and British Commonwealth stamps were firmly established as the most popular overseas stamps collected in America. Our want list service for Older British Commonwealth issues began in 1950.
The 1953 Coronation of the popular Princess Elizabeth solidified British Commonwealth collecting for the next fifty years. Starting with Ghana inaugural issue of 1957, we entered into the worldwide new issue field with complete coverage of all nations and topics, and we expanded our inventory of older stamps to worldwide. Topical stamps such as Birds , Trains , Space , Olympics and Christmas gained strength starting in the early 1960's.
We have continued worldwide coverage throughout the years; passing through tremendous surges of interest in such areas of Post War Europe, Ryukyu , Middle Eastern nations, Australian area , Channel Islands, Japan and currently Pacific Rim nations. We have seen topical interest run from Famous Paintings and Refugee Year to Diana Wedding , World Wildlife Fund , Hologram and Famous Entertainers.
The point is that over the past seventy years, Herrick Stamp Company has delivered more stamps to more collectors in the USA than anyone else. In 1946, we operated out of a small extra bedroom on Herrick Drive in Lawrence, New York. Today, we have a staff of sixty and 6000 square feet of office space loaded with computers, telephones and office equipment. I am not sure that this is an improvement over the way we operated in 1946, but it is necessary to keep up with the ever increasing flow of new issues and more importantly with the ever evolving collecting needs of our customers.
I do not expect to see soon again nine thousand collectors all subscribing to an issue like the 1946 Peace Omnibus. Collectors today are more diverse in their collecting interests. What we have seen over the past few years is a tremendous resurgence in stamp collecting on the Internet. Herrick lists all the new issues on our website and updates the listing every two weeks. All stamps are illustrated.
Whatever your collecting interests are today and however they might change in the future, Herrick Stamp Company will be here to serve you and bring ease and enjoyment to your new issue collecting.
Our website offers over 240,000 stamps plus collections, clubs, lots and stamp stories. We also post and illustrate every New Issue stamp and update our site every two weeks.
