Two prominent U.S. philatelic institutions—The Collectors Club and The Philatelic Foundation—have agreed to share space in The Collectors Club’s classic Stanford White-designed townhouse located on 22 East 35th St. in New York City.
The Philatelic Foundation, which was established in 1945 in the walls of the East 35th St. club house, is slated to move back into two floors of the iconic philatelic headquarters. on Dec. 1 and will continue its expertizing services accordingly. The foundation currently boasts an in-house staff of advanced philatelists and a reference collection of more than 240 volumes, including the largest collection of U.S. fakes and forgeries. It’s also the only U.S. expertizing service to use the Visual Spectral Comparator (VSC) 6000, which is also used in Canada by the Vincent Graves Greene Philatelic Research Foundation, and the Bruker X-ray fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometer.
Since it was established, the Philatelic Foundation has been the leading U.S.-based philatelic expertizing service, issuing more than half a million certificates of authenticity, each of which are available online for review alongside extensive research material.
Philatelic Foundation Chair Robert Rose said the foundation is “pleased” to return to its first home.
“We at the PF look forward to a growing synergy between our two organizations which we expect will benefit all of philately in this country,” said Rose.
THE COLLECTORS CLUB
The Collectors Club, which traces its history back to the late 19th century, currently has nearly 800 members as well as a research library, a monthly speakers’ program and an award-winning journal, The Collectors Club Philatelist. The club has been operating out of its East 35th Street headquarters since 1937—a total of 80 years.
The Collectors Club President Mark Banchik said he’s “looking forward to the steady stream of visitors to the PF’s offices who will see firsthand, our club house and the many benefits of membership in The Collectors Club as well the opportunity for our members to access the PF’s reference collections while conducting research activities.”