John Jamieson, philatelic expert and owner of Saskatoon Stamp Centre (SSC), is celebrating his 50th year in philately this May.
Since May 12, 1966 – Jamieson’s starting date at SSC – he has been serving collectors in Canada and abroad. He had begun collecting only a few years earlier, while in Grade 5, and in the following half-century he earned a reputation as a leading buying and seller of Canadian errors and varieties as well as classic stamps of British North America. Over the years, he has worked with some of Canadian philately’s greatest material, including John Ellis’ unique black essay of Sir Sanford Fleming’s three-penny Beaver stamp (Scott #1); a rare Mint example of the same three-penny Beaver; and the only privately owned Beaver die proof in black, to name but a few.
“Some of the greatest stamps in all of Canadian philately have come across my desk,” said Jamieson. “I have had all the joy of being a collector, but I have always put a price on the stamps and also had the pleasure of seeing another collector get pleasure from buying and owning the stamps they wanted for their collections.”
‘COLLECTOR PLEASURE’
One of Jamieson’s early mentors, Stew Kenyon, of Edmonton, once told Jamieson: “You can’t be a dealer and collector, too!” Kenyon’s reasoning was a true collector would want to keep all of the best stamps for himself, preventing his business from succeeding.
“He was absolutely right, but over the years, I’ve had the ‘collector pleasure’ of tracking down and buying most of the greatest stamps of Canada,” said Jamieson, who added the “only difference” between him and any other collector is he allows others to enjoy “the pleasure of ownership.”
“I had the fun of the hunt, the joy of ownership, the fun of research and writing up the stamps,” he said. “We have also helped hundreds of collectors put together award-winning collections.”