History of Canada Turns Collector On

Canada's Ottawa Citizen reports, "An Ottawa stamp enthusiast who has spent decades assembling one of the world's finest collections of historic Canadian postal material is selling the entire lot next week at a U.S. auction expected to smash several Canadian price records and net about $1.5 million overall."

Reporter Randy Boswell says, "The award-winning Daniel Cantor Collection, which covers the opening years of the country's postal history from 1851 to 1868, is described as a 'real gem' of the philatelic world by Harvey Bennett, whose Maryland-based auction firm is handling the Sept. 24 sale in New York City."

Cantor, a 69-year-old retired Ottawa businessman who ran a wholesale beef business he ran for 30 years,  is quoted as saying, "The company was how I earned an income, the stamps were how I had my pleasure in life."

Cantor, who inherited the stamp hobby from his father, said he was not only passionate about pursuing the complete collection for pre-Confederation Canada but also about preserving a picture of the country's past through its early postal relics.

"It's the history of Canada," he said, "That turned me on."

Shown above, a pair of rare Twelve-Penny Blacks expected to sell for more than $100,000 at Daniel Cantor Collection auction.

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