What's in YOUR Attic?

The New York Times reports,"Many families have some treasures in the attic. Fred Frelinghuysen knew he had something, too, but he realized its significance only when the time came to let it go."

According to the article by Matthew Healey, the Frelinghuysen family put their father's extensive stamp collection up for auction last week. Apparently, they didn't realize that their father's collection was one-of-a-kind and its historical significance.

"...none of the younger generation studied stamps as passionately as their father did, nor did they grasp the importance of the collection as a whole — until the time came to dispose of it," writes Healey.

Son Fred Frelinghuysen, 58, is quoted in the piece as saying, “It was a passion for him for many years. We were always aware of the collection. It was something we would bring out when we were on vacation or had time to relax.” 

Healey goes on to say,  "It is not your uncle Pete’s schoolboy album replete with five-and-dime commemoratives, but a large and expertly curated holding, put together by Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen Jr., a former congressman who died last year at age 95, that includes rarities from the earliest days of American postal history"

Among the collection’s rarities are quite a few “postmasters’ provisionals and an Inverted Jenny.

According to Scott Trepel, the head of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, which is selling the collection, the Frelinghuysens hold the record for an Inverted Jenny stamp owned for the longest time by one family. 

Shown above, some of “postmasters’ provisionals from the 1840s in the Frelinghuysen collection .

To read the entire article, click here.