New York’s Youngest Professional Philatelist

"Andrew Titley speaks in a discombobulating accent that is both suave Brit and brash New Yorker. He is 25 years old, but could pass for younger. He loves Brooks Brothers suits, Ferragamo shoes and drives a 3-Series BMW. But what really revs him up are, well, postage stamps. Specifically, rare and collectible stamps that can command staggering prices. Titley is likely the country’s youngest professional philatelist," writes Christopher Wynn on the DallasNews.com website.

Titley is an appraiser for the international office of the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York which is one of the largest stamp auction houses in the United States. According to Wynn, Titley is "frustrated by the industry stereotype of the fuddy-duddy old man poring over books of cellophane-protected postage."

He quotes Titley as saying "Stamps have a reputation for being geeky. It’s almost a stigma: ‘My grandfather did it.’”

Wynn goes on to pen, "Awkwardly, in Titley’s case, his grandfather really did do it. Titley says his Welsh grandfather worked for the United Nations and helped the family collect stamps wherever they traveled, from Fiji to Egypt. When his grandfather died decades ago, Titley’s dad, who had moved the family to Long Island, passed the collection on to him. Titley became obsessed — and just a wee bit conniving. When he was 12, he grew bored with his dad’s stamps and wanted to build his own collection. He stole his father’s eBay login and sold Dad’s stamps to fund his own purchases, many of which turned out to be good investments."

 Shown above, Andrew Titley at work.

Titley still collects stamps for himself in his off-hours. - See more at: http://fdluxe.dallasnews.com/2013/10/fuddy-duddy-no-more-the-young-dallas-stamp-expert-who-wants-to-change-his-industrys-image.html/#sthash.8vQxswIk.dpu.

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