Читать книгу The Philatelist - D.H. Coop - Страница 8

Chapter 3

National Recovery Act—issued August 15, 1933

This stamp was used to advertise the cornerstone of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.

August 2, 2001, at 4:07 p.m.—Oroville, California

Ed Hegel was a short balding man with a large waist. He was always looking for that one “big deal” in his life. Anyone looking at Ed would think he was completely broke. He drove an old broken-down car and wore the shabbiest of clothes that did not appear to have been washed all that recently. Clients would sometimes give him items for free when he was called out to appraise something because he seemed to need the money more than they did.

The little bell at the door sounded to announce Stan’s entrance. Sitting at the counter, Ed looked up from his coin magazine and smiled.

“Hey, Stan! What can I do for you today? Have you decided to become a coin collector?”

“Nah,” laughed Stan. “I just found this old stamp album of my grandmother’s in the attic and figured I might as well get rid of it, you know? It’s the collector, not me. Dust collector that is!”

“Well, let me have a look,” Ed said with a chuckle as he reached for the blue book.

Stan watched as Ed went through the book in a hurry, as if it was of little importance to him. After a few pages, Ed even began flipping through groups of pages at a time. Stan knew that Ed’s expertise was really in coins. But in a small town, one had to sell in general areas to stay in business.

Though his knowledge was mostly superficial, Stan knew a few things about stamps. Airmails, for example, were a good buy because of their high starting value and their limited circulation. And air travel had been limited for most of the century, making them even more unusual.

Stan looked expectantly at Ed as he leafed through the pages, pausing on the German and airmail stamps. As he neared the end of the book, Ed studied the last page for a moment and then looked up.

“I will give you one thousand and five hundred dollars for it as is,” Ed pronounced as he shut the book.

“One thousand and five hundred dollars?” repeated a surprised Stan. He had not expected nearly that much. That was nearly double what he was owed in rent.

“You might get more for it if you took it over to the Bay Area, but I doubt it,” said Ed.

“Your offer sounds fair to me,” Stan said. He felt a pang of guilt but quickly reminded himself that the extra money would make up for the lost rent while he was looking for a new tenant.

Ed moved toward the cash register and carefully counted out $1,500 in a combination of twenties and one-hundred-dollar bills.

“Thanks, Ed,” Stan said. “I have got to run, but I will see you around!”

After Stan pulled away from the curb to head back to Palermo, Ed looked out the shop window. “Did I offer too much?” he said aloud to himself. “Stan doesn’t usually take a deal unless he thinks it’s a good one. Maybe the book isn’t worth the three thousand dollars I hope it is.” As Stan pulled away, he waved. Then he sat down and continued to flip through the coin catalog.