The Key West Citizen

Philatelic Brains Seen
Guiding Stamp Thieves

"HOT STAMPS" are spotted by dealers in a thief's
By SYD KRONISH, AP Newsfeatures Writer

Jesse James and Jimmy Valentine were tame Mother Goose characters compared with present day postage stamp thieves.

Philatelic yeggs have committed a number of daring burglaries throughout the country in recent months. Thousands of dollars worth of rare and valuable stamps have been stolen from stamp dealers. Little of the missing loot has been recovered so far.

Peter G. Keller, executive officer and secretary of the American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA), is working in close cooperation with police, postal and FBI authorities to track down the culprits.

These authorities believe that the thieves might be a combination of philatelists and professional gangsters. In all cases reported, a carefully worked out plan of entry and safe-cracking has been perpetrated. No fingerprints have been left and only the most valuable stamps stolen.

Within eight months, the offices of two stamp dealers in New York City were broken into, safes cracked and $160,000 worth of rare stamps taken from both!

A more daring brand of stamp banditry occurred in Hollywood, Cal. This was a daytime affair. The robbers, evidently philatelists, entered a stamp shop, tied up the manager and employees and then made off with $20,000 worth of rare stamps and gold coins. While the store was being ransacked a customer entered. He, too, received the "tie-up treatment."

Another stamp robbery in New York recently netted the thieves $10,000 in rare U.S. stamps.

What do the thieves do with the stamps? They have to sell them to stamp dealers or collectors in order to realize cash. And that's where the ASDA comes in.

As soon as the ASDA is notified of a robbery it immediately notifies its 500 members all over the country to be on the lookout for those specific items. Sometimes the dealers place small identifying marks on the backs of the stamps. This information is also relayed to ASDA members.

With the postal and federal
authorities on their trail
and
with the leading stamp dealers posting watch, the thieves find it very difficult to get rid of the loot. Sometimes the crooks are forced to hold on to the stamps for years before attempting to dispose of them. But the ASDA and police are ready to pounce on them if they try to sell in this country.

One case was solved by the alert work of an ASDA member. The robbery occurred in New-
ark, N. J., last May. A "lone
wolf" burglar was the culprit.
He tried to sell the stolen stamps to an ASDA member who noticed some identifying marks on the stamps. The dealer immediately notified the ASDA in New York and the criminal was apprehended and sent to jail.