Elliott Perry (December 30, 1884 – September 27, 1972), of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, was a researcher and expert on

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s and

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Collecting interests

Although he collected, and was an expert on, all phases of United States

stamp collecting Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...

, Perry’s interest led him to concentrating on

revenue stamps A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, ...

, carrier and city post stamps. During his lifetime, Perry built up a number of specialized collections, which he then sold.

Philatelic literature

Because of his research, Perry authored a considerable number of articles and monographs on his findings. He wrote for ''Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News'' under the pseudonym Christopher West and wrote numerous articles on revenue stamps for the weekly. The articles he wrote for ''Mekeel’s'' were so historically significant, that they were later collected and printed in three volumes by Castenholz and Company. He also wrote two additional handbooks for ''Mekeel’s'', the first entitled ''The First United States Postage Stamp Otherwise Known as the United States City Despatch Post'', and the second one entitled ''United States 1857–1860 Issues''. Perry also authored articles in the ''Collectors Club Philatelist'', and these related to his plating of the 200 subjects of the U.S.-1847-10¢ stamp, which the

Scott catalog The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in fo ...

recognizes as stamp No. 2 of the United States. Perry also published his own journal entitled ''Pat Paragraphs''. The articles were considered so valuable to stamp collectors, that they were subsequently arranged by topic by

George Townsend Turner George Townsend Turner (February 11, 1906 – August 14, 1979) of Washington, D.C., was considered a leading philatelic bibliophile of his era, amassing a very large body of philatelic literature over his lifetime. He was the acting curator of the ...

and Thomas E. Stanton, and published in 1981 in book form as ''Pat Paragraphs, by Elliott Perry''. Perry was unable to complete work on the three books he was writing prior to his death. His notes and finished portions of his books, however, were published posthumously by a number of philatelic publishers.

Honors and awards

Perry was named to the

American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame The American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame award honors deceased philatelists who have contributed significantly to the field of national and/or international philately. History The APS ''Hall of Fame'' award was founded at the 1940 American P ...

in 1973.

References

APS Hall of Fame – Elliott Perry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Elliott 1884 births 1972 deaths Philatelic literature American philatelists People from New Jersey American Philatelic Society

Collecting interests

Philatelic literature

Honors and awards

See also

References