Robert P. Odenweller (born 19 September 1938) is an American philatelist who is a member of the

National Postal Museum The National Postal Museum, located in Washington, D.C., is the primary postal museum of the United States. It covers large portions of the postal history of the United States and other countries. It was established through joint agreement be ...

's ''Council of Philatelists'' and a signatory to the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921 to honour those who have advanced philately through research, expertise, or service. ...

.Robert Odenweller.
The National Postal Museum, 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011. He is a member of The Collectors Club of New York, and an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philately, philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History ...

and the

Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand is an international society for collectors of the postage stamps and postal history of New Zealand and her Dependencies. The Society was formed in 1888 by stamp collectors based in Wellington, New Ze ...

. From 1996 to 2000 he was President of the

Grand Prix Club The Grand Prix Club is a club for philatelists Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp col ...

Early life

Odenweller started collecting stamps as a boy, deciding to specialize in New Zealand stamps at the age of seven. He graduated from the

US Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Un ...

in 1960, and eventually became an

airline pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

for

TWA The Twa, often referred to as Batwa or Mutwa (singular), are indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa, recognized as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. Historically and academically, the term � ...

. That career move allowed him to continue his pursuit of philately, becoming an expert, and joining the

Awards

Odenweller was awarded the

Crawford Medal :::''See also'' Crawford Award for fantasy novels. :::''See also'' Max Crawford Medal Australian academic award. The Crawford Medal is a vermeil medal awarded by the Royal Philatelic Society London for the most valuable and original contribution t ...

(2005) of the Royal Philatelic Society London for his book ''The Stamps and Postal History of Nineteenth Century Samoa'' and has been awarded the

Lichtenstein Medal The Lichtenstein Medal, also known as the ''Alfred F. Lichtenstein Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to Philately'' is given annually to a living individual for outstanding service to philately. Origin The Lichtenstein Medal was establishe ...

(1993), the

Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award The Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Awards is a biennial honor presented by the United States National Postal Museum. The award is designed to recognize individuals for"...outstanding lifetime accomplishments in the field of philately Philat ...

, the ''Collins Award'', the ''APS Luff Award'', and the ''FIP Medal for Service''. In 2011 he was again awarded the Crawford Medal for his work ''The Postage Stamps of New Zealand 1855-1873: The Chalon Head Issues''."New officers and awards at the Royal" in ''Stamp Lover'', Vol. 103, No. 4, August 2011, p. 95.

Selected publications

*''Opinions VI Philatelic Expertizing - An Inside View''. New York: The Philatelic Foundation, 1992. *''The Stamps and Postal History of Nineteenth Century Samoa''. London: Royal Philatelic Society, 2004. *''The Postage Stamps of New Zealand 1855-1873: The Chalon Head Issues''. London: Royal Philatelic Society, 2009.

References

External links

Odenweller presenting The Ninth Annual Maynard Sundman Lecture 5 February 2011.
American philatelists 1940s births Fellows of the Royal Philatelic Society London Living people Philately of Samoa Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-philatelist-stub