Benjamin Miller Collection facts for kids
The Benjamin K. Miller Collection is a very special group of stamps and other items related to stamp collecting. It was given to The New York Public Library in 1925. The person who donated it was Benjamin Kurtz Miller (1857–1928), a lawyer from Milwaukee. This collection was once thought to be the first full set of U.S. stamps ever put together. It's often called the "crown jewels" of U.S. stamp collecting. This is because it has many rare, deep, and varied items. However, it wasn't truly complete, as it missed a few stamps listed in the Scott catalogue at that time.
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The Super Rare One-Cent Z Grill Stamp
One of the most amazing and rare stamps in the collection is the One-Cent Z Grill. This stamp is one of the rarest U.S. stamps ever made. Only two of these stamps are known to exist in the entire world. The other copy is owned by a famous collector named Bill Gross.
Who Was Benjamin K. Miller?
Benjamin Kurtz Miller was born in 1857. His father was also a lawyer in Milwaukee. His grandfather was one of the first federal judges in Wisconsin. Benjamin joined his father's law office in 1877. He later became a partner in the firm. He stopped working as a lawyer in 1906 to focus on his hobbies. His old law firm still exists today as Foley & Lardner.
How the Collection Grew
Miller started collecting stamps seriously later in his life, when he was 61 years old. He began his large-scale stamp collecting after 1918. That year, he bought one of the famous Inverted Jenny stamps. After that, he became even more dedicated to collecting. He wrote articles for stamp magazines. He also bought stamps from as many as 30 different dealers.
By the early 1920s, Miller was working towards a big goal. He wanted to collect one example of every U.S. postage stamp. These were the stamps listed in the Scott catalogue of his time. He also collected different versions of stamps. These included different color shades, fake stamps, and stamps that had never been used. He also collected stamps with different cancellation marks. Miller also enjoyed "plating" stamps. This meant he tried to find one copy of a stamp for each spot it was printed on a large sheet.
Displaying the Collection
The collection was shown at the library for over 50 years. However, it was put away after a theft in 1977. In that theft, 153 of its rarest stamps were stolen. Later, 81 of those stamps were found. Some of them had been damaged to hide where they came from. Because of this, the library decided not to put the collection back on display.
The collection returned to public view later. The National Postal Museum showed it in two parts. The first part was from May 27, 2006, to October 1, 2007. The second part was from November 5, 2007, to January 12, 2009.
Special Recognition
Benjamin Miller's achievements in stamp collecting were recognized. He was also known for his deep knowledge of stamps. The Royal Philatelic Society honored him for his work. They changed his status from a "member" to a "fellow."
