FROM THE ARCHIVES:Shanahan's stamp auctions were a Ponzi scheme run by Paul Singer in the 1950s which enticed thousands of investors into syndicates which bought and sold stamps mainly to each other. It collapsed in 1959 but this auction in its heyday was described in An Irishman's Diary.– JOE JOYCE
SHANAHAN’S AUCTION galleries in Dun Laoghaire were about one-third full of a sedately respectable audience on Saturday afternoon. Mr. Desmond Shanahan sat on his dais at one end of the long room and with remarkable speed intoned the items for sale, asked for bidders, banged what looked suspiciously like a small shillelagh on his desk, and 20 or so people made small notes in their catalogues.
The background of this suburban piece of high finance was explained to me by Dr. Paul Singer, a director of the business. “We get our stamps from all over the world, and most of our bids also come from overseas,” he said. “We send the catalogue of our auction to collectors and dealers no matter where they live – except, of course, the Iron Curtain countries. They can submit bids on the various lots, and on the day of the auction anyone present at the auction can compete with the best offer from overseas.
“Our business is probably unique in one thing. If a buyer is not satisfied with a lot when he sees it, he can send it back. A man in the business once explained it to me like this: ‘A stamp is like a woman. It can be a thing of great beauty, but no photograph can really do it justice. You must be able to see it for yourself before you can make up your mind.’”
When the auction begins, Dr. Singer sits next to Mr. Shanahan and as each new lot is announced he calls out the highest absentee bid he has recorded. The first item on Saturday was a collection of British Colonials (1840-1938) with a catalogue value of £350. “£270 against you,” Mr. Shanahan called out. “Finished? Happy?” Bang went the shillelagh, and the lot had been sold to a United States buyer for the £270. The proceedings went along briskly. After about an hour and a half, 499 lots had been brought under the hammer for buyers in nearly every country of Europe, though the majority seemed destined for either the United States or Canada. [...]
The local bidders included some well-known faces, and every so often we heard from either Senator Fearon or Senator Douglas. They both agreed that it was difficult to explain to a non-believer what it is that makes stamp collectors feel so intensely about their hobby.
“It’s difficult to pin-point,” said Professor Fearon. “We look, of course, for quality in a stamp. Then there’s the aesthetic appeal and the collecting instinct. High grade stamps are also an investment.”
The value of stamps as an investment was also noted by Senator Douglas. And why did he collect them? “Well,” he said, “for one thing I’ve been collecting them since I was a child. You find that most of the private collectors will specialise in one field. My speciality is Moroccan stamps.”
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