Page 44 - Demo

At 28, Jacques Minkus emigrated from Poland to the United States. The year was 1929, and just two years after arriving, despite the Great Depression, he opened a stamp counter at Gimbel Brothers department store in Manhattan. It was so successful that, by the 1960s, he had 38 counters across the country. Besides department stores, they could be found in such varied venues as military base exchanges and dime stores.As a child, Minkus had hoped to become a rabbi, like his father. Sadly, when he was 13, his parents died within six months of each other, and he was quickly forced to find a way to support himself. First he scrubbed floors in Poland, then he set type in Germany. Later, he became a small-time publisher in France. At some point along the way, he discovered that he could earn a living by selling stamps. Never really a collector, he was a businessman who recognized a profitable opportunity, and he pursued it.During World War II, Minkus published 52 different patriotic cachets, in five separate series. These were used on a variety of covers, including Highway Post Office Covers and First Day Covers. All are illustrated in the Jacques Minkus FDC and Patriotic Cachet Catalog by Dr. Richard A. Monty. In 1955, he began publishing the Minkus New World Wide Stamp Catalog, which is still in use today, as well as over 100 albums for collectors..For his important work, Minkus received several awards, including the Service to Philately Award by the American Stamp Dealers Association (1966), and the Luff Award for Exceptional Contributions to Philately (1993). He was also posthumously elected to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1997. He operated his stamp shop at Gimbels%u2014which was the nation%u2019s largest%u2014for more than 50 years. In 1996 he died at his home in Forest Hills, Queens, at the age of 94.From the first series of 10 that was published in 1943.