About Us




David Coogle

  
Laurence Gibson
     One of today's youngest and most vibrant professional philatelists, David Coogle is one of the few remaining vocational stamp dealers. He got his start at the age of 8 when his father, an immigrant barber by trade, attended coin shows on weekends. David's father collected everything, but coins did not hold David's interests. At age 13 he helped his father acquire a U.S. stamp collection and was instantly in the philatelic business. Attending monthly stamp shows, he fondly remembers learning philately from Pittsburgh luminaries such as Mark Hanna and Adam Bert.

     In high school, David opened a mail order U.N. stamp company that did quite well, until the United Nations investment bubble burst. While restructuring his business to focus on U.S. Stamps, David attended the University of Pittsburgh. As business continued to grow, David found that he didn't have time enough to complete his course of study while focusing on customer service. In the 1990s, renowned dealer Andrew Levitt took notice of David and in 1996 he was recruited to help start the well known Nutmeg Stamp Sales mail auction firm. When Levitt retired for health reasons, Greg Manning purchased the Nutmeg brand and acquired David along with his expertise and knowledge.

     Greg merged the H.R. Harmer and Nutmeg companies, and positioned David as President until the merged company's relocation to the West Coast. Having grown up in the Northeast, David, who had been friends with Stanley Richmond of Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions for almost 30 years, decided to return to his philatelic roots and, David, along with Laurence Gibson, rejuvenated DFK with an inaugural public auction in New York City in Fall 2010 that reached nearly $3,000,000. 		       Laurence Gibson started in the stamp business professionally in the early '80s with Earl P.L. Apfelbaum. During his 15 years tenure, Laurence co-conducted the APS Stamp Camp seminars for "The Financial Side of Stamps." For 4-5 years, each year, the course was sold.

     He remarks, "I started studying Asian philately then...taking several trips to China in the early 1990s. I was the U.S. correspondent for China Philately, the official Chinese government publication in the mid-80s, and was invited to attend the Beijing show for the 100th anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth in 1993. I even had dinner in the Great Hall of the People....it was a real experience back in those earlier days! I also wrote articles on Far Eastern philately for Linn's and Scott Stamp Monthly for their Passage to Asia columns. I did a ton of original research on China, Japan and other Asian stamps and had many articles published."

      Laurence then went to Michael Rogers, the Far Eastern specialist, in the mid 90s. With Laurence's help, Michael dynamically increased his market share and revenue. He oversaw many important "One Owner" sales and brokered the famous "Sun" collection of Red Revenues for $2.5 million to a collector who eventually sold it through another auction firm. Laurence spent over five valuable years with the Rogers business in Winter Park, Florida, before joining the Greg Manning firm in 2003. Six months later, he became the Chief Operating Officer for Manning's entire philatelic division. After Greg left, Laurence became CEO of the division. In 2003, he acquired John Bull Public Auctions in Hong Kong for the group and held the title of Managing Director until June 2010.



Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions, LLC
The Oldest Philatelic Auction House in the United States, established in 1885.
 
Administrative Office:
4 Finance Drive, Suite 100
Danbury, CT 06810, USA

Tel: 203.297.6056
Fax: 203.297.6059 		  Boston Area Office:
197 First Avenue, Suite 370
Needham Heights, MA 02494, USA

Tel: 781.453.0990
Fax: 781.453.0945
 

info@kelleherauctions.com