Copyright 2011-2018 John N. Lupia, III

Fig. Photo of Herman Herst, Jr., circa 1954.

Herman “Pat” Herst, III (1909-1999), was born on March 17, 1909, son of Herman Herst, II (1872-1915), an attorney, and Lilian Meyers Herst (1878-1956).

He was nicknamed "Pat" since he was born on the feast of St. Patrick, a funny jest since he was Jewish. Herst was a prolific writer of philatelic literature, a stamp dealer, and a stamp auctioneer. He began his philatelic career at 116 Nassau Street in New York City in 1933, directly across the street where his father had his law office eighteen years earlier.

From 1921-1930, he lived in Portland, Oregon, and graduated Reed College with a degree in International Law.

In 1936 he worked on Wall Street at Louis S. Lebenthal and Company, selling municipal bonds, earning $38.00 per week. While working there he restarted collecting stamps inspired by Henry C. Needham, a client of Lebenthal. Next he became involved attending stamp auctions at Paul Bluss' office.

From 1936 to 1938 he sojourned to London, England, and throughout Europe.

In 1938, he married Ingeborg Ursula (1916-), a German immigrant, his first wife.

In 1940, he and Ingeborg lived at 28 West 72nd Street, New York.

Fig. Herst correspondence with John C. Hoenninger, Jr. postmarked March 1, 1941. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic and Philatelic Library.

He married Ida Busch (1914-), his second wife.

In 1945, he moved to Shrub Oak, New York.

Fig. Herst correspondence with Richard E. Meyer, postmarked Registered March 10, 1945. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library.

Fig. A cover from the Codd hoard of mail found in fifteen barrels discovered by Herman Herst, Jr., in the 1940's. Miss Codd was from Buffalo, New York, and is mentioned by Herst in Nassau Street, pages 223-225. This cover was mailed to Toronto when Martha Codd was on a trip there. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic and Philatelic Library.

He published his own newsletter until 1973 titled Herst's Outbursts. And Outbursts they were. For some yet unexplained reason he wrote a few nasty articles against A. C. Roessler fabricating stories to discredit him and his FDC's he serviced. These outbursts that took place in First Covers in 1970 resulted in a heated debate with several well known and respected FDC experts who disagreed with Hert's imaginary recollections and there was dead silence in First Covers for over a year about Roessler. After reading his imaginary accounts one wonders about any of Herst's writings.

Fig. Herst correspondence with Mr. & Mrs. James Dunn, postmarked September 23, 1954. Courtesy Lupia Numismatic and Philatelic Library.

Fig. Nassau Street : A Quarter Century of Stamp Dealing (First Edition 1960) Courtesy Lupia Numismatic and Philatelic Library.

In 1961, he was the recipient of the APS Luff Award

Fig. Herst correspondence with Mary Annie Orpin (1897-1973), Editor, Philatelette, The Women's Philatelic Society of New York, reporting the purchase of the "Jupiter Balloon" cover purchased at the H. R. Harmer auction sale #1593 by the Smithsonian Institute's National Postal History Museum, for $6,500 on November 4, 1964. The funds were from a $20,000 endowment bequeathed to the Museum by renown philatelist Miss Emma E. Batchelor (1874-1960), strictly for purchases of Air Mail materials. The Jupiter Balloon was launched on August 17, 1859 to carry America's first ever official "air mail". Courtesy Lupia Numismatic and Philatelic Library.

In 1973, Herst and his second wife Ida moved to Florida.

Fig. Photo of Herman Herst, Jr., at Boca Raton, Florida, 1998.

He died on January 31, 1999, at Boca Raton, Florida.

In 2000 he was inducted into the APS Hall of Fame.

Auctions :

Works : (18 books, thousands of articles for stamp periodicals)

Fancy Cancellations on 19th Century on United States Postage Stamps (1951)

Nassau Street : A Quarter Century of Stamp Dealing (1960)

Fun and Profit in Stamp Collecting (1962)

Fancy Cancellations on Nineteenth Century United States Postage Stamps. (Self-published, 1963)

Stories to Collect Stamps By (1968)

United States and Confederate Covers (1969)

The Compleat Philatelist (Florham Park : Washington Press, 1979)

Please Tell Me Mr. Herst (Philatelic Reporter, 1980)

More Stories To Collect Stamps By (1982)

The Forensic Philatelist : An Account of the Famous English Stamp Fraud Trials (1986)

The Best of Herst's Outbursts (1993?)

Put a Stamp on It!: Seventy-Seven Sparkling Stories Showcasing How Stamps Have Intercepted Historical Events (posthumously 2016)

Bibliography :

American Philatelist

New York Times, February 7, 1999, obit