Rarity Revealed: The Benjamin K. Miller Collection

This book is the first to tell the whole story of Benjamin K. Miller and his legendary collection of United States stamps. Rarity Revealed: The Benjamin K. Miller Collection is the story of a wealthy, bookish Milwaukee attorney, how he formed one of the greatest collections of U. S. Stamps in the World, and his extraordinary gift to The New York Public Library. It is also a story about larceny, deception and the partial recovery of stamps stolen from the Miller collection. Clues that could lead to the recovery of the missing Miller treasures will be found in these pages. Rarity Revealed marks the dawn of a new era for the Miller collection, made possible through a joint effort by dedicated members of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and The New York Public Library, to put the collection back on display.... In Rarity Revealed, authors Scott Trepel and Ken Lawrence take the reader on a tour of American philately from 1842 through 1926, illustrating highlights from the Miller collection and explaining what makes these stamps so rare and special. Detailed full-color images of select items in the Miller collection make this book a unique reference to U. S. philately. For the dedicated collector or casual observer, Rarity revealed will open the door to a treasure trove of stamps and to knowledge about them. --- excerpt from book's flyleaf