Jackson Taylor isn't going to try to convert you. In this stamp collector's mind, the world is divided into two camps--those who collect things, and those who don't. If you are a collector, you will see past the chaos of his office in Ferris Stamp and Coin Co. on Central Avenue, and you will see a space crammed with treasures and wisdom. If you are not a collector, you will probably only see piles of books and papers, tipping stacks of binders, and display cases crowded with leather pouches and waxpaper envelopes. Ferris Stamp and Coin has been operating out of the shop on Central Avenue for more than 30 years. The building is owned by Wendell Williams, who runs the coin side. Taylor, Williams's business partner for the last 22 years, runs the stamp side. They also do a brisk business in jewelry and gold bouillon.
The store has a lot of walk-in traffic, with people from all over the county coming in to try to sell stamps or coins they've found or acquired, Taylor said. But the majority of their business is done through the mail, a rarity in today's internet marketplace. Every month, Taylor assembles lists of stamps he has acquired and has them published in stamp collecting publications where prospective buyers can see them. Taylor publishes 28 different price lists a year.
Like most collectors, Taylor began collecting stamps as a child. His first collection of stamps, given to him by his parents, inspired him to dream of "faraway places" he said, and launched him into the world of collecting. Over the years, he has seen thousands of stamps from around the world.
The surprises and excitement are what keep the business interesting for Taylor and Williams. "You just never know what's going to walk in, whether it's going to be a coin worth two cents or $50,000," Williams said.
Ferris first opened in 1933 on Broadway. It moved to Central Avenue in 1976, when the area was "the place to shop," Taylor said. Over the years, the neighborhood around the little shop constantly changes, but inside things remain the same, and within the binders and envelopes, one finds the customs and standards of days gone by. Taylor doesn't just collect stamps, he collects history.
Taylor pulls out a number of letters, and lays them carefully on the glass counter. One, a business letter, dates back to 1860. There's no envelope for this letter, instead the stationary is simply folded several times, and addressed and stamped on the outside. This was the custom in those days, Taylor said. The stationary is thing, like tissue paper, because the sender was charged according to weight, Taylor explains.
According to the ink stamps, the delicate letter traveled from New Orleans to New York, and then on to France. It cost 15 cents to make this cross-continental journey, Taylor said, "but back then, 15 cents was a lot of money."
Another letter that Taylor has laid out is addressed in a spidery script. The outside is decorated with numerous stamps, and Taylor points out the postal stamps, its inky directions worn by time. This letter is from the US Naval Observatory, Taylor said, and it was sent to an astronomer in Padua Italy in 1868.
Taylor has another collection that he can't find, so he tells me about it instead. It's a series of letters written in the 1880s, a man to his girlfriend, and he's trying to convince her to marry him, "And he's not doing that well, apparently, from the tenor of his letters," Taylor said.
Written correspondence is a record of history that disappears as people rely more heavily on phone and email for communication. With the advent of cell phones and blackberries, communication has become instant, and entirely transitory, he explains. And because of that, something is gained, and something is lost. "This is what we're not going to have. And the same is true for coins," Taylor said. "They reflect a different age. And I'm afraid a lot of this is just going to be lost," he said.
In a day and age when even yard sales are advertised on Craigslist, Ferris Coin and Stamp has remained relatively low-tech. The partners don't sell on e-Bay or other sites; they don't even have a store website. A website could help business, Taylor admits. "It takes one's potential market from local to global," he said. More than that, it could ensure their future in a changing landscape, after all, a virtual business isn't affected by its surroundings. At the same time, there's something very appealing about the fact that this stamp and coin business has held on to the old ways of doing business, keeping a stamp business running by mail order makes a certain kind of sense.
Besides, they would have to get organized before they could get a website launched, Taylor said. He looks around the office at the jam-packed cases, and stacks of binders, at the history that is both his livelihood and his burden, and says that they are just too busy to build a website right now. As if on cue, the phone rings, and Taylor answers it. "What's gold running?" he shouts to the other two men behind the counter.
So for now, Ferris seem content to do business the old-fashioned way.
Will the shop get a website some day?
"It's a goal," Taylor said.
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