Stephen Gottheil Rich of New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, was the son of Joseph S. Rich who helped found the Collectors Club of New York

Collectors Club of New York

The Collectors Club of New York, often referred to as the Collectors Club, is a private club and philatelic society in New York City. Founded in 1896, it is one of the oldest existing philatelic societies in the United States...

. Stephen Rich was an ardent stamp collector, and created some important specialized collections of stamps.

Collecting interests

Rich had a wide interest in philately

Philately

Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...

; but, he created award winning specialized collections. His most widely regarded collection was his Orange Free State

Orange Free State

The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...

, the Boer War

Boer War

The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....

 and the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

 Triangulars. He later wrote Philately of the Anglo-Boer War of 1895-1902 in 1943. Stephen Rich also collected postage stamps and postal history of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, postal history of the state of New Jersey, and U.S. Telegraph Stamp

Telegraph stamp

Telegraph stamps are stamps intended solely for the prepayment of telegraph fees. The customer completed a telegraph form before handing it with payment to the clerk who applied a telegraph stamp and cancelled it to show that payment had been made...

s.

Rich also had a collection of pre-cancelled stamps and edited The Precancel Bee.

Philatelic activity

Rich served as an officer in the Society of Philatelic Americans for a number of years.

Honors and awards

Stephen Gottheil Rich was admitted to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame

American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame

The American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame award honors deceased philatelists who have contributed significantly to the field of national and/or international philately.-History:...

in 1959, the year after he died.