John Walter Scott (November 2, 1845 – January 4, 1919) of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, was originally from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, but he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to take part in the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

. Unsuccessful at the prospecting trade, Scott began to sell

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s for collectors and in a short period of time became the nation's leading

stamp dealer A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or revenue stamps for use on court documents. Stamp dealers who sell to stamp collect ...

. During his lifetime, he was known as "The Father of American Philately" by his fellow stamp collectors.

Philatelic literature

Scott published the first significant stamp journal in America in 1868, entitled ''American Journal of Philately''. Also, in 1868, he issued his first multi-paged postage stamp catalog, ''A Descriptive Catalogue of America and Foreign Postage Stamps, Issued from 1840 to Date''. In a short period of time, his ''

Scott catalog The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in f ...

'' became the leading stamp catalog in the United States. In 1885, he sold the rights to his business to the Calman brothers who renamed it the Scott Stamp and Coin Company. Scott continued his stamp business after a legal battle over the use of his name (which he won) and continued publishing

philatelic literature Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history. Background to philatelic literature Philatelic literature is held by stamp collectors and dealers, philatelic soci ...

, such as ''The Metropolitan Philatelist'', the ''J. W. Scott & Co., Ltd. Weekly News Letter'', and the ''John W. Scott's Junior Weekly Letter'', later renamed the ''John W. Scott's Weekly Bulletin''. In 1869 he issued his first stamp album with spaces for specially printed labels showing world leaders and himself.

Philatelic auctions

Scott was innovative in business methods, and conducted the first postage stamp auction ever held (May 28, 1870, in New York City). This was a success and he continued to organize and conduct auctions in the United States and in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. He also was the first, in 1882, to issue an auction catalog with full color plates of the stamps on sale. He was also the first to sell a postage stamp to collectors for over one thousand dollars.

Philatelic activity

Scott was active in organizing philatelic exhibitions and, in general, "selling" the stamp collecting hobby. He was one of the founding members of the

Collectors Club of New York The Collectors Club, often referred to as the Collectors Club of New York, 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. Its stated purpose ...

(1896) and active in the

American Philatelic Society The American Philatelic Society (APS) is the largest nonprofit stamp collecting foundation of philately in the world. Both the membership and interests of the society are worldwide. History The organization, originally named the ''American Phil ...

where he was president from 1917 to 1919.

Vegetarianism

Scott was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. In 1910, it was noted that "for more than 30 years he has been a vegetarian and a strong advocate of the no midday-meal plan." Scott was President of the New York Vegetarian Society.Bhagavan, Manu Belur; Zelliot, Eleanor; Feldhaus, Anne (2008). ''Speaking Truth to Power': Religion, Caste, and the Subaltern Question in India, Volume 1''. Oxford University Press. p. 50.

Legacy

Scott was named to the

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 The APS ''Hall of Fame'' award was founded at the 1940 American P ...

in 1941. The continued existence and growth of the ''

'' used by American stamp collectors assures Scott's legacy. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Scott1868

Scott Articles

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References

John Walter Scott
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, John Walter 1845 births 1919 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople American auctioneers American Philatelic Society American philatelists American stamp dealers American vegetarianism activists British emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from New York City Philatelic auctioneers Philately of the United States Stamp catalogs