J. Murray Bartels (born Julius Murray Bartels; July 15, 1871 – October 5, 1944) was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

-based dealer and auctioneer of rare

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 f ...

s. He was also well known for his knowledge of United States

postal stationery A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related serv ...

Family

Barthels was born in Warrenton, Fauquier County, Virginia, one of six or so siblings born to Hermann Friedrich Bartels and Sally Innes Bartels. His father was born in Germany.

Collecting interests

Bartels was primarily interested in United States postal stationery and became an expert on the subject. He published the result of his studies in ''J.M. Bartels and Co.'s Catalogue and Reference List of the Stamped Envelopes, Wrappers and Letter Sheets'' in 1897, and several editions of ''Envelopes of the United States'', from 1910-38. In 1943, he published a two volume set on stamped envelopes and wrappers. He published philatelic literature on other philatelic subjects, such as, ''The Postage Stamps of the Philippines'' (co-authored with F.A. Foster and F.L. Palmer, in 1904), ''Bartel's Checklist of Canal Zone Stamps'', in 1906 and 1908, and ''United States Virgin Islands'' (co-authored with

Bertram William Henry Poole Bertram William Henry Poole (March 22, 1880 – September 8, 1957) was an American student of philately, and wrote numerous monographs on various aspects of the hobby. He was well known as a respected philatelist in Great Britain before emigrati ...

) in 1917.

Philatelic activity

Bartels conducted 337 philatelic auctions. Among his most important sales were portions of the significant portions of the Clarence Eagle and Arthur Hind prize-winning collections.

Honors and awards

Bartels 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 1946.

Legacy

Prescott Holden Thorp Prescott Holden Thorp (April 28, 1887 – June 1981), of New Jersey, was a stamp dealer who was a recognized world-famous expert on stamped envelopes of the United States. Philatelic literature Thorp continued the work of Julius (John) Murray B ...

continued Bartels work with his publishing of "Thorp-Bartels" catalog editions.''Thorp-Bartels Catalogue of the Stamped Envelopes and Wrappers of the United States''; Sixth (Century) Edition, 1954.

References