Florida theft sets record for stamp collecting hobby

The biggest theft in the history of stamp collecting occurred in Florida Feb. 7.

Stanley Piller, a well-known stamp dealer who operates internationally from Oakland, Calif., told Tampa police that a carry-on bag containing stamps and covers valued between $1.5 million and $2 million was snatched from the trunk of his rental car.

Piller had attended the Sarasota National Stamp Exhibition Feb. 5-7 at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium.

The black case was one of four pieces of luggage in the trunk and the only one that was taken.

It contains all of Piller's better stock of classic United States issues, including 50 to 100 examples of the 1845 5¢ New York postmaster provisional, the 1847 issue, proofs and essays, multiples and Hawaii.

"I was set up," Pillar said. "I suspect one of two things. It was done by somebody local who was at the show and watched me pack up. Either the material is still in Florida or it's already in Europe."

Also in the stolen case were Confederate States rarities valued at approximately $400,000 from the collection of John R. Hill Jr.

These items had been purchased by Connecticut stamp dealer Andrew Levitt when Hill's philatelic holdings were broken up after his death in Texas May 24, 1998.

Levitt consigned some of the Hill material to Piller and to dealers John Kimbrough and Labron Harris to take to Sarasota to sell to members of the Confederate Stamp Alliance, who were meeting at the show.

Piller carried Confederate provisionals that were mounted on Hill's exhibit pages.

Piller said he was en route to the Hilton hotel at Tampa Airport where he was going to spend the night before flying back to California the next morning.

However, he had trouble finding the Hilton and stopped at the Marriott Hotel to ask directions. "I saw an airport shuttle and got out to ask the driver directions," Piller said. "He told me he didn't know where it was, so I went inside for a minute to ask a bellman. When I came out the shuttle driver said, 'Hey, someone popped your trunk and took a bag.' "

The Piller theft exceeds the $1 million loss suffered by California collector Jeffrey Forster, when a briefcase containing his exhibit of the United States 1869 Pictorial issue was grabbed from a sidewalk in New York Nov. 22, 1998, after the Postage Stamp Mega-Event show.

Forster's postal history exhibit, mounted on 80 pages, has not been recovered.

Both the Piller inventory and the Forster exhibit were insured by the Hugh Wood Agency.

Anyone with information about the Piller theft is asked to call Sergeant E. Kelley at the Tampa Police Department, telephone 813-276-3569.

The case number is 99-10090. Piller's phone number is 510-465-8290.

This is an edited version of a Linn's article that appeared in the February 22, 1999, issue of Linn's Stamp News. For the complete story, subscribe to Linn's Stamp News.