This website is dedicated to the Hungarian born stamp dealers Béla, Géza, Eugen and Frank Sekula.
Each one of them ran his own stamp business with emphasis on international stamp trade, likely driven by their business acumen rather than a particular preference for philately.
All four assumed Swiss nationality and were based in Lucerne side by side for years.
Especially Béla’s business ideas provoked more than one scandal during his career.
However, the history of philately would arguably be poorer without the Sekula brothers.
What are the gems of every stamp collection? (Rossica 1933)Advertisement on postcard, 1982
Charles Sekula (1910–1996) was born in Budapest as Karl Béla Szekula to Béla Szekula and Antonia Dorfstätter on March 30, 1910.
In late 1930 he joined the management of his father’s stamp wholesale Béla Sekula, Cosmophilatelist.
In 1931 he also became an authorized signatory at the Cosmophilatelist AG corporation shortly after its foundation.
At the same time he was still in the Swiss army where he achieved the rank of lieutenant.
After abusing a number of (sick) recruits who didn’t perform to his satisfaction in March 1932 he was sentenced to 10 days confinement.
Subsequently, he concentrated on a civilian career in the stamp trade.
In 1935 he married Elsa Keller (1915–1989) in London.
In January 1936 Charles founded the Metropol Briefmarken AG (Metropol Stamps Ltd.), taking over stamps worth Fr. 7500 from his own holdings in exchange for equivalent shares in the company.
In the same year the couple moved to New York.
In 1937, Charles merged the Metropol Stamps Limited and its American branch office into the Intercity Stamp Company, Port Washington, New York.
On December 17, 1941, his son Jeffrey Charles was born.
In 1946/1947, the family and the company moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
On September 15, 1952, Charles and Elsa had their second child, daughter Anne Marie.
With another mouth to feed, the stamp trade alone probably did not bring in enough to support the family.
In any case, Charles started taking on other jobs for a while, at least for a time during the 1950s.
For example, from the summer of 1952 he was manager of the La Posada restaurant in Santa Fe, and later he worked as secretary-treasurer of the Basic Materials Inc.
With his Intercity Stamp Company he was nevertheless continuously active as a stamp dealer until at least the early 1980s.
Charles Chas Sekula died at a nursing home in Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 25, 1996, at the age of 86.
Unlike his father, Charles Sekula seems to have developed a real interest in stamps: In his obituary he was called a Santa Fe philatelist since 1947.
Cover — November 12, 1932
Registered mail sent on November 12, 1932, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Saint-Raphaël, France. Arrived on November 14, 1932.
Cover — January 31, 1933
Registered mail sent on January 31, 1933, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Saint-Raphaël, France. Arrived on February 1, 1933.
Cover — March 18, 1933
Registered mail sent on March 18, 1933, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Saint-Raphaël, France. Arrived on March 20, 1933.
Cover — August 1, 1933
This envelope from 1933 still contained the material accompanying a stamp lot offered to a customer in Rosario, Argentina: the invoice, a cover letter and a questionnaire (front and back shown).
Cover — August 1, 1934
Sent on August 1, 1934, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to New York City, United States. Arrived on August 1, 1934.
Cover — August 7, 1934
Registered mail sent on August 7, 1934, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Swedish: Björneborg (=Pori), Finland. Arrived on August 11, 1934.
Offer — August 7, 1934
Registered mail sent on August 7, 1934, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Ingelsträde, Sweden. Arrived on August 7, 1934.
Postcard — September 8, 1934
Sent on September 8, 1934, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Lipolec, Czechoslovakia (today Czech Republic).
Postcard — October 12, 1934
Sent on October 12, 1934, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Osijek, Yugoslavia (today Croatia).
Cover — November 23, 1934
Registered mail sent on November 23, 1934, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to New York City, United States. Arrived on December 5, 1934.
Cover — March 25, 1935
Registered philatelic cover sent on March 25, 1935 from Turan, Tannu Tuva, to Charles Sekula.
Franked with Scott #54-60 / Michel #59-65.
LUZERN 2 arrival postmark on back dated 12.IV.35.
Cover — August 28, 1935
Registered mail sent on August 28, 1935, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States.
Offer — August 29, 1935
Registered mail sent on August 29, 1935, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Ingelsträde, Sweden. Arrived Ingelsträde.
Cover — October 31, 1935
Registered mail sent on October 31, 1935, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to New York City, United States. Arrived on November 8, 1935.
Cover — April 14, 1936
Registered mail sent on April 14, 1936, from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Myerstown, Pennsylvania, United States.
Cover — September 16, 1936
Registered mail sent on September 16, 1936, from Lima, Peru, to Lucerne, Switzerland.
Cover — September 26, 1936
Registered mail sent on September 26, 1936, from Unity, Saskatchewan, Canada, to Lucerne, Switzerland.
Cover — November 1936
Registered mail sent in November 1936 from Lucerne, Switzerland, to Perh Amboy, New Jersey, United States. Arrived on November 28, 1936.
Cover — July 19, 1938
Sent on July 19, 1938, from Valdivia, Chile, to Port Washington, New York, United States.
FDCs — 1939 – 1944
Mimeographed cachets created by the Intercity Stamp Company, Port Washington, Long Island, New York.
Registered mail sent on September 4, 1940, from Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico, to Port Washington, New York, United States. Arrived on September 10, 1940.
Cover — February 19, 1941
Sent on February 19, 1941 by Atlas Stamp Ltd. (Eugen Sekula) to Intercity Stamp Company in Port Washington, New York, USA.
Cover — July 17, 1943
Registered airmail sent on July 17, 1943, from Ovingdean, Brighton, Sussex, England, to Port Washington, New York, United States. Arrived on August 5, 1943.
Cover — November 3, 1943
Registered mail sent on November 3, 1943, from Rottingdean, England, to Port Washington, New York, United States. Arrived on November 26, 1943.
Cover — April 3, 1944
Registered mail sent on April 3, 1944, from Lausanne, Switzerland, to Port Washington, New York, United States.
Scans provided by Max Brack.
FDC — September 28, 1945
Cachet Craft first day cover sent on September 28, 1945, from Washington, D.C., United States, to Port Washington, New York.
Covers — October 1945
Airmail sent in October 1945 from Trelleborg, Sweden, to Port Washington, New York, United States.
Glassine Bags — 1948 or later
Typical packing unit of Intercity Stamp Company until at least 1948, one stamp set incl. info sheet in a glassine bag.
Unopened lot 16534, China 1948.
Contents of lot 336, Tannu Tuva 1936.
Postcard — September 12, 1969
Sent on September 12, 1969, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Cover — October 17, 1973
Registered airmail sent on October 17, 1973, by Charles Sekula from Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, to his stepmother Berty in Zurich, Switzerland.
Scans provided by Max Brack.
Postcard — December 12, 1982
Sent on December 12, 1982, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, to Clayton, New Jersey.
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