The Distinguished Philatelist Award recognizes exceptionally meritorious service to U. S. Philately through published research, award-winning collections, active participation in the organization & promotion of philatelic exhibitions, & sustained administrative service to the national or international organizations which furthered United States Philately.
About the winner of The Distinguished Philatelist Award: Edward J. Siskin is certainly not an ordinary stamp collector. He began collecting covers as early as stamps when he was just six years old and he has formed collections in several very different areas. Not many of us have been collecting as long as Ed Siskin either, as he started collecting in 1947 – sixty-four years ago. In fact, Siskin still has a few first day covers he personally serviced back in the 1940s.
Siskin has built and disbursed four varied collections. His first included the 3 cent stamp issued from 1851 to 1861 and another was the Washington-Franklin issue on cover. He still maintains numerous postal history collections today, including New Jersey postal history, stampless covers, World War I, free franks and famous persons. However, Ed Siskin will always be best known for his long time interest in and dedication to earliest documented covers and colonial mail of the United States.
As noted earlier, Siskin has been interested in first day covers since he began collecting. His exhibit of classic first day covers was the first of its kind to be awarded a national gold medal, which he received at FLOREX in 1978. He was not only an avid collector in the area, but a pioneer in the field of earliest documented covers. The United States Post Office did not normally establish dates of issue until 1922. Consequently, collectors like Siskin had to determine earliest known uses for all stamps issued before 1922. In 1990, Siskin compiled the American First Day Cover Foundation Checklist of First Days and Earliest Documented Covers 1847-1931. He continued to update his database and subsequently donated it to the American Philatelic Society (APS). Based on this work, earliest documented covers for each issue are now listed in Scott’s Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers.
Nearly at the opposite end of the collecting spectrum, Ed and his wife Jean collected and studied colonial mail of the United States. Their exhibit – Colonial American and Early United States Mail – was described as “unprecedented in terms of the quantity and quality.” Robson Lowe did not even think it was possible to assemble such a comprehensive collection, given the miniscule amount of material available to private collectors. Apparently both national and international philatelic judges agreed, as the exhibit won three national grand awards, two international large gold awards and it was nominated for the Grand Prix National at Pacific 97.
In his spare time, Ed Siskin has written or co-authored more than two hundred articles for philatelic journals. Two of these articles received the Philip H. Ward, Jr. award from the American First Day Cover Society and another received the Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial Literature Award from the United States Stamp Society.
Siskin has been active in many philatelic organizations. He has donated much of his time to the American First Day Cover Society and their Expertizing Committee, having served as chairman. He has also expertized for both the Philatelic Foundation and the American Philatelic Society. Ed Siskin was a philatelic judge for almost thirty years, judging many national shows from 1982 until his recent retirement.
In his non-philatelic life, Siskin has 45 years of experience in the engineering, construction and operation of power, utility, petrochemical and scientific facilities. From 1990 until 1994, he was the General Manager of the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory, the largest scientific instrument ever undertaken. He has received the Presidential Merit Award and the National Nuclear Security Administration Gold Medal for service to our country’s national security.
Ed Siskin lives with his wife, Jean, in New Jersey, who he considers his philatelic partner in every respect. Siskin has two daughters and two grandchildren.
