A life in stamps

Cheryl R. Ganz is an honoured American philatelist, and a major figure in the international stamp world. Between 2007 and 2014 she was the chief curator at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum in Washington, and is a board director of the American Philatelic Society and vice-chair of the United States Postal Services Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee. In 2018 she was added to the prestigious Roll of Distinguished Philatelists.

Born in 1950, Cheryl’s collecting habit started young.

‘I began collecting things as a child,’ she remembers. ‘Coins, postcards, books, seashells, and other treasures. I attended many collector shows in my teens.’

It was the stamp shows in particular that piqued her interest. ‘Only stamp shows had the collector exhibits as a centrepiece,’ she explains. ‘Other shows had the dealers listed as the exhibitors. Seeing other collections