|
Headline, Nov. 15, 2007
Founder of Kenmore
Stamp Co. passes away
 |
One
of the most influential coin and stamp dealers of the 20th
century, Maynard Sundman of Littleton, New Hampshire, has passed
away. He was 92, and until recently he went to work almost
everyday, writing correspondence on his 1948 Royal typewriter.
During the past half century his companies grew in size to
hundreds of employees and assisted literally millions of people
with the enjoyment of collecting.
Sundman
founded
Littleton Stamp Company
in 1945, turning his childhood hobby into an innovative
mail-order company that helped transform and extend the
philatelic market. He and his family eventually also opened a
numismatic division, Littleton Coin Company. One of his sons,
David, today is President of the coin company, and another son,
Donald, is President of the philatelic division, Mystic Stamp
Company in Camden, New York.
Maynard
Sundman's love of stamp
collecting began in 1927. As a child, Maynard was fascinated by
these tiny bits of paper and all the history and culture they
held.
At
19, Maynard started a mail-order stamp business with $400 he had
saved, operating out of his parents' home in Connecticut. After
serving in WWII, he founded his second firm, Littleton Stamp
Company, with his wife, Fannie Kasper Sundman.
The
company branched into coins for collectors in the 1950s. In
1974, the Sundman family purchased Mystic Stamp Company of
Camden, New York. Maynard's son Donald is president and his son
David, is President of Littleton Coin Company in Littleton, New
Hampshire.
|
