Our Story

Stampmint.com is part of Philatelic Collector Inc (PCI). PCI has been a global and topical stamp dealer since 2005. We work directly with many other U.S. and international stamp dealers and serve as the official philatelic agent for several postal agencies.

The core of our business is ensuring that all our customers feel like they are not just another number to us. Our team takes the time to know each person who turns to us to understand and learn their preferences.

Collecting stamps is a global hobby. Millions of enthusiasts have treasured collections. Many stamp enthusiasts find special topics to collect, and PCI has a long and trusted history in topical stamps. We have clients with extensive musuem quality collections and others buying stamps for the first time.

Many new customers find these precious collectibles make excellent gifts and decorative keepsakes. Topics include birds, wildlife, space exploration, history, and geography. Feature world leaders and commemoration of historical events. Art, music, and photography– thematic collection crosses all cultures and geographic borders.

With a large variety of Queen and Royal family stamps in our collection that spans over 60 years, we felt it was time to launch a site that would appeal to the heart of all collectors. In Loving Memory to Queen Elizabeth the Second, whose image has appeared on many of the stamps in our collection. We are making this collection available to both dealers and the public.

We also recognize that stamps are passed on from one generation to the next. Collecting stamps make a fantastic family activity as well. At PCI, we genuinely understand how intergenerational stamp collection may be.

The company founder Peter Lazar and his son Christopher Lazar are third and fourth-generation stamp dealers.

From classical collections to thematic holdings, we buy and sell everything philatelic. Having sold new issues wholesale and retail for years, PCI knows where the stamps were sold, and buyers often come back years later when wanting to sell.

The Lazar family has been in the Philatelic Business since 1927 when Nedjat Lazar (Peter Lazar’s Grandfather) first opened a stamp shop on the Rue de Droute. In 1947 they moved the business to New York. His company Fatoullah *and Lazar became the world’s largest new issue dealer. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in business by seeking out, and in the early 1960s, they purchased what became known as The Stamp Center Building at 116 Nassau Street, NY (see photo). At the time, Nassau Street was filled with stamp shops similar to the stores one still finds today on the Rue de Drought in Paris.

Nedjat discovered the business at the Carre Mariginee at an outdoor philatelic stamp market at the end of the Champs Ellyse when he, still a teenager, purchased a small postage stamp for 10 francs. No sooner than a few minutes after having sat on a bench to look at his first stamp collection of a few dozen or so assorted stamps did, a man look over his shoulders and offered him 20 francs for just a few items he was interested in. It was at that moment that the business was born.

His company developed the concept of thematic postage stamps while acting as the first government philatelic agent designing stamps to appeal to large market segments and supply them to wholesalers and Catalogs worldwide.

As the first advertisers in Scott Catalog, the premiere U, S stamp catalog, our advertisements appeared multiple times in every volume. Hundreds of ads ran in each volume as the company sold every stamp issued and advertised this in each nation’s section. The company was responsible for developing and implementing the concept of a standing order. This was accomplished by hand where a customer profile was run against a weekly list of new issues and then later replaced by the computer with the first computerized relational database (introducing computers to the stamp business for the first time), which ran off of I.B.M.’s magazine driven system 36 (at the time state of the art).

Andre Lazar (Nedjet’s Son & Peter’s Father), his brother, and his brother-in-law were also in the business, and several satellite companies branched off into different specialties. Andre specialized in imperfs, deluxe sheets, and unusual items and thus named his company “Andre for the Unusual.”

Peter Lazar (Andre’s Son) started working in the business with new issues and became interested in licensing. The first project Peter undertook was when he licensed the Official Halley’s Comet logo to nations around the world to form “The Official Halley’s Comet Collection.” The collection consisted of over 750 postage stamps and was marketed as a continuity program with 65 nations participating. The program ran for 84 months and, to this day, is highly sought after.

In 2007 we partnered with Groth AG, the company responsible for the World Wide Fund postage stamp Collection. We acquired the exclusive right to use America’s Cup logo to create a collection to commemorate the race in Valencia, Spain, sponsored by Louis Vuitton. This effort produced a collection of Stamps and First Day Covers from 16 countries. Our collaboration with Groth AG and experience working with the licensee proved to be a learning experience far greater than ever expected and yielded many benefits which have helped round out PCI’s collectible marketing knowledge.

PCI Agency (separate section

Equipped with a generation of knowledge and experience from Nejat Lazar, Andre Lazar, and Peter Lazar’s success, we decided to return to working directly with countries to design, print, and distribute their postage stamps. At this point, Christopher (Peter’s son) became involved with the business, and in 2010 PCI entered into the agency business.

Initially, in 2010 we began solely representing the Cook Islands (including Aitutaki, Penrhyn & Rarotonga) and, over the following years, have increased to work with Samoa and Tonga (including Niuafo’ou).

We work closely with the governments of these countries to create a unique and exciting philatelic profile. We are responsible for planning, designing, producing, marketing, and distributing all stamp issues released (each country’s government has an active role in approving all problems).

While the individual postal services use the issues for standard postal use, our company focuses on worldwide distribution in the collector network to streamline the process and help generate revenue and international recognition for each country.

If your country is interested in representation, don’t hesitate to contact us anytime to discuss the benefits of working with the world’s first boutique philatelic agents.

As the official Philatelic Bureau of the Cook Islands, we produce the government standard postage stamps for all of the Cook Islands. We offer newly designed postage stamps, stamp issues, and collectible postage stamps featuring images of the Cook Islands, including; the islands of Aitutaki, Penrhyn, and Rarotonga, the British Royal family, local flora and fauna, wildlife, and holiday themes.

At PCI, we belives stamps bring out the beauty of our world and beyond and hope that we can assist you in making the purchases that will bring you the most enjoyment and value.