Traditionally, a book presentation by the Heinrich Köhler auction house has taken place at previous International Stamp Exchanges. This year was no exception. This time, however, no new volumes of the Edition d’Or or Edition Spéciale book series were presented on 26 October 2023, but a work by the well-known postal historian Hans-Joachim Büll, with whom the Wiesbaden auction house and its managing director Dieter Michelson have a very special relationship. In autumn 1990, the then owner of the Heinrich Köhler company, Volker Parthen, announced that “Heinrich Köhler, Berliner Briefmarken-Auktionen” would once again be held in Berlin. In 1991, Parthen recruited the two recognised professional philatelists Christian Burmeister and Hans-Joachim Büll as managing directors and co-partners, who then successfully managed this branch company until its dissolution in 2006. Both had worked at the Berlin Stamp Auction in the eastern part of Berlin since 1980 and had a wealth of experience. Büll in the field of postal history, Burmeister in German colonies, to name just a few specialisations. As early as 1991, Büll was honoured with the SAVO plaque by the German Old Stamp Collectors’ Association.
During his relaxed discussion with Hans-Joachim Büll, Michelson recalled these times, but also emphasised the advantages of Büll’s new work, which he said was a masterful way of reviewing the period up to Napoleon as well as the years that shaped the whole of Europe in terms of both contemporary and postal history. Michelson pointed out that the book title ‘Reign of 100 Days’ was actually far too short-sighted, but Büll skilfully countered this with the statement that a catchy title is needed to make a topic interesting. Michelson was happy to confirm that Büll had succeeded in doing just that.
At the end of the presentation, Michelson was happy to promote this new publication, which had already been announced for IBRA 2023 and was also available in Ulm for 65 euros – with the author’s signature. The 400-page hardcover work can currently still be ordered by parcel delivery from Phil*Creativ GmbH, Verlag & Agentur, Vogelsrather Weg 27, 41366 Schwalmtal, phone 0 21 63/48 66, e-mail: faktura@philcreativ.de, www.phil-shop.de.
Translated with DeepL (www.deepl.com)
