James H. Beal

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James H. Beal
Born	February 23, 1922
Died	July 26, 1987
Nationality	USA
Engineering career
Institution memberships	American Philatelic Society
Significant projects	Expert on fakes and forgeries; helped recover stolen philatelic material
Significant awards	Luff Award APS Hall of Fame

James H. Beal (1922–1987), of Ohio, was a philatelist who was a recognized expert on fakes and forgeries of rare postage stamps.

Collecting interests

Beal was a collector, and expert, of Mexican stamps.

Fakes and thefts

Beal played two significant roles in philately: that of an expert, and that of a detective tracking down stolen stamp collections. He was part of the team at the American Philatelic Society that identified and helped track down counterfeiter Raoul Ch. De Thuin.

Working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Beal was able to help recover stolen philatelic material, such as those stolen in the May 1977 theft at the New York Public Library, as well as several of the stolen and rare “invented airplane” (Scott C3a) which were stolen from collector Ethel Bergstresser McCoy in 1955.

Philatelic activity

Beal was an associate editor of The Yucatan Affair and Chairman of the APS Stamp Theft Committee from 1981 to 1987.

Honors and awards

James Beal was awarded the Luff Award in 1985 for Exceptional Contributions to Philately and was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1988.

References

James H. Beal

Authority control	VIAF: 231929120

Persondata
Name	Beal, James H.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 23, 1922
Place of birth
Date of death	July 26, 1987
Place of death

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