Richard A. Champagne

Richard A. Champagne



Richard A. was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1925. In 1934, at the age of 9, he started his philatelic career. His father gave him a small group of world-wide stamps. He continued collecting until the age of 11 or 12 when “other” interests came into his life.

Richard graduated from high school in 1942 and attended Cornell University. However, with the country at war he volunteered for the Navy and soon joined the Navy’s V-12 program, he was soon assigned to Officer’s Training School and at age 19 was commissioned an ensign. During the war, he served in the Pacific aboard two aircraft carriers as a fighter director.

After the war he reentered Cornell and received his BA degree in 1948. He went on to receive his Master’s in Business Administration in 1950 from Harvard.

Richard is also an excellent dancer. So good, in fact, that he opened dance studios in Boston and Providence and for many years taught children’s cotillion dancing classes.

When he had to remove his “old” stamp collection from his house, he re-acquainted himself with stamp collecting. That is when he met Joseph Landry, a well-known and respected stamp dealer in the Boston area. When he offered his huge collection of about 5,000 stamps to Joe, Joe’s offer to Richard was $12. When Richard’s mouth stayed open longer than it should, Joe led Richard to a table and told
him could choose any similar collection on the table for $12 to $20.

Richard told Joe no thanks but that he would be back for help in learning how to “properly collect stamps.” At that moment, Joe became Richard’s mentor for many years.

So, Richard started collecting stamps again and as time moved on to seriously collect all aspects of U.S. stamps. Eventually, he started selling duplicates at the Waltham Stamp Club of which he had been a member for many years. He also donated his time and services to the Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum helping to arrange their various collections, along with Joe Landry and Guy Dillaway. Soon Richard and Guy decided to create the once-a-month Cardinal Spellman Sunday Stamp Show. It was during those shows (1968-1970) that Guy and Richard became stamp dealers. In 1976 Richard joined the American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA).

Richard then took a booth at INTERPHIL, the International Stamp Show held in Philadelphia in May 1976. Even then Richard had a wonderful stock of U.S. and his booth had long lines of customers literally throwing money at him for his stamps.

Since then, Richard has had booths at virtually all the major shows in the U.S. There are few dealers in the world with a better quality stock. Richard also has attended and been a player at many of the major auctions held over the years.

Richard’s specialties over the years have been classic U.S., early 20th century, postal stationary, private vending coils and a number of “back of the book” areas including Newspapers, Postage Dues and Officials.

Richard’s stamp knowledge is truly amazing He has expertised for the Philatelic Foundation (PF), the APS, PSE and PSAG. At any show you will see collectors and dealers bringing material for his opinion. Richard Champagne is a world class dealer and World Class Expert who truly belongs in the American Stamp Dealers Hall of Fame.
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Stanley M. Piller