Haimann signs the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists
During the Boston 2026 World Expo on May 28, 2026, John Hotchner RDP introduced Alex Haimann at the signing ceremony for the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists.
Category: Recognition
APS Awards and Honors: The Nicholas G. Carter Volunteer Recognition Award
March 3rd, 2026, the APS announced its 2026 Awards & Honors. Long-time GMCSC member Alan Barasch was recognized with the Nicholas G. Carter Volunteer Recognition Award in the National Promotion/Service category.
Christina Esbeck takes GASS by storm!
Christna Esbeck brought home her second win of the Youth Champion of Champions award for the best youth exhibit in the United States with her four-frame Thinking of You exhibit.
APS Awards and Honors: The Kehr Award
The Ernest A. Kehr Award is presented annually by the APS “for enduring contributions that help guarantee the future of the hobby.”
Haimann awarded APS’s Nicholas G. Carter Volunteer Recognition Awards for National Service
The Nicholas G. Carter Volunteer Recognition Awards recognize the outstanding efforts of American Philatelic Society volunteers at the national, regional and local level, and also recognize our younger members whose contributions and abundant talents are crucial to our future.
First Day of Issue Ceremony: Thinking of You
Greater Mound City Stamp Club member, 14-year-old Christina Esbeck was recently a speaker at the USPS First Day of Issue Ceremony for the Thinking of You stamps released on August 11, 2023, at the American Philatelic Society’s Great American Stamp Show in Cleveland, OH. The Thinking of You issue included the first cupcake on a U.S. postage stamp.
From Left to Right: Dawn Hamman (President of the American Topical Association), Greg Breeding (Art Director, USPS), Cara Greene (VP, Controller, USPS), Christina Esbeck (Greater Mound City Stamp Club Member and Youth Exhibitor), Scott English (Executive Director, American Philatelic Society), Jennifer Miller (Executive Director, American Topical Association), and Nicole Harrell (Supervisor, Distribution & Operations of Cleveland, USPS).
Christina was also recently highlighted by the USPS in the “PHILATELIC” (Volume 23, Quarter 3, pg. 49) magazine, which you can see on our club website at Beyond the Perf – Christina Esbeck – Greater Mound City Stamp Club.
Christina gave an awesome speech at the ceremony! Additionally, she entered her Cupcake exhibit and was awarded the Champion of Champions in the Youth category. This is a first for the Greater Mound City Stamp Club to have a member when a Champion of Champions award.
Our club could not be prouder of her. She is an outstanding young lady and a great ambassador for stamp collecting by our youth.
Beyond the Perf – Christina Esbeck
Greater Mound City Stamp Club’s Christina Esbeck is highlighted in the USPS Philatelic (2023/Volume 28/Quarter 3, pg. 49) based on her Cupcake Exhibit as the USPS will be releasing the first cupcake on a U.S. stamp at the Great American Stamp Show. Christina has been asked and will participate in the First Day of Issue Ceremony in Cleveland, OH on 8/11/2023.
Congrats to Christina!
Tom Minor: 2021 Prexie Award
December 2nd, 2021, GMCSC President, Guy Gasser, announced that Tom Minor would be the 2021 recipient of the Greater Mound City Stamp Clubs Prexie Award.
The Prexie Is presented to a Philatelist that has been an exceptional and valuable member of the GMCSC.
Tom’s commitment and dedication to the club and philately has been nothing less than outstanding. Tom served as the first Greater Mound Club Stamp Club President and has served and volunteered in many roles over all the years!
Congrats Tom!!
Alex Haimann – APS Top Recruiters 2020
Aug. 8th, 2021
Alex Haimann has been recognized by the APS as the APS Top Recruiter for 2020
David M. Kols
David M. Kols
September 13, 1950 – March 13, 2018
Saint Louis, Missouri
David Michael Kols graduated from Lehigh University – Class of 1972, where he majored in Economics, and was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. After college, David moved to New York City where he started a wholesale travel company in the Bronx, later moving it to Connecticut.
In 1984, Kols established Mississippi Computer Corp. to provide software to the wholesale travel industry.
In 1990, he opened Regency Stamps, a philatelic retail store and auction house located in Warson Woods, moving the company to Le Chateau Village in Frontenac, and finally expanding to the Central West End in St. Louis.
In 1992 he bought Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills, CA incorporating many other collectibles forming Regency-Superior Auctions. David was a true entrepreneur.
A stamp collector since childhood, he revamped his business eight years later as Regency Stamps Ltd. and opened a street-level retail stamp store in the St. Louis area. The shop remained open for a quarter century and included a United States Postal Service substation and philatelic window.
Working with hobby leaders in the St. Louis area, Kols and his wife Penney, founded and supported the St. Louis Stamp Expo (EXPO), which held its first show Oct. 1-3, 1993. Expo quickly earned accreditation as an APS World Series of Philately show and has maintained that status for well over two decades. With Kols as executive director, the show was the first major stamp exhibition in the St. Louis area in nearly 20 years. It made a significant effort to engage youngsters in the first year by bringing in more than 900 schoolchildren in a single day and providing activities and gifts for them.
For 2002-2005, Kols authored the Stamp Market Tips column for Linn’s Stamp News.
In 2016, Kols was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer requiring him to shut down his businesses and step down as the Executive Director of the St. Louis Stamp Expo.
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