The History of Sterling Stamps

I caught the philatelic bug from my father at the young age of 5. After dinner my brother and I would sit with my Dad at the kitchen table almost every evening after dinner sorting stamps that we acquired through the mail, at the five and dime stores, and from relatives in Belgium and Canada. I mounted my stamps on construction pages with hinges and tried to get as many different stamps as possible from all over the world. I as grew into my teenage years, I put my stamps aside as school and other activities took over.

I graduated in 1984 with an Engineering degree from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1984 and started my engineering career with American Motors Corporation in Detroit. A few years later my parents brought over my stamp collection and I caught that bug all over again – and now I had some spending money! I started attending some local Michigan shows, focusing mostly on USA stamps but soon accumulated so much foreign stuff that by 1991, I decided to start stamp-dealing part-time. At the time I was living in Sterling Heights, Michigan and thought that the name “Sterling Stamps” had a nice ring to it. Although the family relocated out to the Brighton, Michigan area, I kept the name.

Sterling Stamps has been in business for about 25 years, and full time since 2008, with a brick and mortar location in Brighton, Michigan. We now do about 30-35 shows per year – mostly in the Midwest but also some nationally-accredited shows in Baltimore, Atlanta, Boston, and many other locations. Occasionally you might even see us at an APS show!
We serve philatelists, beginner to advanced, with one of the largest retail inventories in the country and hope to keep doing so for many years to come!