Henry Ellis Harris - Selling Stamps

Selling Stamps

Harris began selling stamps at the age of 14 and when the Washington Post offered free advertising, Harris seized the opportunity to begin a mail order stamp business. He opened his first retail store in 1921 at Kenmore Square in Boston.

Over the years, H. E. Harris's ads, which offered a quantity of stamps for a small amount of money (usually less than $1) on the condition that additional stamps were sent on approval, became ubiquitous in many magazines and comic books. While the company was noted for selling low-cost packets of stamps, it sold rarities as well.

The company developed a fully illustrated postage stamp catalog that sold for a fraction of the cost of the more detailed Scott Stamp Catalogue.

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