For over 50 years, Zvi Alexander has built up a most significant collection of Holy Land postal history - that is not just stamps but postmarks and entire letters and postcards. It is probably THE most important and comprehensive such collection in existence.
For the last 24 years Zvi has exhibited various parts of his collection internationally, and has been awarded Grand Prix and numerous large gold medals - the highest philatelic accolades.
Rather than selling his unique items, he has generously donated the entire collection to the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv on a 50 year loan. The museum's philatelic pavilion has been named after him and he has endowed it for onward displays and education.
To mark its opening earlier this year, the Museum produced a sumptuous glossy hardback catalogue. In some 200 pages it illustrates and briefly describes (in Hebrew and English) a selected fraction of these postal history items, beginning in the 15th century, through the Turkish post, the European postal agencies of Austria, Germany, Italy and Russia, to the British Mandate, and finally the war of independence in 1948. The postal items are linked by selected historical photographs and thus form a marvelous overview of the history of the country and its postal services.
Even for a lay person, the material provides a fascinating and vivid survey. But if you know the philatelic background, the wealth and quality of these items (not to mention their market value) are astonishing. Quite a number are described as unique - 'the only recorded item'. My personal friendship with Zvi has given me additional exciting insights into his hard work in locating, researching and acquiring these rare gems.
As Amazon would say, five stars plus!
It is sold at the Museum for 150 sheqel - about £23.
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