John R. Boker

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John Robert Boker, Junior (born January 29, 1913 in New York , † April 12, 2003 in Scarsdale . New York) was an American industrialist and philatelist with German ancestors. His father was born in Duisburg in 1871.

Life

In 1933, he graduated from Yale University .

The former major in the US infantry served in the secret service during World War II and returned from the war highly decorated. Towards the end of the war, he was involved in questioning German secret service agents in Germany, in particular the key figures in the later Gehlen organization .

He earned his living making pocket knives (Boker or Treebrand pocket knives). From 1972 to 1988 he was also a director of the Burnham Company.

However, he earned his greatest fame as a philatelist. Specializing in the area of ​​"Old German States", he created one of the largest collections in this area with expertise and wealth. From 1985 to 2000, however, he dissolved his collection. The rarest stamps and postal receipts came under the hammer, such as the famous Baden color misprint , which brought in 2.3 million DM .

Boker was married and had two daughters.

Honors

literature

  • Carlrichard Brühl: History of Philately , Volume 1, Hildesheim et al., Olms 1985. ISBN 3-487-07619-5 , pp. 235-238
  • Walter Möbs: Focus on Prussia - The unique John R. Boker Collection. In: Philately No. 198 / Philately and Postal History No. 119, July 1991, pp. 4–8
  • Wolfgang Jakubek: Knaurs stamp book. The whole world of philately. Droemer Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1976, ISBN 3-426-02244-3 , p. 260 f
  • Deutsche Briefmarken-Revue issue No. 2/1996, p. 13 f

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Maassen (Ed.): Who is who in philately? A lexicon of well-known philatelists of the 19th and 20th centuries Century. Phil * Creativ GmbH, Schwalmtal 1999, ISBN 3-932198-32-8 , p. 24
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Maaßen: Who is who in philately. Volume 1: A - D. 3rd edition. Phil Creativ - publishing house and agency, Schwalmtal 2011, ISBN 978-3-932198-92-2 , pp. 159-160
  3. ↑ Boker's report on his first contacts with the Gehlen organization (PDF file; 534 kB) CIA documents from May 1, 1952, released from 2002
  4. ↑ Deutsche Briefmarken-Revue issue No. 3/2000, p. 43
personal data
SURNAME Boker, John R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boker, John Robert junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American industrialist and philatelist
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 2003
Place of death Scarsdale , New York