Owner Biography
Steven Walske
Philatelic biography from Steven Walske:
“My current major interests are North American blockade-run mail from 1775 to 1865; French Franco-Prussian War mail (1870-71); and American transcontinental overland mail from 1832 to 1869. I have exhibited frequently, and my Franco-Prussian War Siege Mail exhibit won the Grand Prix International at Luxembourg '98 and the Grand Prix National at PhilexFrance '99 (the first non-Frenchman ever to win the award). My Civil War across-the-lines exhibit was nominated for the Grand Prix National at Washington 2006. My San Francisco postal history collection entitled ‘Heart of the West: San Francisco as a Postal Hub from 1849 to 1869’ received the Grand Prix d’Exposition at Indonesia 2012 and the Grand Prix National at the SESCAL ’08 Continental FIP exhibition. I also built the ‘Lafayette’ collection of classic France, which was sold in 2003.
“My 2003 Civil War-related research culminated in the 2008 book entitled Special Mail Routes of the American Civil War: A Guide to Across-the-Lines Postal History, co-authored with Scott Trepel. In 2005, I also co-authored a book entitled The Pony Express A Postal History with Richard Frajola and George Kramer. I have also published numerous articles in the Chronicle, Western Express, Collectors Club Philatelist and Les Documents Philateliques. In 2014, I wrote the chapter entitled ‘Blockade Run Mail during the American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783’ in the book From Indian Trails to the Birth of a Nation. This was the first philatelic treatment of the blockade run mail during the Revolutionary War. Finally, I was the lead author (with Richard Frajola) on the 2015 Mails of the Westward Expansion: 1803 to 1861, which was awarded the coveted RPSL Crawford Medal in March 2016.”
“My 2003 Civil War-related research culminated in the 2008 book entitled Special Mail Routes of the American Civil War: A Guide to Across-the-Lines Postal History, co-authored with Scott Trepel. In 2005, I also co-authored a book entitled The Pony Express A Postal History with Richard Frajola and George Kramer. I have also published numerous articles in the Chronicle, Western Express, Collectors Club Philatelist and Les Documents Philateliques. In 2014, I wrote the chapter entitled ‘Blockade Run Mail during the American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783’ in the book From Indian Trails to the Birth of a Nation. This was the first philatelic treatment of the blockade run mail during the Revolutionary War. Finally, I was the lead author (with Richard Frajola) on the 2015 Mails of the Westward Expansion: 1803 to 1861, which was awarded the coveted RPSL Crawford Medal in March 2016.”
