I discovered these pictures in my collection of whatsis today, and the obituary below on the web.

Who was William "Bill" Flesher ?

This a photo of Bill Flesher (center with hat) possibly with Tokyo Imperial Univeristy's faculty wihile working for General Douglas MacArthur in 1948.

After some research I discovered Professor Flesher's obituary.

I also have this photograph of Bill on Christmas day with friends in Yokohama, Japan.

And the typed inscription on the back of the photograph.

I believe this is the same Dr.Flesher of Tokyo Imperial University. This photograph of Tokyo Imperial was taken in 1925. The entrance is identical to the group photograph taken in 1948. It's known as known as Yasuda Auditorium.

There are sixteen Nobel Prize Laureates from Tokyo Imperial University. To read about them clck here.

Along with the many great scholars and faculty members in the astounding photograph, Bill Flesher should be remembered. I'd like to know if Bill had friends in Memphis as I discovered the photograph among the papers of Memphis artist Louis Clericus (1856-1934), and well-known Memphis chemist and socialist Louis Phillipi (1925-1998),  of which I treasure and serve as the dutiful caretaker. http://davidsaks.com/2016.01.01_arch.html#/1452806484073 & https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144867289/louis-victor-philippi

Here are some links about dealers and auction houses
who brazenly cheated buyers and sellers.

Other cases of philatelic fraud,
including fraudulent expertising certificates, are here as well.

This is just the tip of the philatelic fraud iceberg:

• https://philatelist.home.blog/tag/frauds/

• https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/794/781/231004/

• https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-

• xpm-1985-09-30-8503070069-story.html

• http://www.scads.org/

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stamp-dealers-sued-for-fraud/

• https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/michael-dubasso-american-philatelic-foundation/internet/michael-dubasso-american-philatelic-foundation-michael-dubasso-michael-dubasso-stamp-ap-929538

• http://scads.org/shame/shame.htm

• https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/647/1344/2359710/

• https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/25864/phony-philatelists-four-stories-stamp-forgers

• https://www.efe.com/efe/english/world/former-execs-at-a-spanish-philately-company-jailed-for-huge-fake-stamp-con/50000262-3524865

• https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/specific_search/philatelic

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Klein

• http://virtualstampclub.com/lloydblog/?p=6273

François Barraud (1899-1934)

Le Philateliste - The Philatelist

1929

I bought my first stamps at Herron-Hill Coins & Stamps in Memphis in 1959 at the age of seven with the nickles and dimes that my great grandmother had given me.

Herron-Hill closed several years ago.

The picture of the little bird on the stamps fascinated me when I was child.

I wanted to know more about Lundy and the puffin.

The stamps of Lundy are denominated in Puffins, the currency used on the island. This is the one-half Puffin blue, a proof issued in 1929, the first year of issue of the stamps of Lundy.  I'm searching for the one-half blue.

The stamps of Lundy are as extraordinary as it's history.

Lundy stamps are known as "cinderellas".

A cinderella stamp, in philately, is "virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration".

In 1925, a wealthy Englishman by the name of Martin Harman purchased the small 3 mile-long island in the Bristol Channel off the coast of Devon.

One fine day, Mr.Harman mused, " Since I own this island, why shouldn't I be the king ?"

The self-proclaimed king began coining money and issuing stamps for Lundy's inhabitants.

The revenue from the stamps to be used for fuel and other necessities for the island.

The stamps bore the picture of the Puffin, a comical little, potbellied bird which inhabits the island in great numbers and demonstrates a rather arrogant superiority to the other denizens of Lundy.

All appeared to fine in the beginning of the stamp production, but, in 1931, the British government discovered Mr.Harman's puffin coins and stamps.

The self-proclaiming King Harman was ordered to appear in court and charged with "unlawfully coining money".

The presiding judge cast a grim stare at Mr.Harman and asked him, "Who did you say is sovereign of Lundy ?"

Mr.Harman said, boldly, "I am, and as sovereign I have the right to issue stamps and coin my puffins and half puffins."

The court disagreed with Mr.Harman whereupon Mr.Harman suddenly realized that he was the ex-king and fined 5 pounds, equal to about ten dollars in American money.

But, the good news for stamp collectors like me is that Lundy is protected by the British Empire and that the former king, Mr.Harman, was permitted to continue printing his stamps.

The stamps of Lundy are very beautiful stamps which are highly prized and sought after by stamp collectors throughout the world this very day.

Pictured above are Lundy first day covers from my collection.

Click them for more information about this captivating island.

Click the picture of the amazing puffin to read more.

Click Here to listen to the laughter of the puffin. You'll never forget it and believe as I do that the puffin is the happiest bird in the world !

I hope to visit Lundy one day.

To hold the stamp is to have a tiny piece of this magical part of the world in my hand.

Here's a page from my Christmas Seal Album featuring the very first stamps issued by the American Red Cross to raise funds for the study and treatment of tuberculosis.

I've enlarged the sections from my album to include enlargements of the stamps with the descriptive notations for you.

Merry Christmas to all of my friends.

May God bless you and keep you safe, always.

I think about tomorrow like the next move in a game of chess.

If you know me then you also know that I'm not spineless and believe that foolishly sentimental weaklings are an impediment to progress.

I never live in the past. There's no future there.

The past is like an expired concert ticket. The band has come and gone and the ticket's a memory. If the band was lousy, the ticket's a bad memory. Therefore, so is the past if it's full of bad tickets to the show.

And I'm not a critic looking for converts to my way of life and thought.

I'm what you see, nobody else, glad and thankful. I wouldn't want to be someone else.

I'm not searching for valuable cash and prizes. I'm not an immodest, self=aggrandizing braggart, an egoist or a snob competing in a popularity contest. And I'm not boasting about the number of views my YouTube channel gets and could care less about it.

I'm just David Saks and, whether you like me or not, I can't change that fact, although I believe that it's better to be loved for who you are if you're not someone with multiple personalities.

So find one who'll trust you when you can move forward and think of him instead of yourself and the past.

Life gets easier with trust, too.

Without trust there's no love, and never will be.

When you stop trusting each other the love is over, so you have to love yourself and trust yourself by yourself.

Life is easier that way, too, for some, but a little sadder while you grow old and alone.

But when you've finally found him, love him more than your mirror or he'll soon forget about you.

Life can become a living dream because life itself is a wonderful thing.

People that are  contemptible, vile, morally reprehensible, menacing and not so wonderful will discover that their birth was nothing more than a prolonged and painfully dark terminal illness instead of a prospering bright miracle.

Never forget it.

My Harley-Davidson XLCH-1200 back in the 1980's.
I drove it 105 miles an hour on sunny afternoons.

And I drove my illustrious next-door-neighbor topless dancer friends, whenever they needed rides, to their jobs at Whitehaven nightclubs on the saddle to make their stalkers think that they had a bad-ass boyfriend when in reality I was just a piano playing stamp collector who read books by Alfred North Whitehead.

Happy New Year !