ALBRECHT, RUDOLF F.

Copyright 2011-2025 John N. Lupia, III

Rudolf F. Albrecht (1852-19), was born on January 27, 1852 at Berlin, Germany.

His early career was in the bookseller 

On April 1,1877, he founded a publishing house in Leipzig and Steglitz, specializing in childrens books and gift books. It was at  Steglitz his daughter Katie was born in 1882. 

Albrecht emigrated to New York on April 8, 1885, sailing aboard the S.S. Suevia, from Hamburg, Germany together with his wife Clara (1860-19), and daughter Katie (1882-19). He arrived in America as a successful German publisher and was financially well off and well connected with German friends and associates who had emigrated to New York and established themselves like his business partner Constantin Witt (1844-19), who steered him into the stamp business and who had arrived in America a decade earlier in 1874; and another, one, a John Oestreich later on would serve as his witness on his passport as we shall see below.

Albrecht settled in Thompkinsville, State Island, New York and remained there lifelong.

On September 9, 1890, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, listed as a bookkeeper, apparently working for stamp dealer Constantin Witt, 123 East 8th Street, New York.

In June, 1891, he sold John W. Scott his patent for a secure approval sheet design that prevented clients from switching stamps and stealing them.

In January 1892,  Albrecht was one of 15 trustees of the National Philatelic Society, and his business partner Constantin Witt was one of the charter members.

In the March 1892 edition of Der Philatelist (the journal of the International Philatelic Society of Dresden), Rudolf F. Albrecht and Constantin Witt published an advertisement announcing their partnership as stamp dealers. The partnership appears to have been either non-exclusive without a restrictive covenant for business, as Albrecht affixed his own return address stamp, R.F. Albrecht & Co., over their joint company postcard imprint on one addressed to Hiram Edmond Deats dated October 31, 1892, or else Albrecht acquired a controlling interest, thereby making his name the primary one for the company. 

The firm was located in the Armeny Building No. 90 Nassau Street, New York City, New York. American Architect & Building News, October 6, 1889

Albrecht and Witt were among the charter members of the “New York Branch”, of the International Philatelic Society of Dresden, founded on July 15, 1893. 

In 1893, Albrecht and his partner Constantin Witt created philatelic covers for the Columbian Exposition with the entire 16 stamp series of Columbian issue.  These were addressed to his wife Wilhelmina Hoffmann Witt, at their residence 304 East 86th Street, New York, where they lived with their three year old son William. The Trow's City Directory of 1892 had their address at 341 East 86th Street, telling us they moved a few doors down the street in 1893. This sort of annual moving was typical of the period since apartment leases were for one year.

One of the seven known shown above was sold on November 27, 2025, at a Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc., sale for $37,500.

The 2013 Ludeman Columbian Dollar-Value Cover Census records complete sets on seven covers and one wrapper. Mike Ludeman updated and expanded a previous study of Columbian dollar-value stamps and covers originally published by Dr. Richard M. Searing. His census is a widely recognized and essential resource in the philatelic community, particularly for authenticating and tracking rare covers bearing the high-value stamps from the 1893 Columbian Exposition issue. 

These philatelic covers with high valued Columbian issues were in demand and so Albrecht and Witt continued mailing them to himself so that his wife Wilhelmina would immediately collect and secure them when delivered. The above cover with the $2 Columbian #242 was sold at a Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc., sale 952, 2008, for $1,000

Albrecht with his stamp shop at 90 Nassau Street, New York, to a client postmarked New York, registered, November 21, 1894, #237 10¢, to B. G. Tallman, Buffalo, New York. The year is a best guess based on the backstamp that has a poor impression. Howard H. Baker, who served as the Postmaster of Buffalo, NY, from 1894 to 1898, was appointed by President Cleveland to the position on June 7, 1894 and his four year commission began on June 15, 1894. Consequently 1894 is the earliest possible date and 1897. write john@numismaticmall.com

On June 20, 1895 he applied for a passport to travel to Germany with his wife and daughter. From this record we learn he had a fair, i.e. light complexion, blonde hair, moustache and bear, hazel eyes and was just short of average height in stature standing 5" 5-1/2". His friend serving as a witness in the acknowledgement is John Oestreich, whose surname is German for the word Austria.

A. C. Townsend, a stamp dealer in Washington, DC, acting as a fence for Hamilton Colman, a thief in the Land Office, Washington, DC, sent Rudolf F. Albrecht sets of the revenue stamps stolen from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to sell in his Nassau Street shop. Innocently, Albrecht ran ads in stamp journals announcing the availability of these revenues from a dealer in Washington, DC. Albrecht was notified by the government that such sales were illegal resulting in him telling Townsend he couln't handle the stamps. THe government agents advised Albrecht to return the stolen stamps to Colman and once in his possession was immediately arrested. The Suffolk County News, February 5, 1897, page 2.

In 1902 his second son Herman was born.

In 1904 his third son Herbert was born.