Heritage Auctions Launches New Stamps Category With First Auction Planned for 2027

Heritage Auctions is getting back into stamps. The Dallas-based auction house announced Thursday that it has launched a dedicated Stamps category, with its first auction of U.S. and international stamps and postal history planned for early 2027. Heritage has also brought in veteran philatelic specialists Charles F. Shreve and Tracy L. Carey to lead the new division.

The move is actually something of a return to Heritage’s roots. In 1980, Heritage CEO and Co-Chairman Steve Ivy recruited Shreve to Dallas to establish Steve Ivy Philatelic Auctions. The company later sold its stamp division to Greg Manning Auctions in 1991, meaning Heritage is reentering the category 35 years later. Shreve joins Heritage as Vice President, Stamps, while Carey has been named Consignment Director.

Both have deep ties to the company and to each other. Carey began her career with Steve Ivy Philatelic Auctions in 1988 and became a licensed auctioneer two years later. She later worked with Shreve to establish Shreves Philatelic Galleries. Heritage says the goal is not simply to add another auction category, but to combine traditional stamp expertise with its digital auction platform and worldwide bidder base.

“This is one of those rare opportunities in which Heritage’s history and its future come together,” Ivy says. “Charles helped us recognize decades ago that great stamps deserved the same sophisticated presentation, scholarship and broad marketing that were transforming the rare-coin market. He went on to become one of the most influential figures in philately, and Tracy established an exceptional reputation as an auctioneer, operator and trusted adviser to collectors. Bringing them both back to Heritage gives this new venture extraordinary experience, credibility and momentum from its first day.”

The first Heritage Stamps auction is planned for early 2027 and will include both United States and international material. Shreve and Carey have already begun accepting consignments. Shreve brings more than four decades of experience in the stamp business. He began collecting stamps at age 12 and was working in a Detroit-area stamp shop soon afterward. As a teenager, he became an apprentice auction-lot describer before joining Sotheby Parke Bernet Stamp Auction Company in 1977. Ivy brought him to Dallas three years later.

Shreve went on to become a partner in Ivy, Shreve and Mader and later founded Shreves Philatelic Galleries. That company was sold to Spink and Son in 2007, with Shreve becoming president of Spink Shreves Galleries. Since 2012, he has served as a director at Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries overseeing its international division.

Heritage says Shreve has been involved in more than $1 billion in rare philatelic sales during his career. Among the most significant was the William H. Gross Collection. Material from that collection realized more than $75 million, including more than $16 million for Gross’ complete collection of United States singles, which Heritage describes as the highest-grossing single stamp auction ever. Shreve also helped lead the campaign that raised nearly $15 million for the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s William H. Gross Stamp Gallery. In 2019, he received the Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award.

Carey brings more than 37 years of international auction experience. After her early years with Steve Ivy Philatelic Auctions and Shreves Philatelic Galleries, she joined the board of Spink and Son and spent five years as chief operating officer of Spink USA. She later served as chief operating officer of Brigham Auctions and as president and COO of Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions before co-founding Golden Oak Online Auctions.

For Heritage, the new category adds stamps and postal history to an auction operation already handling coins, sports cards, comics, entertainment memorabilia, fine art and other collectibles.

For Shreve, it also represents a return to the company where one of the earliest chapters of his career began.

“Returning to work with Steve and joining Heritage again feels both familiar and entirely new,” Shreve says. “The company has built a global community of collectors and an auction platform with tremendous reach, while never losing sight of the expertise and personal relationships that make collecting meaningful. Tracy and I look forward to creating a destination for great stamps and postal history—one that serves experienced philatelists, welcomes new collectors and brings exceptional collections to the widest possible international audience.”

Heritage’s inaugural Stamps auction is scheduled for early 2027, with consignments now being accepted.