Roger G. Weill (1909-1991) and Raymond H. Weill (1913-2003) served philatelists worldwide from their shop, the Raymond H. Weill Company in New Orleans, which they founded with their father in 1932. Though the brothers were born in St. Louis, the family moved to New Orleans in 1921. Encouraged by their father, they transformed their philatelic hobby into a business wherein they bought and sold some of the world’s rarest stamps. These included an Inverted Jenny and a pair of 2-cent stamps, issued in Bermuda in 1851, that were known as “cotton reels” for their resemblance to the labels on spools of thread. In 1968 the brothers purchased the famous 1-cent “Mauritius Post Office” cover.
Donations from Roger and Raymond Weill enriched the Smithsonian’s philatelic collection tremendously. Besides the 1923 Harding issue, Civil War covers, and Swedish and French covers, the brothers donated an Inverted Jenny, position 70, which is one of the nation’s most famous stamps.
Mary T. Sheahan, National Postal Museum
