Welcome home to our new home.

On May 11th, we will welcome members and guests to our new home at 58 West 40th Street. It has been a long time coming.

The last time we opened a new home for the Club was in 1937. It’s been 87 years. The last program we held at 35th Street was in March 2020, just as the pandemic was winging its way through our lives. It’s been four years. It’s been a long time, and May 11th will be a very special time to celebrate.

The evening will begin at our new home with a reception featuring hors d’oeuvres and drinks at 5:30 pm. At 7:15 or so, we will move over to the Lambs Club within the Chatwal Hotel at 130 West 44th Street for dinner and our award presentations.

Four Lichtenstein Award winners will receive their medals: Trish Kaufmann, Jim Mazepa, Randy Neil, and Charles Verge—four truly extraordinary philatelists who have made all our philatelic lives better.

We will also mark the publication of Nick Kirke’s book on New York City Foreign Mail.

Back in November, we held our single-frame competition, and we have the awards to bestow on the Grand award winner, Chip Gliedman, and the reserve grand and awards of merit winners.

We also will recognize the winners of the best program for 2023, Rob Faux and Scott Trepel, for the best article during 2023 in this journal.

Lest you fear a long, drawn out, and tedious session of calling out names, please remember this is New York, and they named the minute after us.

With the invitation going out in early March, we hope you can join us for what will be a memorable evening.

In October 1937, when Charles J Phillips, RDP, wrote about the previous home for the Club in this journal, floor plans were printed in his article. With the advances in our technology, we have a very accurate and life-like rendering that you can view on the Club’s website. We encourage you to do so.

Although we are still in the midst of construction, one can see what will emerge as the finished product. Here, the form will follow purpose. Everything is on one level. The library is in one space. Easy access for everyone. Comfortable. Inviting. Multiple spaces for members to congregate.

One of the greatest fallacies regarding the Collectors Club is that many assume that most of our membership comes from the New York area. Not true. More than 85% of you live outside New York, from across the United States, North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australasia. You might think, so, why does this new home matter to me?

We are located now in the center of New York. It is one of the greatest cities in the world. We are in the heart of that city. We are close to all forms of transportation: airports, trains, and municipal transport. Your visit can also take advantage of world-class entertainment: Broadway, Lincoln Center, museums, dining, and shopping. We will be a warm and welcoming place to visit when you visit the city. It’s your Club.

There will be more to us than the opening dinner and its festivities. We will be holding classes and symposia. Once we get up to speed, we intend to make the Club a busy hub of activity.

And while we have ensured that the Club is accessible, we also recognize that accessibility comes in many forms. To that end, we will also host an open house at the Club on Wednesday, May 15th. For those who won’t be able to attend the May 11th event, this will be an excellent time to see for yourself.

We look forward to May, but more importantly, we look forward to all the memories we will form from an active and vibrant Club in the heart of Midtown New York.

–Lawrence Haber