Clive Feigenbaum
Clive Harold Feigenbaum (1939–2007) was a colourful and controversial British businessman who was involved in a lifelong series of scandals in the world of philately.
Particularly notable was the sale of "gold" stamps from Staffa and his role in the collapse of attempts to list Stanley Gibbons on the Unlisted Securities Market in 1984.
[1] According to the biographical profile on the website of his firm Stampdile Limited, Feigenbaum started dealing in stamps as a child and had his own shop in Paddington by the age of 18.
In 1984 Feigenbaum applied for re-admission but withdrew his application before it could be considered following adverse press comment about his business affairs.
"[4] In 1971, Feigenbaum was charged with 14 counts of receiving and dishonestly handling stamps and proofs stolen from the British Museum.
[citation needed] In 1979 Feigenbaum became involved in a dispute with the U.S. Customs Service about whether 20% duty applied to 'gold' stamps of Staffa imported into the United States.
As no-one lived on Staffa and visitors were invariably from the mainland in the first place, it was doubtful whether the mail service amounted to anything more than a tourist curiosity.
Feigenbaum had the right to produce stamps marked Staffa in return for a fee paid to the island's owner, who operated the postal service.
[10] The Times described the attempted float as "disastrous" and reported Feigenbaum's resignation as Chairman of Stanley Gibbons shortly thereafter.
In the mid-1980s Feigenbaum, and companies he and his associates controlled, were named in litigation relating to tax shelter schemes in the United States.
[16] In the late 1980s, Feigenbaum, as Chairman of the Philatelic Distribution Corporation was involved in a complicated legal case alleging fraud in relation to a contract with the government of Tuvalu, formerly the Ellice Islands, relating to the deliberate production of stamps with errors for sale to collectors at inflated prices.
produced 14,000 deliberate errors: stamps with inverted centers, missing elements or perforation varieties, which it sold for inflated prices".
All business references taken from Companies House (located in the United Kingdom) microfilmed documents which are all public records.
[25] In 2001, Stampdile Limited was fined £5,000 at Harrow Magistrates Court for supplying "Star Wars" and "Teletubbies" stamps which breached trademark laws.
[26] Feigenbaum was the major landowner on the island of Easdale in the west of Scotland, for which one of his firms produced "stamps" of doubtful validity.
