In "Old-time Memories" in Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal of 1906, Hanciau tells how he started to collect stamps in 1852, aged seventeen, after seeing the collection of Pierre Maus who had not more than fifty different stamps.
Hanciau had a great deal of difficulty finding stamps to add to his collection.
He often negotiated with postmen to buy stamps they had torn from letters and so many customers complained about the damage that the practice eventually became an offence punishable by dismissal.
On the other hand, few people knew anything about stamps and Hanciau was often able to obtain great rarities at very little cost.
[3] Hanciau was the author of much of the literary output of Jean-Baptiste Moens, his brother-in-law.