Alexander Joseph Sefi was a British philatelist and stamp dealer

Stamp dealer

A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in postage stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or official stamps for use on court documents.-Stamps on Approval Basis:...

 who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists

The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists is a philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921...

 in 1933.

Early life

Sefi was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood

Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....

. Later he spent three years conducting geological and scientific expeditions in Asia Minor, Syria and Arabia.

Stamp dealing

Sefi worked in association with David Field who published several of his works. In 1921 he joined P.L. Pemberton

Percival Loines Pemberton

Percival Loines Pemberton , Pem to his friends, was a British philatelist and stamp dealer who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1921...

 and E.L. Pemberton

Edward Loines Pemberton

Edward Loines Pemberton was a pioneering philatelist and stamp dealer who was a leading advocate of the scientific school of philately and a founding member of The Philatelic Society, London, now The Royal Philatelic Society London...

 as Sefi, Pemberton & Co. Ltd. Together, they donated the Sefi-Pemberton Cup to The Junior Philatelic Society, now the National Philatelic Society

National Philatelic Society

The National Philatelic Society is one of two national philatelic societies in Great Britain. The other is the Royal Philatelic Society London.- History :...

. The firm continued until 1956 when it was acquired by Robson Lowe

Robson Lowe

John Harry Robson Lowe , Robbie to his friends, was an English professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer.- Life and career :...

.

Philately

Sefi edited the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain from 1926, and also Philatelic World and The West-End Philatelist. He researched the silk thread issues of Switzerland 1854-62. In philatelic literature

Philatelic literature

Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history- Background to philatelic literature :...

 his magnum opus was his masterful "An Introduction to Advanced Philately...", re-issued in facsimile form by the Royal Philatelic Society London in 2010. At the time of his death, he was engaged with C.H. Mortimer in preparing a book on Jammu-Kashmir which was eventually published in 1937. He won the Bates Prize at the 1923 Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in London, and the Congress Cup for his paper "Forgeries and Fakes" at the 1929 Birmingham Congress. His philatelic interests were wide and he contributed numerous articles to philatelic periodicals.

Selected publications

• The Postage Stamps of Grenada. London: D. Field, 1912.
• King Edward VII Land. London: D. Field, 1912
• The Postage Stamps of Malta. London: D. Field, 1913.
• An Introduction to Advanced Philately, with special reference to typical methods of stamp production. London: Rowley & Rowley, 1926. (2nd edition 1932)
• The stamps of Jammu-Kashmir: including chapters on postal history, obliterations, post cards and telegraph stamps. London: Sefi, Pemberton & Co. Ltd., 1937. (With C.H. Mortimer)