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| Leading London Dealers - Charles Whitfield King | ||||
| reprinted from Philatelic Journal of Great Britain Mar 1, 1892 | ||||
PALATIAL PREMISES AT IPSWICH-THE HOUSE THAT KING BUILT. [By our Special Commissioner.] DOUBLE-BARRELLED surnames are so much de rigeur amongst our leading stamp dealers that it is no great surprise to find that Mr. Whitfield and Mr. King are one and the same person. In short, "Whitfield King & Co." is really only Mr. Charles Whitfield King. The history of this gentleman's career as a stamp dealer reads remarkably like those we have already interviewed and "biographed," if we may be allowed the use of this some-what unconventional word. A DEALER AT FOURTEEN. It was at the age of fourteen that Mr. King first "took to" stamps. He had just left school, and was doing commercial work on top of a high stool in the office of an Ipswich merchant shipping office. Quantities of foreign stamps came to the office on letters from abroad, and from these came the foundation of Mr. King's now colossal business. He began to deal at once, advertising in the boys' papers, and by other means pushing his trade. He quickly succeeded in establishing a promising connection, but in order to do this he had to work day and night. He rose every morning at six, in order to put in a few hours with his stamps, and went at it again immediately after leaving his work at the shipping office. A GROWING BUSINESS. At last Mr. King's business had grown to such an extent that he found it too big to control in his leisure hours. He recognised the necessity of devoting all his time to stamps if he desired to keep his connection. In 1875, therefore, he took the hull by the horns, and gave his employers the sack. From that date to this Mr. King has never looked back. He built two small houses, with rooms at the back to be used as offices. These were found to be sufficient for his purposes until 1887, when a new place was built in Lacey Street. This is a handsome two-storeyed structure, built of white brick, and with a frontage of 96 feet. Mr. King claims that His NEW OFFICES are unique, as being built specially for the stamp trade, and we think he is quite safe in saying so. Our Special Commissioner had undergone a long and cold railway journey to interview Mr. King, and was more interested in the interior than the exterior of the offices, for the reason that it was warmer inside. Mr. King's business premises are a model of order and neatness. The chief office, occupying nearly the whole of the ground floor, has a ground space of 36 feet by 15 feet, and is in all respects a fine room. Along one side runs a mahogany desk 30 feet in length, and facing this are numerous tiers of drawers, choke full of stamps. In the middle are two large tables, whereon the heavy orders are filled. MR. KING IS A STICKLER FOR REGULARITY AND DISCIPLINE. On the walls of his office are hung such devices as "A Place for Everything, and Everything in its Place." These have a healthy effect, for Mr. King now boasts a staff of nine clerks, whom he can trust to transact his business faithfully and well. Just lately, it seems, their powers of diligence and endurance have been heavily taxed. "So busy have we been lately," said Mr. King," that my assistants have been working up till ten or eleven nearly every evening. Of course, I am paying overtime for this, and I am as glad to pay it as they probably are to have it. A clerk cannot pick up this business in a day, so that taking on extra hands is not so easy as it sounds." "To what do you attribute this influx of business?" queried our representative. "Oh. this is just the season for it, you know. We are always busier at this time of the year than at any other. But I must say that I never remember being so busy in any previous year." Doubtless many of Mr. King's rivals would be glad to be able to say the same; but then our Ipswich friend is a type of dealer that is not common nowadays. He works hard himself, and pushes his business forward by personal attention to the wants of customers. Our representative has visited the premises of many prominent stamp dealers, but in none has he seen such A PERFECT ORGANISATION as in Mr. Whitfield King's. All the stock is arranged in such a fashion that any one of the clerks can place his hand on any specified stamp at a moment's notice. In the general office on the ground floor, where all the orders are executed, the stamps, post. cards, &c., are arranged in alphabetical order, so that the work of the office is greatly facilitated. Mr. King showed our representative the best of the stock, and explained how the business was conducted. "What kind of trade do you do mostly, Mr. King?" he asked. "Well, we cater especially for what I may call the "middling" collector - the man who buys the better class packets and sets. We also do a big wholesale business - selling lots to other dealers. I sometimes get rarities, but not often. What I specially pride myself upon is my system of FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. continued...... | ||||
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