Michael Sefi

Michael Richard Sefi LVO (born 11 December 1943[1]) is a British philatelist and was the Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection from 1 January 2003.[2]

Michael Sefi

LVO
Born (1943-12-11) 11 December 1943
London
Occupationkeeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection
Academic work
Disciplinephilatelist

Life

Sefi was born in London. When he was a child, his grandfather introduced him to stamp collecting. He began collecting stamps again in his early thirties[3] when his own children received stamps and stamp albums as a gift[4][5] and while he was looking for a hobby to ease the stress from the Mann Judd and Touche Ross merger.[3] He specialized in collecting the first postage stamps of George V's reign.[5]

He worked as a chartered accountant until he partially retired in 1983. He was a partner of Mann Judd, later Touche Ross, [later Deloitte] in the 1970s.[3] He became an active member of the Great Britain Philatelic Society of which he was president between 2000/02 and 2012/14. Sefi was a member of Council of the Royal Philatelic Society London between 1990 and 2005 where he was a member of many decision-making bodies.[3]

In September 1996,[3] he was hired as deputy to the Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection, who was Charles Goodwyn. He helped him accelerate the mounting of the George VI postage stamp collection.[6] Sefi participated in international philatelic exhibitions of parts of the Royal Philatelic Collection and in welcoming students and researchers. He played a major role in the move of the collection from Buckingham Palace to St James's Palace in 1999.[5]

When Charles Goodwyn announced his retirement in late 2002, Sefi was chosen to succeed him among three other candidates by the Keeper of the Privy Purse.[7]

He retired as Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection in September 2018.

He directed the preparations of The Queen's Own, a Royal Collection exhibit at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., which was held in 2004.[8] To assist Sefi, he had the help of Surésh Dhargalkar, an architect and conservation specialist, who was Sefi's assistant from 2003.[9] To help him for the mounting, he hired George VI specialist, Rod Vousden, as assistant.[10]

Sefi was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in the 2013 Birthday Honours.[11]

References and sources
References
  1. SEFI, Michael Richard', Who's Who 2010, A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 2009, accessed 11 March 2010.
  2. "Royal Collection gets new Keeper" Archived 27 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Stamp Magazine website, retrieved 20 December 2007.
  3. Interview on 15 October 2004, The Chronicle, journal of the Great Britain Collectors Club, January 2005. WebCite archive here.
  4. Sefi, Michael. "A Collector's Tale" Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Mail website, retrieved 20 December 2007.
  5. Courtney, Nicholas (2004). The Queen's Stamps, page 310.
  6. In October 2004 Archived 2 June 2012 at WebCite, Sefi announced that Vousden, his assistant, and he had finished three-quarters of this mounting.
  7. Courtney, Nicholas (2004). The Queen's Stamps, page 312.
  8. The Queen's Own, National Postal Museum, official website.
  9. Courtney, Nicholas (2004). The Queen's Stamps, pages 308–309.
  10. Courtney, Nicholas (2004). The Queen's Stamps, page 313.
  11. "No. 60534". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 3.
Sources
  • "In the Spotlight", interview of Sefi by Larry Rosenblum on 15 October 2004. Published in The Chronicle, journal of the Great Britain Collectors Club, January 2005. Reedited on the GBCC website, 28 May 2005, retrieved 20 December 2007.
  • Sefi, Michael. "A Collector's Tale", Royal Mail website, retrieved 20 December 2007.
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