Archives International in conjunction with Kelleher & Rogers 25 July 2024

Robert Milardo Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Robert spent his childhood in Essex, Connecticut sailing Blue Jays and Lightnings on the Connecticut River, crabbing off the piers, learning how to fish and trap lobster, and hunting waterfowl. After graduating from Valley Regional High School, Bob attended Marquette University and later went on to serve his country as an MP in the U.S. Army. Following his service, Bob spent time traveling the world, including road trips through Europe and fulfilling his dream of traveling to Australia. It was during these journeys that he began curating his extensive 60 year collection of worldly treasures. Featured prominently in Bob’s collection are stamps and currency from the many countries he visited including remote locations in the South Pacific. Many of his best and unusual finds came from Australia where he spent 6 years as an investment advisor. In 1973 Bob married his Australian wife Evelyn in the historic Garrison Church in Sydney. He later returned to the States to start a family with Evelyn, but coordinated two special trips back. In 1987, Bob and his family watched the United States’ Stars and Stripes defeat Australia’s Kookaburra in the America’s Cup at Perth and in 2000 they returned to watch Michael Johnson take gold in the 400 m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Beyond his deep love of travel, Bob had an unrivaled enthusiasm for sports, and the camaraderie and competition that accompany them. He grew up watching the Yankees, but following his move to Massachusetts he obligingly supported the Red Sox - as long as they weren’t playing the Yankees. Although he spent the most time watching the Yankees and Red Sox, Bob was a fan of the game more than any one team. His heroes were those who strived to succeed and played a good and fair game. He loved playing baseball as a child, and later taught his daughter softball, proudly encouraging sportsmanship. His sports memorabilia includes autographed baseballs and cards collected from childhood. Early baseball cards were his earliest form of investment, a passion instilled in him by his mother. This was the start of an investment passion that led to an investment career and an interest in collectable and valuable items outside of the stock markets, such as rare coins, silver dollars, silver certificates, and more. Bob loved the ocean and enjoyed summers in New England fishing for striped bass and blue fish off Cape Cod. In the cooler months, his early interest in Connecticut waterfowl developed into a love for goose and duck hunting, with delicious recipes accompanying successful hunts. Some of his favorite trips were to North Dakota and Saskatchewan, Canada. As with the rest of his collection, his interest in the sport translated through to his keepsakes. His collection includes signed waterfowl stamps, paintings, prints, and decoys, reflecting both a love for the sport and respect for the artists who portrayed it. Bob passed away on November 13, 2023 at the age of 80. He leaves behind many loving family and friends, as well as a collection rich in stories and memories from “the good old days.” Featured Biographies Joseph Poey Joseph “Joe” Poey (1877-1967) was born in Havana, Cuba. Named Jose Federico Felix Poey at birth, his name was anglicized to Joseph Frederick Poey when he came to the U.S. He was of mostly French and Spanish decent, his great-grandfather Simon Poey having immigrated with his parents and two brothers to Cuba from France just prior to the French Revolution in 1789. Joe’s father Jose “Pepe” Poey was the nephew of Felipe Poey (1799-1891), the pioneering Cuban naturalist and founder of Havana!s Museum of Natural History (Cuba commemorated the 175th anniversary of Felipe Poey’s birth by issuing a series of six stamps and a stamp sheet in 1974, as well as the 200th anniversary of his birth with a series of four illustrated fish stamps in 1999). Revolution was in the air in Cuba throughout the late 1800s, as Cubans fought for their liberation from Spain. On the heals of the brutal Ten Years War, and just prior to the eruption of the Cuban War of Independence, in 1888 Joseph Poey, age 10, left Cuba with his family to start a new life in the U.S. He lived in Flushing, NY for most of his life where he became a successful attorney, met his wife Celia Hover, and raised three children together after their first born died in infancy. Acquiring property in Southold, Long Island, Joe built a summer house on the shore of the Sound, enjoyed by his family for generations to come. He was always interested in his family’s history, and he and his father maintained regular contact with their Cuban relatives by mail, perhaps contributing to Joe’s appreciation of stamps. He likely began collecting stamps in the early 1900s, the start of a beloved family pastime that would last three generations. Cortlandt “Cort” Poey (1908-1994) was born and raised in Flushing, NY. He attended Union College, then decided to become an attorney like his father, graduating from the Brooklyn Law School in 1934 and joining with his dad Joe to form a father-son law firm. During WW2 he served 4½ years in the Navy, becoming a Lieutenant. After the war he served as legal officer for the Naval Department in Washington, D.C. where he met his wife Eleanore, a talented artist and sculptor, with whom he had his only child, Kent. As new parents, Cort and Eleanore bought a home and settled down in Glen Head, Long Island. Cort was a longtime devoted Freemason. He smoked a pipe, drank whiskey, and had a goofy sense of humor with an infectious laugh. Kent’s children remember their grandfather fondly, whom they lovingly referred to as “Babar.” Inspired by his father’s collection, Cort learned to love collecting stamps of every kind, both US and international, along with coins and other memorabilia. By the time he passed the stamp collection down to Kent in the early 1990s it had grown in scope, spanning the early U.S. definitives, commemoratives, airmails, officials, postage due and parcel post, collections of blocks and plates, envelope cancels and first day covers, city cancels, Christmas seals, duck stamps, an extensive collection of revenue stamps, and a wide assortment of international stamps. Kent Poey (1944-2017) grew up in Glen Head, NY. In high school he was the captain of the varsity tennis team and his church league basketball team. He valued his four years at Colgate University, where he explored interests in philosophy, psychology, and history. After college he earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and then took a job at the UMass Mental Health Services, where he remained his entire career, providing psychotherapy to students and serving as director of the predoctoral internship program. Kent also maintained a part-time private practice serving adult individuals and couples. Kent loved to travel, and in 1972 at the age of 28 he went on sabbatical to backpack around the world, visiting 26 countries throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. In India, he spent months practicing meditation and learning from spiritual teachers, integrating Buddhist wisdom into his inner world and approach to life. He met his first wife Andrea Tovar in 1978, and they made their first home in Shutesbury, MA, where they had their two sons, Alan and Christopher, before moving to a larger house in Amherst, MA in 1986, where the family remained until the boys went off to college. Kent was a loving father, always supporting and encouraging his sons in their interests, athletics, and academics. His two biggest hobbies were golf and working on the stamp collection. Over the years, Kent developed his philatelic expertise to a level far exceeding his predecessors. Focusing mainly on the U.S. collection, he transferred his father’s and grandfather’s stamps into beautifully mounted albums (while leaving redundant or unneeded portions of the original inherited albums intact), then gradually started filling in the remaining gaps, while adding some interesting supplemental collections such as a page of the British Penny Black, Red, and Blues, a complete collection of U.S. Confederates, and a complete mint United Nations album. Around 2013 he stopped collecting or working on the albums, a period coinciding with the development of early onset Alzheimer!s disease. Now, 7½ years since his death in 2017, his sons Alan and Chris have decided to auction the entire Poey stamp collection, in hopes that it can be appreciated by collectors for many years to come. Caption for photo A young Kent Poey (left) with his grandfather Joe “Popsy” Poey (center) and his father Cort Poey (right)