My name is Dennis Comninos and I live in Aigio, Greece where I moved to from South Africa. I have been collecting stamps for more than 50 years. My father and father-in-law were also stamp collectors and I still have my father’s 1952 Stanley Gibbons catalogue! My father-in-law’s Ethiopian collection formed the basis of my own. My personal collection has grown to the extent that it is housed in a dedicated room in my residence.
A few years ago I took the decision to streamline my collection by reducing its size and to concentrate on certain countries only. As a result, I ended up with a large volume of “surplus” stamps which I decided to sell off - the start of my dealing “career”. Being a bit of a perfectionist, I designed a packaging solution which took some time to do but which has garnered much praise from customers which made it all worthwhile.
From selling off part of my collection, I moved on to buying collections at auctions, breaking them up, and packaging them for selling. Before I knew it, I was dealing stamps and collectibles at various stamp fairs and other markets. For the past year, I concentrated on selling only at stamp fairs but since moving to Greece, my focus has changed to dealing online through Delcampe, Bid or Buy, and EBay.
I continue to build my personal collection and I still continue working for myself as a Project Management consultant. My intention is to develop and grow the philately side of my business to the point that it becomes my full-time occupation.