David Kols, the president of Regency-Superior Auctions, died Tuesday, March 13, 2018, after a long battle with colon cancer. He was 67.
His stamp auction firm was a major player in the market, with offices in both Saint Louis and Southern California. Kols said the company’s 125 or so auctions over nearly 25 years had sold almost $150 million worth of collectibles.
But Regency-Superior fell on hard times and closed last year. A major creditor seized Regency-Superior Auctions’ assets, including lots that had been consigned to it for sale. Many of the consignors still have not been paid or had their stamps and covers returned to them. Among the consignors was the American Philatelic Society.
Kols wrote in Linn’s Stamp News (May 22, 2017) the firm failed because “the stamp market is in the doldrums,” an assertion denied by APS executive director Scott English in an interview with The Virtual Stamp Club. http://virtualstampclub.com/radiostuff/170616.html
Before that, Regency-Superior had been the official auctioneer at APS StampShow. Kols was also a co-founder and strong supporter of Saint Louis Stamp Expo, a World Series of Philately show. He had been its executive director until last year.
You can find his obituary here.
Central Bank of St. Louis, the bank that Regency-Superior defaulted on a four million dollar loan, only claimed “company owned assets”. Central Bank claimed no interest in consigned goods or the proceeds from their sales. Nevertheless, Regency-Superior/David Kols did not return any consigned goods nor did they make payment for items sold in their November 2016 and January 2017 auctions. See the following letter from APS Attorney Kathleen Yurchak dated October 24, 2017.
https://stamps.org/userfiles/file/news/Yurchak-Letter.pdf
At the APS Board meeting in Birmingham on February 22, 2018, Yurchak provided an update that Regency-Superior had still not returned consigned items nor made payment for items sold.
Unfortunately, this will be David Kols’ legacy rather than any good he may done.
Unfortunately, I think you’re right.
It is shameful that people have had such things to say about a man who was battling cancer. I had done business successfully with Regency Superior for years and they always delivered on their promises. What ever happened to not speaking ill of the dead or dying. While banks do try to only take company assets they often will not devote the staff to separate the items and return consigned items. When a company closes the is generally no money to pay employees to take care of closing out the business. I wonder how the bank disposed of the assets of the company. May the man rest in peace. I am sure he did not want it to end this way.