The Szekula Family of Stamp Dealers

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This website is dedicated to the Hungarian born stamp dealers Béla, Géza, Eugen and Frank Sekula. Each one of them ran his own stamp business with emphasis on international stamp trade, likely driven by their business acumen rather than a particular preference for philately. All four assumed Swiss nationality and were based in Lucerne side by side for years. Especially Béla’s business ideas provoked more than one scandal during his career. However, the history of philately would arguably be poorer without the Sekula brothers.

© 2018–2026            Contributors: Max Brack — Albert Little — David Rossall — Bob Medland — Ed Pieklo

Béla Sekula



Souvenir Sheet — December 30, 1991

Today, Béla S(z)ekula’s legacy seems to be nothing more than a bad reputation. In his native country of Hungary, however, he definitely played an important role in the birth of organized philately. On December 30, 1991, celebrating 120 years of Hungarian stamps, the Hungarian post issued a Pro Philatelia souvenir sheet featuring Béla Szekula along with three other early philatelists: Hungary’s first postmaster general Mihály Gervay (1819 – 1896) and the statesmen József Zichy (1841 – 1924) and Gábor Baross (1848 – 1892).
While the Hungarian Post deserves praise for including our controversial protagonist, it had a less fortunate touch when designing the central stamp: The designer of the frame of the 1871 issue, János Unrein (* 1830, † 1882), is given as Uhrein on the right below the stamp image.

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