The S_zekula Family of Stamp Dealers

Géza Sekula (1886–1946), born on February 17, 1886 in Szeged, is probably the least known of the four. From 1903 to 1904 he lived at Béla’s place, the Villa Philatélie, in Geneva. Initially, the main reason for his stay in the French speaking city was probably to learn the languange, and not the stamp business – on one occasion a newspaper article referred to him as a journalist. However, when his elder brother left Geneva he went back with him to Budapest where he followed in his footsteps, as an employee in Béla’s company and as publisher of the philatelic advertising magazine Philatelistisches Offertenblatt. From May 1907 the address book of Budapest listed him as a stamp agent. In March 1911 his son Tibor László was born – out of marriage and at first without Géza acknowledging paternity. The mother, Géza's future wife Elisabet Rudolfine Gusenbauer, later moved in with him and gave birth to another boy in July 1912, but Gábor István died aged only two months. At the beginning of 1913, Géza and Elisabet joined Béla on his second move to Switzerland, and in May of the same year Géza founded his own Briefmarken-Grosshandlung (= stamp wholesale business) Géza Szekula in Lucerne at Alpenstrasse 3. In September 1913, Géza’s third son Gabor István was born in Lucerne, named after the boy who had died twelve months earlier. On March 2, 1914, Géza and Elisabet married in Lucerne. Between 1914 and 1917, the family grew by three more members: the only daughter Véron Györgyi (=Vera Georgina) in December 1914, and the sons György (=Georges) Andor in March 1916 and Rudolf Miklos in August 1917. On August 26, 1918, Géza became a naturalized Swiss citizen of Geuensee. In October 1919 he closed his Briefmarkengrosshandlung at Alpenstrasse 3 and reopened at Dreilindenstrasse 17. Like Béla and Eugen he changed the spelling of his name to Sekula in March 1923. During the next ten years Géza’s business address changed three more times: Sälihügel 7 (January 4, 1927), Brunnhalde 14 (January 15, 1932) and Werchlaubengasse 2 (September 26, 1934).

Like his brothers, Géza was focused on international mail order, but his business was smaller and less lucrative. With the onset of the global economic crisis, he also increasingly began to struggle. An attempt in March 1934 to hire an experienced and multilingual businessman as an accountant in exchange for room and plain board as well as a small monthly allowance as payment was later leaked to the press, where Géza’s business was presented as a prime example of a sweatshop.

As already mentioned in the account on Béla, in June 1930 the Swiss diplomatic missions withdrew their support in disputes with foreign customers from the Sekulas, as this type of help was supposed to be an exception, but the brothers had made it the rule. In truth, the number of requests was inversely related to their respective business success, i.e. Géza was by far the worst. Even after being instructed that all inquiries had to go through the Federal Political Department, he blithely continued to approach Swiss legations and consulates directly, but also diplomatic representations of other countries and local police departments. Often enough his letters were lacking the necessary diplomatic tone, especially when communication progressed without the desired results; not to mention that he wasn’t too particular about the truth. In December 1935, Géza’s request for support from the Chamber of Commerce in Oklahoma City, USA, caused hilarity, as Géza had sent it not only to the wrong city, but even to the wrong state: the opposing party lived almost 800 miles away in Oak Park, Illinois. The Lucerne Chamber of Commerce, however, was not amused at all when it was brought to their attention that Géza, in order to underline his (formerly) good reputation, continued to present an old certificate of 1921, even after 1932 when he was no longer a member; and at that point, no one would have issued him such a certificate due to his business conduct. Finally, he didn't shy away from changing the date on the certificate or even translating the entire thing into other languages ​​– with a newer date, of course, and a made up control number. Surprisingly, his behavior towards the authorities and the Chamber of Commerce had no legal consequences for him. His downfall came when he sold counterfeit stamps to domestic customers.

Unlike the other stamp dealers of the Sekula family, who one by one turned their backs on Lucerne in the 1930s, Géza apparently had no intention of leaving the city that had been his home for so many years, despite the increasingly hostile climate. In 1937, he paid the price for his stubbornness when he and his eldest son Tibor were sued by the Federation of Swiss Philatelic Associations over forged Turkish 25-piaster stamps of 1884 and 1888. Whether Géza knew what he was offering or whether he had bought the stamps in good faith only relying on his own (limited) expertise remains to be seen. In any case, he made the mistake of guaranteeing their authenticity when reselling them. While his son was acquitted of the charges, Géza was found guilty and sentenced to 14 months in prison and loss of honor. He filed an appeal to contest the ruling, only to see the prison sentence raised to 18 months. On September 2, 1937, the stamp wholesale business Géza Sekula was deleted from the company register. After having served two thirds of his sentence, Géza was released early for good conduct on July 19, 1938. He joined his wife and sons Tibor and Gabor, who had opened their own stamp business Capitol Stamp Ltd. in Lausanne. Géza Sekula apparently never really recovered from this experience and died in Lausanne after a long and difficult illness on April 13, 1946, at age 60.