Welcome to Richard Stockley Books
Richard Stockley Books was purchased by Howard R. Engel, of Winnipeg, in 2019, when Richard himself retired.
Howard R. Engel began his coin collecting career in 1967 as an ersatz “Centennial of Canadian Confederation” project, when his father gave him travel change from Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States — plus a few George VI Canadian decimal coins.
Fascinated by their history, beauty and educational value, Howard eagerly began to fill in the holes of Whitman Canadian coin albums, which he still owns.
Eventually tiring of awkwardly asking to look through relatives’ change for that elusive 1938 Canadian 5-cent piece and 1954 Canadian 1-cent piece, Howard discovered he could find a lot more mostly out-of-reach rarities at local dealers. There were many such dealers in his home town of Winnipeg in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he would often call to see what they had available.
Howard eventually found an 1858 Province of Canada 20-cent piece in EF from Albert Stern & Co. for the princely sum of $60 in 1974, and a brilliant uncirculated 1937 Canadian 25-cent piece for $25 from Gatewest Coin in 1975. No amount of haggling could budge these dealers from their prices. He bought them anyway.
Later, he began to acquire books and delighted in poring over his blue hardcover 1970 Charlton catalogue. He distinctly recalls wistfully saying to himself when he looked up Canada’s first gold coins, “I’ll never get one of those”.
As the saying goes, “Never say never…”
In the spring of 2013, after a 38-year hiatus from active collecting, Howard stumbled on a Royal Canadian Mint ad in Maclean’s announcing the availability of those gold coins. Incredulous, he confirmed a dream coming true at RCM’s Winnipeg Boutique and snapped up their last one.
Unlike his childhood foray into the hobby, Howard dove in with both feet into the all-important social aspect of the hobby, promptly joining the Manitoba Coin Club Incorporated (MCC). This was just prior to their hosting the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association (RCNA) Convention in Winnipeg (July 2013), where Howard mounted his first non-competitive exhibit.
He has entered competitive exhibits at RCNA Conventions and non-competitive ones at MCC shows each year through 2018 and mounted non-competitive combined numismatic and philatelic exhibits at Winnipeg Philatelic Society shows from 2014 to 2019 and in 2023. Howard has served as MCC Secretary (2013–2016), Show Chair (2015–2020), Acting Web Manager (2016-2020), Acting Newsletter Editor (2018-2019), Archivist (since 2013), and since 2021 as MCC Historian.
Purchase of Richard Stockley Books
Upon his retirement as a Library Technician from Red River College in 2019, he purchased Richard Stockley Books from its retiring founder namesake and thereby relocated 3,000 lbs of mostly book stock and a bit of equipment on three pallets from Montreal to Winnipeg in May of that year.
Howard with Richard Stockley, 2013
Happily, a long-standing mail order dealer specializing in numismatic and philatelic literature may thus continue its some 40-year service to the hobby, and Howard could continue feeding his own passion for books, coins and stamps at the same time.
Howard’s vocation “to help provide people with access to information, knowledge and the accumulated wisdom of the ages” is one that inspired his library career beginning over 40 years ago, and that now extends into his retirement as a newly minted antiquarian, used and out-of-print numismatic and philatelic bookseller.
Of course, Howard could not do any of this without the ongoing support, patience, understanding and partnership of his wife of 31 years (in 2023, at the time of writing), Esther Juce, for whom he is most grateful.
Howard enjoys combining his coin and stamp interests by mounting exhibits that feature numismatic and philatelic materials on topics commemorating a specific event or person.
He is also fascinated by numismatic-philatelic covers. You can see one of his favourites in the photo above, along with a photo of him and his wife, Esther.