Downers Grove attorney Eliot A. Landau is a man of many interests. He's written one book and several articles on philately, history, archeo-anthropology, oriental art and poetry.

The president of Landau & Associates is a 1967 graduate of DePaul University College of Law. He has taught at the Lewis University College of Law (now at Northern Illinois University), the Brooklyn Law School in New York and the Drake University Law School in Des Moines.

Beyond all of this, Landau has managed to become one of the foremost experts on Abraham Lincoln postage stamps and has built one of the country's premier collections.

Landau traces his interest in stamps back to the age of two and a half. “I became fascinated with Lincoln's life,” he said. “I grew up in a family that believed strongly in civil rights and I read a lot about the history of slavery and its abolition. Plus he was the Illinois prairie lawyer.”

Landau's father, Bernard, was disqualified from active service in World War II but wanted to contribute in some way.

Along with his buddy, Woody, he joined the Railway Mail Service and worked on the main run of 20th Century Limited from New York to Chicago. Landau figures his father saw more action than many servicemen.

“Dad was trained to use a gun,” he recalled, “which came in handy because there were numerous attempts to hold up the 20th Century. It carried gold, silver and war materials.”

None of the attempted robberies was successful. Landau remembers his dad telling him that the route through Pennsylvania was the worst for robbery attempts.

The rail cars had wooden floors with slats. “In the event that some mail fell through,” he said, “it was sheltered somewhat from snow and water and could usually be retrieved before damage was done.”

During the war, the glue used on stamps wasn't the best and they often fell off the letters. “So dad and Woody would sweep up these stamps into two piles. Woody's son got a pile and I got a pile. And that's how I started collecting stamps.”

Years later, after settling on a career in law, Landau decided that he would collect Lincoln stamps and become an expert in them.

He concentrates in real estate and domestic law but also deals in philatelic law, which he terms a branch of the law on collectibles. He prefers to think of philately as “the finding of and sharing of knowledge.”

Landau believes that he is one of only four attorneys nationwide who practice in this area on a regular basis. “But there isn't enough for any of us to make a career out of it,” he added. “It's something you do on the side.

“It's similar to patent law in that those who tend to do the best work in some patent law areas have the engineering degrees to match, just as those with medical-legal practices may have an M.D. and a J.D. In philatelic law, the lawyers tend to be major collectors and exhibitors.”

Landau said that this includes purchasing from dealers and auctions and even staging shows. “All of these aspects are areas that I've had matters on,” he said.

“Many people say that in law, you learn a little bit about an area and then you use your law skills to handle the area you concentrate in. But I've found it's often not enough to learn a little bit about an area. You need to immerse yourself in a given area and learn as much about it as possible.”

Practicing what he preaches, Landau finds that stamp expertise has helped him to success in philatelic law. He's a founder and former general counsel of the International Society of Appraisers.

He recently wrote six chapters for the “Encyclopedia of U.S. Stamps and Stamp Collecting” and edited six other chapters. The book will be released in May. He's also been a consultant for “Scott's U.S. Specialized Catalog.”

Landau and the stamp collecting community are watching what will happen with a one-of-a-kind cover (envelope), which bears a 90-cent 1869 Lincoln stamp that was used in 1873, along with two other stamps.

What makes it unique is that the cover is marked with cancellation imprints from each stop it made, from Boston to Calcutta. It's called the Ice House Cover because its address reads “Ice House, Calcutta, E. Indies.”

This piece was part of a stamp collection that was stolen in 1967 from collector J. David Baker and has been valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cover was recently brought to a North Side shop.

No one knows who stole it or to whom it should be returned. The cover resides in the FBI's Indianapolis office. No charges have been made against the couple who produced the stamp; they said they found it in a dead relative's attic.

Landau said that Baker's family or estate could pay the insurance company for the cover or keep the original settlement, but most likely the cover will be auctioned and may fetch upwards of $1 million.

He does not plan to bid on the Ice House Cover, quipping that his marriage is more important to him. But he hopes that whoever acquires it will share it with the stamp-collecting community.