Spink Shreves Galleries, primarily a stamp auction house, traces its American history to Shreves Galleries of Dallas and New York. It was formed in 1994 by Charles Shreve, a long time collector and stamp expert, who had along the way been associated with Sotheby's, Heritage Auctions, Steve Ivy Philatelic Auctions, and Ivy, Shreve and Mader Philatelic Auctions.

In 2007, Shreves Galleries was acquired by Spink and Son Ltd. of London. With the acquisition came the new name of Spink Shreves Galleries. While this database is devoted to books and works on paper, it generally does not include records pertaining to stamps, even if these might technically be "works on paper." However, while Spink Shreves sells primarily stamp collections, those collections may at times include other types of works on paper, hence the inclusion of records from the firm. A notable example was the 2010 sale of the Floyd Risvold collection from Minnesota. Risvold was a major stamp collector, but also a major collector of unique documents and books, particularly relating to his native Minnesota and the American West. His sale took in $8.2 million, part of it from material found within this database.