Career
Costales started out in the stamp business in 1909. He joined the Scott Stamp and Coin Company which publishes what stamp collectors call the Scott catalog, and from 1916 to 1926 he served as assistant editor, along with John Nicholas Luff, and then served as editor of Scott’s catalogs. He later returned to Scott’s company and served as advisor and pricer from 1955 to 1971.
In 1932 Costales established his own stamp dealership and started conducting stamp auctions in 1942.
He conducted a total of sixty one auctions. Among the auction items he sold were philatelic material from famous collections, such as those of Colonel
Edward Howland Robinson Green, Henry B. Close, East. F. Gore, and Alfred F. Lichtenstein. Costales was associated with a number of stamp societies.
At the American Philatelic Association he served as an expert on the authenticity of rare stamps and postal history items.
Costales donated a portion of his philatelic library to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, District of Columbia