Largest U.S. national stamp show Aug. 3-6

By Linn's Staff

The American Philatelic Society will present Stampshow 2017, the nation’s largest annual postage stamp show and exhibition, Aug. 3-6 in the Greater Richmond Convention Center, 403 N. Third St., Richmond, Virginia.

Show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free, but all attendees must register.

In addition to offering more than 600 frames of world-class exhibits, approximately 100 dealers, three first-day-of-issue ceremonies and two auctions, Stampshow serves as the annual summer convention of the 30,000-member APS.

The APS membership meeting and town hall is set for 9 a.m. Saturday.

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The show also features the Champion of Champion exhibition, which gathers the grand-award winners from the national-level World Series of Philately shows over the past year to compete for the title of 2017 Champion of Champions.

Two of the first-day ceremonies will take place on the opening day, Thursday, Aug. 3: a United States Postal Service ceremony for the five Protect Pollinators forever stamps featuring monarch butterflies, western honeybees, and flowers will begin at noon; and a United Nations Postal Administration ceremony for six World Heritage series stamps showing sites along the Silk Road will start at 2 p.m.

At 10:30 a.m. Aug. 4, the Marshall Islands will issue a pane of 20 stamps honoring the artwork of Paul Calle (1928-2010). Calle designed about 40 stamps for the United States, plus stamps for other countries. His son, Chris, who also is an artist and stamp designer, will be at the show.

The U.S. Postal Service will be on hand with a full array of its latest products at the show. Also, Nordica, which represents several Scandinavian and northern European postal agencies, will be at the show.

The Faroe Islands is giving away a souvenir sheet featuring a solar eclipse. The giveaway is being coordinated by the APS, and the first 500 visitors to the APS booth who request the sheet will receive one.

The dealers in the bourse will offer everything from bargain boxes of stamps and covers to more expensive rarer items.

Harmer-Schau auction house is offering up to 4,000 lots, with three auction start times: 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

H.R. Harmer will conduct a five-hour auction, starting at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Discovery Cove youth area will include Stamps by the Bucket, design activities, and opportunities to use microscopes and to learn about soaking and hinging stamps. Also, all youth will receive a free goodie bag.

Among the many philatelic societies and clubs participating in the show are the American Philatelic Congress, Great Britain Collectors Club, Canal Zone Study Group, German Philatelic Society, Women Exhibitors, and Virginia Postal History Society.

Dozens of talks, workshops and seminars are planned, including several beginners’ workshops sponsored by the APS, and two presentations from a preservation specialist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum.

The Tiffany Talk featuring James Barron, author of The One-Cent Magenta: Inside the Quest to Own the Most Valuable Stamp in the World, will take place Aug. 2, the evening before the show begins. The Campaign for Philately reception will be held after the talk.

The National Postal Museum and the APS will display rarities at the show, including the U.S. 1918 24¢ Inverted Jenny error,  owned by the American Philatelic Research Society, the sister organization of the APS. The APS also will exhibit a collection of intricate stamp boxes.

The celebration banquet on Saturday evening is a two-tiered event. First, most show awards will be presented at the open medal-level ceremony that begins at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, followed by a cocktail party. Tickets are required for the banquet, to begin at 7 p.m., at which the show’s and society’s premier awards will be announced.

For more information on tickets and the show in general, visit the APS website, www.stamps.org. A complete schedule and details of many of the events at Stampshow can be found online at https://stamps.org/STAMPSHOW-SS, and the form for advance registration is at https://stamps.org/SS-Preregistration.

The mailing address of the APS is 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823.