June 20-25
A registration form is available online and in pdf format.

The American Philatelic Summer Seminar is unique in the hobby, offering instruction in specific philatelic areas through a combination of lectures and hands-on workshops.

In its 31st year, many students return year after year, to learn more about the hobby and for the social benefits.

Hosted at the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, the 2010 Summer Seminar begins with a Sunday evening reception. The remainder of the seminar week, Monday–Thursday, features 4½ hours daily of class time, PLUS afternoon elective workshops, a student auction and two dinners. You’ll finish off the week on Friday at a breakfast session with the staff of the American Philatelic Center, and one last opportunity to use the library, sales division, expertizing reference library, and other resources at the Center.

2010 Major Courses
Seminar participants select ONE four-day course, or one or both two-day courses, on which to focus during the four days of class.

Major courses meet for 4½ hours each day. All are led by knowledgeable collectors — authors, judges, exhibitors, expertizers, or other authorities.

Courses feature in-class discussions, question-and-answer opportunities, and informal, hands-on workshops. For the ultimate learning experience, each class is limited to 15–20 students.

• United States Stamps Then & Now: A Journey Through U.S. Philately,
with Rodney Juell & Steven Rod
Editors of the popular book, An Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting, will team-teach this survey of U.S. stamps, including back of the book stamps and postal history, with numerous diversions into related subjects. The course will give new collectors a solid grounding in U.S. collecting and will suggest new or expanded possibilities for veteran collectors. Students can expect an engaging, fun-filled experience, while enjoying each other.

• Collecting Precancels, with T.G. Rehkop
Learn the history and background of precancels and identify U.S. bureau and local precancels including classics, electrotypes, printed dateds, handstamp dateds, and silent precancels. Computer programs will be reviewed and demonstrated for U.S. bureau, local, printed dateds, and handstamp dateds to help identify your precancels, provide a checklist of needed precancels, and print album pages. Different ways of collecting will be discussed so you can find the “right” way for you. We will also look at foreign precancels and use the Canada catalog and Catalog of Foreign Precancels. A major portion of the course will be spent sorting and identifying precancels. Precancels will be provided, but you are invited to bring your own precancels to identify. For those purchasing a precancel computer program, bring a laptop and we will assist with the installation.

• Social Perspectives of the Postal Service,
with Diane DeBlois & Robert Dalton Harris
Using American postal history and ephemera, this course will focus on four social perspectives: travelers & the mail: from taverns to jet planes; housing the mail: from the general store to public monuments; making up the mail: handcraft to machine; commerce through the mail: business stationery to mail order houses. Singly, or in pairs, students will contribute to an anthology of social perspectives – using a combination of their own and the instructors’ materials as illustrations. This will be published and distributed to students after the seminar. Participants are encouraged to bring references (verbal and visual) to the mail that they have found in letters, advertisements, etc. (antiquarian and contemporary).

• Stamp Technology, with Wayne Youngblood
This course will help students explore how stamps are produced and why it is important to learn about their physical qualities. The class covers topics such as printing methods, watermarks, perforations, luminescence, color, fakes and forgeries, and even includes a field trip to a printer to see course topics in action. This is a bedrock course for any stamp collector.

• The World of German Philately, with Fred Baumann
Students will explore the range and variety of German stamps, postal stationery, and postal markings (including much material little-known to U.S. dealers and collectors). This course is an overview of the philately and postal history of Germany and related stamp-issuing entities from the first Bavarian stamp in 1849 to the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification in 1989. Topics of the course will be guided by students’ interests and by the material available from the instructor’s own collection (including 1986-96 “Germany & Area” columns in Linn’s Stamp News and current writing projects from Scott Stamp Monthly). Material will be augmented where necessary with rare and unusual material from various auctions, including the landmark sale of the John Boker collection of Prussia and the Old German States from all 17 catalogues.

• Collecting U.S. Classics, 1847–1893, with Bill Weiss & Ken Lawrence
This course will survey the first several decades of United States stamps from a historical and technical perspective. Students will learn why each item was issued, how it was used, and how to assemble a collection that reflects quality and sophistication at whatever level of budget and effort the collector desires. Standard references, methods of original research, and outstanding controversies among the experts will be included. This intermediate-level course can accomodate beginners; however, please inform the instructor in advance.

Two-Day Courses — Sign up for one or both!
New for 2010 will be two-day courses. The mini courses are designed to give students more flexibility while visiting the American Philatelic Center. Students may opt to take one or both of the courses.

Course I • Detecting Damaged, Altered, and Repaired U.S. Stamps: Pre-1930,
Monday & Tuesday, with Irv Miller
This intermediate mini-course covers regumming, reperfing, grading, stamp valuing, stamp certification, and hands-on practice. Students may bring examples from their own collections. Reading Paul Schmidt’s How to Detect Damaged, Altered, and Repaired Stamps will assist students who have little or no experience in this area of collecting.

Course II • Worldwide Fakes & Forgeries,
Wednesday & Thursday, with Bill Dixon
This course will cover the history of relatively low-priced forgeries, the rudimentary tools of the trade for spotting fakes and forgeries, a short list of helpful reference works, how to use the library to build your reference clipping file, and techniques of examining an item to determine its authenticity. The second day will involve students with hands–on examples of the more common fakes and forgeries that you may find in lots for sale.

Electives and General Sessions
As a student you will enjoy early morning “General Sessions” and afternoon “Electives,” where you can learn about subjects outside your chosen course.

A General Session is held each morning for all participants. In addition, Lunch Roundtables feature interesting topics for informal discussion.

Each year, we invite a “Distinguished Philatelist” to relay experiences in the hobby and share anecdotes with seminar participants. The 2010 Distinguished Philatelist will be announced at the beginning of the year.

Evenings are filled with food, fun, and philately.
    Tuesday — Auction, Irv Miller as auctioneer
    Wednesday — Buy/Sell/Trade Night

This Summer Seminar promises to be better than ever, with openings for 90 participants. Join us for the thirty-first seminar.

Seminar Cost
APS members attend the four-day Summer Seminar for only $540; $640 fornonmembers. Tuition includes Sunday’s dessert reception, four lunches, Monday dinner, Thursday’s Distinguished Philatelist dinner, a farewell breakfast on Friday morning, and class time snack and beverage service. Guests are welcome at these functions ($15 reception, breakfast, or lunch event; $35 per dinner event). Registration fee for one 2-day course is $300 for APS members; $400 for nonmembers. If you are registering for both 2-day courses, APS member registration fee is $540; non-member fee is $640.

When choosing just one course, the registration fee includes food functions for: Course I – Sunday through Tuesday, Course II Wednesday – Friday. If you are registering for just one course, but would like to attend food functions for the remainder of the Seminar, the fee is $380 for APS members, $480 for non-members.

Alumni of past Summer Seminars who prefer the social-only aspect of the seminar may attend for $215. Price covers administrative fees, meals, break service, but no class time.

Registrations are accepted by mail, fax, or online.

Accommodations
The registration fee does not include housing for the week. Rooms have been blocked at the Holiday Inn Express at Williamsburg Square, 1925 Waddle Road, State College and the Best Western University Inn and Suites at 115 Premiere Dr., State College. Check other hotels with special APS rates at local hotels. Other options include bed-and-breakfast facilities and camping areas. 

Scholarships
Scholarships are available to help serious youth (age 14–18) collectors attend the seminar. Youth must be accompanied by a parent or other adult. A scholarship covers the youth’s tuition, the meals covered in regular seminar tuition, as well as housing for the youth and the accompanying adult (i.e., they share a room). Travel and meal expenses for the adult are not covered.

For more information write to Seminar Scholarships, APS, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823. Application deadline is May 15.

More Information
Student registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis — by mail, fax, or online.

A registration form is available online and in pdf format.

For more information, contact:
APS Summer Seminar
100 Match Factory Place • Bellefonte, PA 16823
814-933-3803 • Fax: 814-933-6128
E-mail: Gretchen Moody