07/30/2008 Contact:
Dana Guyer
Also available in pdf format
Philately’s Finest on Display
at StampShow 2008
 Those who visit APS StampShow 2008
August 14-17 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford will
see a colorful cross-section of the best that philately has to
offer among the 14,400 pages of exhibits on display in 900 16-page
frames.
A great place to start is the Court
of Honor — a selection
of non-competitive exhibits of special interest. Among these is
the American Philatelic Society’s copy of the world’s
best known stamp error, the 1918 24-cent inverted Jenny airmail
stamp. Now valued at $400,000 in the Scott catalogue, this example
from the only error sheet of 100 that ever reached the public is
always a must-see for U.S. collectors.
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To view a larger version
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Also from the APS comes
the discovery pane of 50 of the 1962 4-cent Dag
Hammarskjold invert,
which was the first such error to elude postal inspectors since
the Jenny Invert in 1918. The appearance of the error prompted
Postmaster General J. Edward Day to order 40 million more errors
(the yellow background is inverted and shifted to the right) to
be printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In 1987, Leonard
Sherman, the New Jersey jeweler whose dreams of wealth were shattered
by Day’s action, donated his discovery
sheet to the APS, its margin signed by many philatelic notables
following the discovery and its devaluation.
The Smithsonian National
Postal Museum will show a frame of art and proofs of the U.S. 1962
10-cent Internal Revenue Service Building documentary revenue stamp
marking the centennial of the IRS.
To salute the 100th anniversary
of the IRS, the U.S. Post Office Department issued this unusual
commemorative revenue stamp on Sunday, July 1, 1962. Because collectors
could not purchase the stamp until the next day, the first date
of availability was July 2. First day covers needed  an additional
4 cents in postage stamps to pay the letter rate because the revenue
stamp was not valid for postage. Charles R. Chickering and Victor
S. McCloskey, Jr., of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing designed
the stamp, which depicts the IRS headquarters building in Washington,
D.C. The stamp was printed on the Giori press in violet blue and
bright green, for use on bonds, deeds, debentures, and other legal
documents.
Other Court of Honor highlights showcase
the colorful postal history of the host state of Connecticut. Among
these exhibits is “Waterbury,
Connecticut 1870–1890,“ including some of the rare
and desirable fancy cancels created by Waterbury’s whittling
postmaster John W. Hill, and an exhibit of “Fairfield County,
Connecticut.” Court of Honor exhibits with a connection to
the state capital include “A Postal History of Hartford,
Connecticut,” contributed by Anthony F. Dewey, and “A
Specialized Study of the Plimpton Manufacturing Co., Hartford,
Connecticut High Value U.S. Postal Stationery,” by Robert
L. Markovits, who also presents a showing of the “U.S. Rosbach
One Cent Issue of 1919.”
Adding color and variety to the Court
of Honor is a rare look at “U.S.
Postal Counterfeits: 1894 to Modern Times,” the collaborative
effort of John M. Hotchner and  Joann Lenz, Hotchner’s “Worldwide
Rarities and Uniquities,” and “Aerophilately — Selected
Items From the Museum’s Collections,” from the Spellman
Museum of Stamps & Postal History in Weston, Massachusetts.
Leaving
the Court of Honor, showgoers will enjoy 83 competitive multi-frame
exhibits in the Postal, Display, Cinderella, Illustrated, Thematic,
Revenue and Postcard categories, 28 competitive Single-Frame exhibits,
and two Youth exhibits.
Crowning these StampShow displays
is the annual nationwide competition in which multiple-frame Grand
Award-winners from 30 national-level World Series of Philately
shows held throughout the country during the preceding year vie
for the prestigious title of “Champion
of Champions” — a once-in-a-lifetime honor for the
very finest exhibits in philately.
A complete list of StampShow
2008 exhibits and exhibitors and StampShow events
and attractions is available.
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