WESTPEX 2011, April 29-May 1, 2011, San Francisco, CA
2011 National Postage Stamp Show , October 13-15, 2011, New York City
by Randy Shoemaker on 11/03/11
2011 National Postage Stamp Show , October 13-15, 2011, New York City
This Falls ASDA National Postage Stamp Show began with something new, a three hour seminar on Expertizing and Grading of stamps on Wednesday, the day before the show began. This begins a series of seminars we plan to develop to educate not only ASDA members but also the general public who wish to learn more about our hobby and the finer points of authentication and grading.
It began with an hour and ten minute power point presentation by Randy Shoemaker, Senior Expert at PSAG, Inc., which was followed up with a two hour, hands-on workshop. We had 16 collectors and dealers who paid $75 each to participate in this informative class. The two hour workshop included the study of perforation holes, secret marks, shades, coil authentication, special printing papers, soft and hard paper differentiation, grill identification and other related topics. Q&A was encouraged throughout and we had several lively discussions, especially on the finer points of grading.
At the conclusion, everyone was quite enthusiastic about what they had learned and voiced unanimous support for this new program. Most felt it was long overdue and a very good idea by the ASDA to offer such classes, especially if they could work this into an ongoing series.
We then adjourned for a great lunch down the street at Tier da Nog, an Irish pub with exceptional food and a great atmosphere for chatting and mingling with class members. It was great fun and a nice way to conclude the day.
Leading up to the show, the ASDA tried a new PR campaign of radio ads in the tri-state region, which attracted many new visitors to the NPSS. Many were not regular subscribers to the normal philatelic rags so this was a new and welcome group. Several dealers mentioned that they had actually purchased whole collections from some of the radio ad attracted collectors. In fact, Thursday attendance was said to be over 2000, which was the best opening day in quite awhile. As the ASDA concentrates on building their brand now, I’m sure we can expect many new and innovative things to happen.
As for PSAG, we received submissions from many new clients and it was quite a good show. Many of the seminar participants came to the show the next day and were really happy they had attended the seminar and they were excited about collecting again. Just goes to show that a bit of confidence makes things a lot more enjoyable!
NEXT STOP:
2011 Mid-Cities Stamp Show, Grapevine, TX, November 12-13, 2011. Come see us therBALPEX 2011, September 2-4, 2011, Hunt Valley, MD
by Randy Shoemaker on 09/27/11
BALPEX 2011, September 2-4, 2011, Hunt Valley, MD It was a nice Memorial Day weekend but I think just too much was going on in Maryland and the surrounding area for this year’s show. Not to mention that they just had Hurricane Irene roll through and the incumbent cleanup required, there was an Indy Car Race in downtown Baltimore and the Governor of Maryland requested that if you didn’t have a good reason to be on the streets, STAY HOME! Needless to say, things were working against us. And the races in downtown really clogged traffic and made parking in some areas near train lines, etc, just miserable. Oh well, such is life in the Big City! The show started out with about 30-40 people waiting in line at the Friday open, not exactly auspicious. However, word was that some dealers did OK that day but the attendance throughout the day was light. The rest of the show tracked about the same. PSAG did pretty well and many attendees were surprised that an “Expert Committee” had a table at the show. We made many new friends and picked up several new Dealers and Collector clients turning this into a most enjoyable contact with the Maryland and Pennsylvania crowd. This was our first year at this show and we look forward to the years ahead and getting people used to seeing us there. I think everyone enjoyed the fact that PSAG was in attendance and that they could ask questions and get a better idea of what expertizing and grading is all about. -Randy NEXT STOP – 2011 Greater Houston Stamp Show, Humble, TX. September 16-18, 2011. Come see us there!
-Columbus , OH
by Randy Shoemaker on 09/27/11
-Columbus, OH
This year’s big Summer APS show was held in Columbus, OH and we hit the nicest stretch of weather there in a month. Clear skies and cool temps it made for a perfect venue for the Champion of Champions show of the year. The competition was really terrific with some just gorgeous exhibits. And the winner is - drum roll – John H. Barwis exhibit of The Half-Lengths of Victoria, 1850-1859.
The show started out with a bang and the hoards actually DID come running in. Attendance was very good and Columbus laid out the red carpet. The APS did a great job picking this venue as the Hyatt Convention Center gave us a huge hall for the 100+ show dealer booths and some 20+ Society tables. It was laid out with plenty of room and a main promenade down the center. Isles were wide and you could actually navigate easily to get to your favorite dealer spots. I spoke with most of the dealers and everyone was having an exceptionally good show. Even though the stock market had just laid a big goose egg, there were plenty of buyers and business was brisk.
PSAG gave a seminar on Saturday at 4PM entitled Fundamentals of Expertizing. It was very well attended with over 40 including collectors and some dealers. After a brief introduction on Tools of the Trade, we dug right into the workshop end of this session. We spent quite a bit of the hour looking at perforation holes. Seems a bit basic but after I began to show how important the size, structure and production of the holes, everyone’s interest began to focus on how much you could tell from this small point. We went over not only how holes were produced, but also some of the easier ways to tell if a stamp was reperforated or how fake holes were added. I had cards of fake and genuine coils side by side and most of the class really began to pick up on the finer points of reperforating. We also touched on some secret Secret Marks ones not shown in any catalog, how to make your own reference collection inexpensively, how to make templates for rotary and flat plate stamps, double transfers vs. double impressions and several other diagnostic techniques.
I think everyone left the seminar having learned quite a bit with this hands-on teaching technique. As I give more of these seminars around the country, I think we are opening up the hobby for better educated philatelists who will feel much more confident in their own abilities and will hopefully pass these techniques on to others. The more we all learn, the more enjoyment we will get out of the hobby.
-Randy
NEXT STOP – BALPEX 2011, September 2-4, 2011, Hunt Valley, MD. Come see us there!
NOJEX 2011, May 27-29, 2011, Secaucus, NJ
by Randy Shoemaker on 09/27/11
NOJEX 2011, May 27-29, 2011, Secaucus, NJ
It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend in Secaucus but sometimes too much of a good thing is counterproductive. As the show opened, the masses of New York City and much of NJ was emptying out to the"shores" for the long holiday weekend. The Canal Zone Study Group was having their annual meeting at the show and most of the notable CZ collectors and officials were present and manning the groups booth.
Attendance the first day was moderate but the last two days it became apparent that the Holiday was upon us. Dealers specializing in Canal Zone material did well as expected but covers seemed to rule the weekend. Stamp sales were pretty light and dealers in US stamps mentioned it was a pretty slow show to say the least.
PSAG did some business with the dealer booth holders but it was fairly light. It was a good thing it was a family weekend for us too. However, we did make some good contacts and one such will allow PSAG to begin marketing some very nice 3c 1861 color guides. We had the pleasure of picking through thousands of US#65's and will have some outstanding color guides for sale in a couple of months. If you are interested, call Randy Shoemaker at 305-345-9864 and place your name on the list of interested parties. These will go extremely fast so don’t hesitate to call. I do not know how many we will produce initially but it is an ongoing project. Hopefully we will be able to supply some later if we can get access to enough material. The sets will include all Scott listed shades for US#65 except one ""pinkish carmine". While this catalogs a paltry $25 canceled, it is VERY SCARCE and difficult to find.
We will also have a few sets with additional US#64 and/or US#64b as supplies dictate.
-Randy
PSAG Inc. Show Blog
by Randy Shoemaker on 09/27/11
WESTPEX 2011, April 29-May 1, 2011, San Francisco, CA
It was a beautiful weekend in San Francisco, CA with temps in the low 70's and no fog. Opening day, the crowds were great with 300-400 people lined up an hour ahead of the show opening at 10:00 am. They had a ribbon-cutting ceremony and then it was off to the races for the crowd, everyone squirming to get to their priority one dealer tables. Most impressive was A&D Stamps. They had 12 seats full at their booth and 14 people waiting in a LINE to get the next open seat! WESTPEX, as usual, is the premiere stamp show in California and they outdid themselves this year.
PSAG had to beg, borrow and cajole our way into this years WESTPEX 2011 show. They have a 7-8 year WAITING LIST for dealer booths, but PSAG offers something a bit different and since we don’t really compete for sales with other dealers, we were allowed to jump in and show our stuff. We also "volunteered" to give a seminar on "How to build your own reference collection’ which further solidified our plea.
While our bourse table was a bit off the beaten track, it was near the front entrance to the show and we saw many of our clients as they dropped by to submit items for expertizing and grading or just to say Hi. We picked up 3 new dealer clients and many more collectors. And with our regulars, we had an exceptionally good show with over 300 submissions. An active weekend to say the least.
The talk of the show by the dealer community was very satisfying. Almost everyone did well with great sales and a terrific Friday and Saturday. Sunday was a bit slower with a comparatively small crowd of 50 people waiting an hour ahead of opening for the day, unlike the hundreds the first two days.
During the show and afterhours, I had an exceptional opportunity to spend several hours with Richard Drews and his wonderful 1861 Issue exhibit and other reference material he brought with him. One word sums it up... Breathtaking! He was also generous enough to allow me to study it overnight. Needless to say, that was a long night of study. Having planned ahead for this studious endeavor, I had transported the PSAG 1861 reference collection with me for comparison. It provided the chance for fine tuning shade descriptions for the 1c, 3c, 5c and 24c denominations. It was a philatelic experience worth the wait. Proper color attribution was the primary theme and having one of the premiere 1861 reference exhibits was just a complete pleasure. When we got out all the PSAG references and Rich’s exhibit, it was truly like having shades coming out of your ears. WOW One of my most memorable philatelic experiences ever.
FINAL THOUGHTS-
PSAG had a very successful outing, did lots of business and personally got to see more 1861’s in one spot than any human philatelist will ever see. This hobby never gets dull to me. My excitement was palpable and others who got to see over our shoulders when discussing the 1861 series were also in awe.
The final touch was an invitation to come back next year from the show chairman Bill Dwyer. He did a great job and everyone loved the show. My many thanks to Bill and his staff and his confidence in PSAG.
