Dealer Henry Gitner has purchased the remaining ArtCraft (cachet) archives: Plates, original artwork and 20 boxes of envelope proofs. He will have this material at his super-booth at Americover 2019, held next weekend, July 26-28, at the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel.

ArtCraft was the most popular first day cover cachet of the 20th century, and at the time it ceased production at the end of 2014, one of the longest-running.

So: part of the fabulous Eldon Mohler FDC collection at Doug Weisz’s Americover 2019 booth, and the ArtCraft archives at Henry Gitner’s.

More details on the show here.

[AFDCS press release]
Weisz To Offer Parts of Incredible FDC Collection at Americover 2019

Portions of one of the most significant collections of first day covers ever assembled will be offered for sale at Americover 2019, the annual show and convention of the American First Day Cover Society.

The show is being held July 26-28 at the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel (9801 Natural Bridge Road in St. Louis). The FDCs will be at the booth of Weisz Stamps & Covers. Proprietor Doug Weisz [right] is assisting the H.R. Harmer auction firm with getting Eldon Mohler’s vast collection of cacheted first day covers ready for sale. Some of the material will be sold at a series of auctions beginning in the fall, but Weisz will have nearly two hundred boxes of covers from the collection at his booth at Americover 2019.

“I’m focusing on bringing covers under $25 or so,” Weisz said. The issues range from the 1920s to the present. They include thousands of Babe Ruth and other baseball issues.

“Eldon has spent 40 years building a remarkable collection,” Weisz said. “He focused on 400 issues in particular, but his interest in specific cachetmakers means there will be covers for many more issues” among those offered for sale.

Weisz also points out that much of the Planty and Mellone cachet catalogues are based on Mohler’s collection. That means if a collector or exhibitor has been unable to find a listed cover, it may now be offered for sale, either by Weisz at Americover or by Harmer at auction.

He will also have thousands of non-first-day hand-painted Art Cover Exchange covers from the Mohler collection.

He is just one of the dealers and cachetmakers with booths at Americover 2019. The annual celebration of first day covers by the American First Day Cover Society also includes a pre-show tour on Thursday, a “reveal” of the results of the annual AFDCS cachet contest, a dedication ceremony for the Moon Landing 50th anniversary stamps, four pictorial postmarks, a World Series of Philately exhibition emphasizing FDCs, meetings, seminars and more.

Admission to the show and parking are free. More information on Americover 2019 is available at www.afdcs.org/show, by e-mail from showinfo@afdcs.org, or by mail from the AFDCS, PO Box 16277, Tucson, AZ 85732

More information on the upcoming auctions is available from info@hrharmer.com.

[press release]
Americover 2019 Announces Exhibits Jury

Frederick P. Lawrence of Arizona will head the exhibits jury at Americover 2019, a World Series of Philately show that will be held July 26-28 in Saint Louis.

He will be joined by Robert D. Hohertz of Minnesota, Jerry H. Miller of Illlinois, Allison Cusick of Pennsylvania and David S. Ball of Massachusetts.

The prospectus is now available on the AFDCS Web site, www.afdcs.org/show, by regular mail from Kerry Heffner, 17656 K Street, Omaha, NE 68135-3491, or e-mail at exhibits@afdcs.org. The deadline for entering the Americover 2019 exhibition is June 1, 2019, or whenever the 160 available frames fill up.

The emphasis at Americover is on First Day Cover exhibits, and about three-fourths of each exhibit should consist of FDCs and related material.

Lawrence has been a collector and exhibitor of Scouts and Scouting on stamps since 1960, and is an international-level judge

Hohertz is president of the American Revenue Association and has been writing lately about the Prexies (Presidential Series of 1938). He reports he is “currently working on an ambitious first day cover exhibit.”

Miller has won nine grand awards with different exhibits at WSP exhibitions and is director of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors’ Exhibit Critique Service.

Cusick began seriously collecting first day covers nearly 50 years ago, and has served the AFDCS as president and in other capacities. He is a past winner of the society’s Distinguished Service Award and was just appointed chair of the DSA committee.

Ball is the U.S. delegate to the International Federation of Philately for Astrophilately (space- and astronomy-related material). He is also president of the Northeastern Federation of Stamp Clubs and a past executive director of the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History.

As a WSP show, the winner of the Grand Award at Americover 2019 will be part of the Champion of Champions competition at StampShow 2020. Charles J. O’Brien, III, winner of the 2018 Grand with ” Frank Lloyd Wright-First Days and Usage of the Two Cent Issue,” will represent Americover this summer in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Americover Grand prize is again a crystal pyramid provided by the AFDCS’ Claude C. Ries Chapter. [right]

In addition, if six or more competitive single-frame exhibits are entered, the Curtis B. Patterson Award recipient for the best single-frame exhibit will be invited to enter the APS Single-Frame Champion of Champions competition at Saint Louis Stamp Expo in March 2020.

Besides its Grand and Reserve Grand awards, Americover offers special awards from both the AFDCS and other philatelic societies, including ones for best exhibits of foreign FDCs, topical FDCs, and pre-1931 FDCs, best exhibits by a novice and a youth, and best single-frame exhibit.

Americover 2019, a three-day World Series of Philately show, will be held at the Renaissance Saint Louis Airport Hotel, with a special Americover room rate of $104. There also will be two bourses (commercial dealers and cachetmakers), a banquet, meetings, a hospitality suite, live and silent auctions, seminars, a pre-show tour of the area, a post-show evening dinner event, and possibly a U.S. first day ceremony. A forum by a postal official involved with first day covers is also on the schedule.

Unlike other WSP shows, Americover’s exhibit awards are not presented at its banquet (which is held Friday night), but at the AFDCS Business Meeting Saturday morning.

For more information on Americover 2019 and the AFDCS, contact the AFDCS at P.O. Box 16277, Tucson, Ariz. 85732-6277, email showinfo@afdcs.org or visit www.afdcs.org/show.

Photo: The Americover 2017 Grand award. The 2019 award will have the same design.

[press release]

The St. Louis Stamp Expo will be the site for the Single Frame Champion of Champions competition, beginning with the March 27-29, 2020 show. The announcement was made recently by Mike Ley, president of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors (AAPE), which sponsors the competition. The agreement is for three years.

This year, the competition was held at the joint AmeriStamp Expo/Aripex, Feb. 15-17 in Mesa, AZ. The Single Frame Champion of Champions began in 2000 and has always been held in conjunction with AmeriStamp Expo, sponsored by the American Philatelic Society (APS). That show has been discontinued.

Ley indicated that five World Series of Philately shows submitted proposals to host the competition. St. Louis Stamp Expo was chosen for its proximity to the airport, reasonable room rates, and cooperation from the show committee. The agreement may be extended after the initial three years, or the competition moved to another show at the request of either party.

Doug Weisz (shown at left) won this year’s Single Frame Champion of Champions with his exhibit, New Orleans in the Confederate Mail System.

[press release]
The Board of Directors of NAPEX is pleased to announce the composition of the jury that will judge the exhibits at this year’s show.

The jury members are:

• Dr. Daniel C. Warren, Virginia, Chief Judge
• Roland H. Cipolla, II, Texas
• Edwin G. Kroft, Canada
• Jane M. F. Sodero, Alabama
• Patricia Stilwell Walker, Florida

The show prospectus and application to exhibit are available at www.napex.org. The deadline for submitting an application is April 15, but prospective exhibitors are urged to apply as soon as possible.

NAPEX 2019 will be held June 7-9, 2019, at the Tysons McLean Hilton Hotel, 7920 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Virginia, 22102, just off exit 46A of the Washington Beltway. The hotel is easily accessible by METRO and from area airports.

NAPEX was founded in 1949 as the National Stamp Exhibitions of Washington, DC, Inc. It is the premier stamp show of the Nation’s Capital and an American Philatelic Society World Series of Philately show.

More information about NAPEX can be found at www.napex.org.

[press release]
CHICAGOPEX 2018 Features Two Convening Societies, NPM Chief Curator of Philately Dan Piazza

CHICAGO, Sept. 23, 2018 – CHICAGOPEX 2018 will feature two convening societies and a speaker from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum at the show, which takes place Nov. 16-18 at the Westin Chicago Northwest, 400 Park Blvd., Itasca, Ill.

The annual philatelic exhibition and stamp show, celebrating 132 years of the Chicago Philatelic Society, features two convening societies: the France and Colonies Philatelic Society and the Society for Czechoslovak Philately. These groups will present special exhibits of stamps and postal history as well as hold meetings open to the public.

On Saturday afternoon, Dan Piazza, chief curator of philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, will be giving a talk entitled “25 Years of Stamps and Stories: The National Postal Museum’s Silver Anniversary.” Attendees will have a chance to receive an autographed NPM cover, a set of postcards and a catalog from a past NPM exhibit.

On Friday afternoon, the Executive Director of the American Philatelic Society, Scott English, will hold a town hall event where he will take questions from the attendees. The Library Director of the American Philatelic Research Library, Scott Tiffney, will also be attending the show.

On Friday and Saturday of the show, at 12:30 p.m., Rodney Juell, one of the authors of the Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting, will be signing copies of the book in the Atrium. Copies of the book will also be available for sale.

The following groups are also meeting at the show (all free and open to the public):

• Chicago Philatelic Society (Saturday)
• Germany Philatelic Society Chapter #5 (Saturday)
• American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors – Open Forum on Exhibiting (Saturday)
• Illinois Postal History Society (Sunday)
• North Shore Philatelic Society (Sunday)

Many of these groups feature expert guest speakers giving talks open to the public. The full schedule will appear in the show program, which will be available at the hospitality desk in the hotel’s atrium.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, the APS Committee for National Exhibits and Judging (CANEJ) will be presenting sessions on the title page and synopsis, and exhibit treatment, respectively.

This year’s show theme is “Honoring the 200th Anniversary of Illinois Statehood and the 100th Anniversary of the End of World War I.” The theme is featured on the show postcard and the cover of the show program. The U.S. Postal Service will likely have the stamp for Illinois’ 200th anniversary available for sale at the show.

There will be nearly 300 frames of philatelic material on display with something of interest for all attendees. On Saturday, the 2018 also marks the 52nd anniversary of the philatelic literature competition with the books and other materials on display. CHICAGOPEX judges also evaluate electronic literature such as websites, blogs and online articles.

The show bourse will feature at least 75 dealers from the United States and Europe. They will offer a vast array of material to interest everyone: from the beginning collector to the advanced collector and exhibitor. The U.S. Postal Service and the U.N. Postal Administration will also attend.

The show includes a youth booth with free stamps and supplies, including a giveaway from Mystic Stamp Company.

Attendees are asked to contact the hotel to make reservations and to mention CHICAGOPEX for the special room rate. Admission and parking are free. Show hours are: Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday night will also feature a catered awards banquet. Tickets must be purchased in advance ($60 each) and dress is business casual. Please see the CHICAGOPEX website for the reservation form. Special diets can be accommodated upon request.

Foster E. Miller III of Maryland will chair Americover 2019, the American First Day Cover Society’s annual show, convention and celebration of first day covers. Miller previously handled scheduling for the Americover shows.

Americover 2019 will be held July 26-28 at the Renaissance Saint Louis Airport Hotel. The official Americover room rate is $104, and the show will again feature exhibits, dealers, cachetmakers, auctions, meetings, seminars and social functions.

The appointment was announced by AFDCS President Lloyd A. de Vries, who also appointed Phil Sager, also of Maryland, as bourse promoter for Americover 2019 and as a member of the AFDCS Convention Planning Committee. Chris Lazaroff, who chaired Americovers 2015 through 2018, will remain on the committee. Other members are Pete McClure of Iowa, who handles registration, and AFDCS executive secretary Doug Kelsey. De Vries is an ex officio member of the committee.

Miller is also a member of the AFDCS board of directors and serves on the executive committee as Membership Chair. He has attended every Americover since the shows began in 1993, and every AFDCS convention dating back to 1986.

Sager is a long-time cover dealer under the trade name “Geezer’s Tweezers.” Lazaroff is immediate past president of the AFDCS. Kelsey is also an elected member of the board.

For more information on Americover 2019 and the American First Day Cover Society, visit www.afdcs.org , send e-mail to showinfo@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at PO Box 16277, Tucson, AZ 85732.

The new Frozen Treats stamps will be dedicated during the Americover 2018 stamp collecting show, Friday, August 3, at the Hilton Atlanta Northeast, 5993 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Peachtree Corners. The ceremony is at 11 a.m. and is free and open to the public. The Forever stamps, showing frosty, colorful ice pops on a stick in a variety of shapes and flavors, went on sale earlier this summer, and are the first scratch-and-sniff stamps ever issued by the U.S. Those attending will be able to come away with these stamps, and possibly sticky fingers, too.

Americover 2018 is the annual show and convention of the American First Day Cover Society, a not-for-profit international stamp collecting organization. Americover is held in a different part of the country each year. This is the first time it is in Georgia. Last year it was in Ohio, and next year Americover will be held in Missouri. The AFDCS also held a dedication ceremony for the Soda Fountain Favorites stamps two years ago in Virginia.

Besides the dedication ceremony, Americover 2018 features dealers, exhibits of rare material, seminars and meetings. There is also a youth table with hands-on activities, including making first day covers. Admission is free, as is parking.

A “first day cover” (FDC) is an envelope postmarked on the date that a stamp goes on sale. Many modern collectors add decorations to their FDCs, which are called “cachets.”

The three-day show’s hours are 10 to 5 on Friday and Saturday and 10 to 4 on Sunday. There is also a second marketplace on Saturday from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m., featuring just recent first day covers and cachets.

For more information on Americover 2018, visit www.afdcs.org/show or e-mail showinfo@afdcs.org