There will be at least two pictorial postmarks for each day of Great American Stamp Show 2024 in August 15-18 in Hartford, Conn., and sometimes more.
One set of postmarks for each day of the show are for the “GASS Station.” A second set, for the “Americover Station,” was created by the American First Day Cover Society, one of the co-sponsors of the show. The only “official” show cachets for GASS are from the AFDCS.
You can click on any of the illustrations to see a larger version.
All eight postmarks were designed by Martin Kent Miller, editor of the journals of GASS co-sponsors the AFDCS and the American Topical Association and a professional marketing and graphics consultant.
Here are the four GASS Station postmarks:
When Americover was the independent show and convention of the AFDCS, a different pictorial postmark was available for each day of the show, and that tradition has continued now that Americover is part of GASS.
The Thursday, August 15, Americover postmark is “Celebrating Public Art in America,” in concordance with the American Philatelic Society’s “Stamp Soiree” at the Wadsworth Atheneum art museum that evening. The postmark, which measures 2.83- by 1.71-inches, may also be used on first day covers of the U.S. Pinback Buttons stamps that are being issued that day.
The GASS 2024 show cachet, by award-winning professional artist and Connecticut native Chris Calle, will show a variety of the pinback buttons produced since the first Americover in 1993.
Friday August 16’s postmark honors Hartford’s Charter Oak, the legendary tree that is a symbol of American independence. The U.S. Postal Service is issuing its Autumn Colors stamps that day, and no doubt, before it fell in an 1856 storm, the Charter Oak’s leaves turned colors in the fall. That postmark is 2.95- by 
1.56-inches.
Calle’s cachet for Friday also depicts the Charter Oak tree, and the 1935 stamp and commemorative coin that honored it.
On Saturday, when the GASS Cachetmakers Bourse will be held, the Americover Station postmark notes National Cachetmakers Day. This one is 2.91- by 1.69-inches. The show cover cachet by Calle commemorates the 250th anniversary of the First Continental Congress (for which a stamp will be issued in 
September) and Connecticut’s delegate to it, Roger Sherman. He also was a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and a key Founding Father of the U.S.
The 10-cent stamp shown in the cachet is one of four issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 1974 as part of its Bicentennial celebration
Sunday’s Americover Station postmark, measuring 2.92- by 1.69-inches, is “Celebrating Heroes of the Batter’s Box.” Calle’s cachet artwork honors Hartford resident Samuel Clemens, better known as author Mark Twain, who was an avid baseball fan and supported local teams. The Hartford Dark Blues were 
a charter member of the National League in 1876-77, a few years after Clemens moved to the city. (The Hartford Yard Goats, a professional minor league (Double-A) baseball team affiliated with the Colorado Rockies, will be playing at home during GASS 2024.)
Both Miller and Calle will be at Great American Stamp Show for all four days. Calle, in fact, has a station at the AFDCS booth where he will be available to chat with collectors and sign autographs. Miller will be splitting his time between the ATA and AFDCS booths.
In addition, the U.S. Postal Service has its own postmarks for the two issues that will be released during the show, Pinback Buttons
And Autumn Colors
Thursday’s show postmarks may be used on first day covers of Pinback Buttons, and Friday’s on Autumn Colors FDCs, but Friday’s may not be used on the stamps issued the day before (that is, creating a bogus “early release” FDC for Pinback Buttons).
The AFDCS will be selling unserviced cacheted envelopes and already-serviced covers like this one, both at its booth and, after the show, by mail.
AFDCS Post-GASS Sunday Dinner: We’re going to Plan B. Literally. That’s the name of the restaurant, Plan b Burger Bar, about a five-minute walk from the convention center and Marriott. We’ll meet in the Marriott lobby at 6 p.m., and we will have a private room. You can find the menu here.
