Excited About Attending a Stamp Show
By Howard S. Chapman
Do you still get excited when you prepare to go to a stamp exhibition & bourse?
I do! Just thinking about visiting the bourse area, looking through boxes of covers, causes me to smile and rejoice. If I am fortunate enough to find some covers and/or stamps for one of my collections makes me feel like I won the lottery.
I can remember more than once being told by a dealer, “I only have 1 or 2 items in your field,” and the item was some-thing I desired for my collection.
Viewing exhibits at a show always amazes me. The talent of some collectors in telling a story or displaying their material is fascinating. Seeing how a collector may exhibit common items yet earn a gold medal is wonderful.
It is also exciting to view an exhibit of priceless stamps and covers and wonder how one per-son was able to amass such a collection. You must remember that very few exhibitors have unlimited funds, and even with the ability to spend big money, not all material is readily available.
Over the years I have talked with many people who call themselves former stamp collectors yet have no idea what hap-pens at a club stamp show. May-be if they had been introduced to a show such as our March Party they would still be collecting. The best thing each of us can do to expand the collector base is bring one or two friends to the March Party and introduce them to the excitement.
I must end this column now as I need to awaken at 4:30 a.m. to leave for the San Diego Stamp Show.
Philatelically yours,
Howard S. Chapman