• Introduction
  • Welcome
  • About BNAPS Education
• Novices
  • Youth
    • Introduction
    • Canada’s Art and Artists on Canadian Stamps
    • My Favourite ... Cartier, 1534-1934
    • Collect Canada’s 1953–57 Wildlife Stamps
    • A Ship from History
  • Adult
    • Introduction
    • A Small Start Can Build a Grand Collection
    • Canada's prime Ministers series of 1951-1955
    • The Admiral Stamps of Canada
    • An Introduction to Canadian Machined Slogan Cancels
• Experienced Collectors
  • Stamp Collectors
    • Introduction
    • Grenfell on Stamps of Newfoundland and Canada
    • Bluenose is Still Considered Canada’s Finest Stamp
    • The Open (or Shut) Case for Booklet Collecting
    • 1946 Stamps Show Canada’s Return to Peace
    • Issues of WWII: King, Country, and Conflict
    • The 1932 Medallions are Modern Classics
    • Canadian Stamps Marked Montreal Olympics
  • Postal Historians
    • Introduction
    • Canada’s ½¢ Small Queen had Multiple Uses
    • Covers Commemorated the Royal Visit of 1939
    • Some 19^th Century Mail That Took it on the Chin
    • Markings on Canadian Naval Mail of WWII
    • Crashes, Fires, and War Interrupted the Mail
    • Paquebot Covers: Mailed on the High Seas
• Exhibitors
  • Introduction
  • Aid to Exhibitors and Judges
  • Getting Started in Philatelic Exhibiting
  • Use resources to help solve puzzling covers
• The Press
  • Commercial publications
    • Introduction
    • Stamp Society Supports Youth Philately
  • Society publications
    • Introduction
    • Stamp Society Supports Youth Philately
• EDUCATION SECTION MAP

Getting Started in Philatelic Exhibiting, Part 1
by John Hotchner^* (EEX3A)
Originally published by the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors

Introduction

"I can do this" was my reaction when I first paid attention to philatelic exhibits at a local club's yearly show. And it turned out that I could. But not without overcoming a dozen reasons that argued against trying when I began to think seriously about making the leap from collecting to exhibiting.

Although the idea of displaying our treasures for other collectors to admire is attractive, it isn't something we can just do intuitively. Rather, I found that exhibiting is a craft that needs to be learned through trial and error. It is also a public expression of our interests, knowledge, and artistic sense; and that can be a bit daunting. I'd like to have a quarter for every time I've heard a collector say, "I don't have expensive stamps or specialized knowledge. I couldn't compete with the exhibits I've seen."

I think all successful exhibitors began with some form of that thought. But you CAN compete - just recognize that you won't get to Gold medals in a month. Learning the craft by doing, and building a prize-winning exhibit takes time, and the secret is having realistic expectations and goals. The purpose of this pamphlet is to help you get beyond the reasons why you may think you can't or shouldn't exhibit; and to think positively about your talents and abilities. You will be amazed at what you can do - and you will be amazed at how exhibiting can enrich your philatelic life.

Competition.is not the only reason to exhibit. The great majority of exhibitors ultimately enjoy seeing how high a medal their exhibit can earn. But it is equally okay to use your display to try to convince others that they should collect what you do. Or to educate other collectors on the breadth of a collecting area by highlighting many different specialty areas that are available.

However, you will find that competition can be fun. America is an accomplishment-based society, and we learn from an early age that winning competitions, be they in sports or speech contests or to keeping up with the Jones's, drives a good share of our daily thought. We are used to competition, but philatelic exhibiting competition is unusual - except for some limited instances which will be described later - because exhibitors are not competing against each other. Rather our exhibit is competing against the standard of being the best it can be.

Challenge

Exhibiting is a personal challenge since you will develop skills you didn't know you had. And in its most enjoyable form, it is also a philatelic challenge since you will create something unlike what anyone else has done in the past. In addition it will require you to pick a subject to exhibit that gives you room to expand your knowledge and your collecting, and to organize and study your material. Furthermore, by expanding your knowledge of what exists that can be part of your exhibit, and building your exhibit to the status of being the best it can be, you are also building a collection that can be worth more than the sum of its parts.

What Will You Be Trying To Do?

The basic idea of philatelic exhibiting is that you are telling a complete philatelic or thematic story using philatelic (and sometimes associated material in Display exhibits) to illustrate your points. Like a book, your story will have a beginning, a middle and an end. The material will be described on the exhibit pages briefly, but it is the material that tells the story, not lengthy text.

Once you understand this objective, the best thing that you can do is to make a point of going to exhibitions and taking time to look carefully at how others have done exhibits. Part of the secret of success is in how you organize the material and the story, so that there is a logical flow. The other part of the secret is how you use the title page to outline the story you expect to tell. For some exhibits it is also appropriate to have a plan page which, like a table of contents for a book, provides the outline of the story, and tells the viewer where each part of the story can be found in the exhibit.

In doing your exhibit, it is expected that you will use the best philatelic material, both in terms of quality and condition, that you are able to get. And that you will label it accurately; providing information about it beyond what can be found in the standard catalogues or what is obvious from the stamp or cover itself. Presentation - the pleasing arrangement of material and text, proper grammar and spelling, general neatness - all count as part of the judging criteria. But it is the philatelic material itself, and how it illustrates a complete story, that counts most.

*John Hotchner is the co-founder with Randy Neil of the AAPE, and is editor of its quarterly magazine. He is a national grand award level exhibitor and is a national and international judge.