Monday Morning Brief | Report from APS Stampshow 2017 in Richmond, Va.

Linn’s Stamp News associate editor Michael Baadke reports this week from the American Philatelic Society’s annual summer stamp show and convention, taking place during the course of four days in Richmond, Va.

Full Video Transcript:

This is your Monday Morning Brief for August 7, 2017.

We’re coming to you this week from the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia, where the American Philatelic Society’s annual Stampshow is taking place August 3-6.

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The APS Stampshow is the biggest annual stamp event in the United States, with more than 100 stamp dealers, postal administrations and auction firms offering stamps and covers, supplies and much more. It’s like a giant shopping mall opened in the heart of Richmond, with every store dedicated to the needs of stamp collectors.

Along with that, you have a huge area devoted to exhibiting some of the finest specialized stamp and postal history studies in the world. The APS Stampshow hosts the annual Champion of Champions competition, which pits the top stamp exhibits from the past year against each other in the culmination of the World Series of Philately. One exhibit from this head-to-head competition will be declared the very best of the year — the “Champion of Champions.”

The opening day of the show saw eager collectors lining up long before the doors opened at 10 a.m. Show visitors come from all over the country, to visit the many dealers and look for that perfect stamp or cover to add to their collections.

At noon on Thursday, the United States Postal Service held a first-day ceremony for its Protect Pollinators set of five stamps. Everyone attending the ceremony got a free postmarked ceremony program. Additional first-day ceremonies were held for new stamp issues of the United Nations and the Marshall Islands.

Collectors also had the opportunity to take part in dozens of different seminars, society meetings and other learning experiences, including beginner collector advice and free collection analysis.

The APS Stampshow takes place every summer, and you’ll want to make plans now for the 2018 show in Columbus, Ohio, which will be combined with the big annual show of the American Topical Association.

For more information about the American Philatelic Society and its annual show series, visit online at www.stamps.org.

For Linn’s Stamp News and the Scott catalogs, I’m Michael Baadke, having a great time at the APS Stampshow.