USPCS member Tony Dewey (in photo, receiving the award from Megan Orient) had the best of 66 single frame exhibits in the open part of AmeriPex this year, winning the SF Grand and a Large Gold medal.
ARIPEX
Aripex was held in Phoenix on the third weekend in February. A Large Gold medal was won by Mark Banchik for “Mexican War (1846-1848); How the U.S. Expanded Across the Continent”. Mark also won the APS Pre-1900 Medal of Excellence; a Silver Mexico Elmhurst Philatelic Society Award; the Military Postal History Award; the U.S. Cancellation Club Award; and the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Medal. Way to go, Mark!
Gold medals were won by Alfredo Frohlich for his “Survivors – Crash and Salvaged Air Mail In, From and To Colombia” (also the Auxiliary Club Award of Merit); Gregg Hopkins for two exhibits, his “Philatelic Truck, Souvenir Sheet & Cachet; and his SFE “The Production of the U.S. Air Mail Issue of 1928 – The Beacon”.
A Large Vermeil medal was won by Gregg Hopkins for “$2 Inverted Jenny” (also the APS post-1980 Medal of Excellence and the People’s Choice Award).
A Vermeil medal was won by Caj Brejtfus for “The First Modern Postage Stamp: Mail in the Industrial Revolution from 1850-1859 – A Decade of Change.”
A Large Silver medal was won by John Wynns for his SFE “Japan United States Treaty Issues of 1960.”
Silver medals were won by John Wynns for his SFE “Canal Zone: The 1926 Sesquicentennial Issue” and by Lawrence Haber for his SFE “Britain Goes Decimal.”
TEXPEX
TexPex was held in Grapevine, Texas (near DFW Airport) the last weekend of February. Our own John Barwis (immediate past USPCS president) won the Grand Award and a Large Gold medal for his “Philadelphia-Great Britain Mails”. John also won the J.C.M. Cryer Cup for the best U.S. or Confederate exhibit; the APS pre-1900 Award of Excellence; the USPCS Medal; and the AAPE Award for Excellence in Plans and Headings. Hope he had enough room in his carry-on!
Winning the Single Frame Grand and a Large Gold was Richard Taschenberg with “The 30c Nesbitt Envelopes of 1865”. Richard also won the UPSS Champion of Champions Single-Frame Award. Very nicely done, Richard!
Also winning a Large Gold medal was Bill McDaniel for his “U.S. Three Cent 1851-1857 Issue: Production and Usage”. Bill also won the USSS Statue of Freedom Award.
Winning Gold medals were Mark Schwartz for his “The First U.S. International U.P.U. Postal Card and its Forerunners” and Norman Cohen for his “The Use of the 1930 U.S. Postage Due Issues to 1959.”
Richard Frajola won a Large Vermeil medal for “The Classic Stamp Issues of Nepal.”
AMERISTAMP EXPO
Also known as the APS Winter Show, this show hosts the annual single frame Champion of Champions competition, a very large open single frame Competition, and presents Best of Category awards to various classes of multi-frame exhibits. This year, it was held at Reno, the weekend of March 2-5.
While a USPCS member did not with the Single Frame CofC, several members did compete for that honor. They included Alfredo Frohlich for “Replating Colombia’s 1861 1 Peso Stamp”, Howard P. Green for “Handstamped Confederate Rates”, Gary Hendren for “St. Louis Pioneer Air Mail, Oct. 4-8, 1911”, Larry Lyons for “Honour’s City Express Post”, and H. James Maxwell for two exhibits “China’s U.S. Constitution Commemoratives: Through the Line Usages” and “Republic of China Express Stamps and Mail Slips: 1912-29”. These members all won single frame Grand awards in WSP shows during 2016.
In the large open single frame competition (66 SF exhibits) Tony Dewey won the SF Grand award and a Large Gold medal with his “The War Rate: 1815-1816.” Congratulations, Tony!
Also winning Large Gold medals were P. D. Allen for two exhibits, “Victorian Indian Mail to the Far East” and “Victorian Indian Mail to West Indian Ocean Destinations”; John Hotchner for two exhibits, “The Mid 19th Century Start of Perforating in Great Britain and the United States” and “Perforating the Sheet Stamps of the 3rd Bureau Issue, 1908-1922”; Matt Kewriga for “Danish West Indies Mail to Denmark 1842-1877”; David McNamee for “Conquest of the Zulu Kingdom 1876-1897” (also the Military Postal History Society award); and Tim Wait for two exhibits, “Adhesive Stamps Used to Pay the 2¢ Tax on U.S. Bank Checks 1862-1883” (also the APS Pre-1900 Medal of Excellence) and “1862 Insurance Tax”.
USPCS members winning Gold medals included Larry Lyons with “Valentines Delivered by U.S. Local Posts”; Steve Schumann with “New Zealand Prisoner of War Air Letter Cards”; and Anthony Wawrukiewicz with “Postal History of U.S. Postage Due Stamps”;
Winning Large Vermeil awards were James Busse for “Bosnia-Herzegovina Tobacco Tax Paid Revenues” (also the AAPE Gold Award of Honor); Rich Drews for “Lundy Island: The Early Years”; Gordon Eubanks for “Uses of the ‘Humble’ ½ Cent Benjamin Franklin Stamp of 1938”; Les Lanphear for “New South Wales Penalty Clause Mail, 1898 to 1902”; Ralph Nafziger for “A Soldier’s Diary – The World War I North Russia Expedition”; and Wayne Youngblood for “Lost Almost: The Los Alamos, N.M. Post Office and WWII”
Single frame Vermeil medals went to Francis Adams for “The Mesozoic Times – Where Prehistory meets Philately” and Yamil Kouri for “Cuba: French Steamship Lines’ Markings During UPU (1877-1901)”.
Large Silver medals were won by Doug & Nancy Clark for “Production of the U.S. Postal Stationery Revalued in 1971” and Tony Dewey for “The Hartford Bridge/Bulkeley Bridge”. A Bronze medal was won by Don Chafetz for “Razzle Bedazzl’d”.
As mentioned above, multi-frame exhibits competed in categories other than postal history or traditional exhibits.
Several exhibits that won Most Popular at WSP shows competed against one another. While no USPCS member won the Most Popular CofC, member Tony Dewey participated in the competition with “The 1991 “F” Tulip Stamps and Their First Day Covers”. Tony also got a Gold medal and the APS Post-1980 Medal of Excellence for this exhibit in the Themed Multiframe category.