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Annually, the American Philatelic Society (APS) presents The Luff Award for Meritorious Contributions to Philately by Living Philatelists. The Award was established in 1940 in memory of John N. Luff, APS president from 1907 to 1909, who was considered the most prominent American philatelist of his era.
 
The APS Luff Award is available annually for:
> Distinguished Philatelic Research
> Exceptional Contributions to Philately
> Outstanding Service to the American Philatelic Society.
 
Recipients sign the Luff Award Scroll and are presented with engraved rings and individually prepared mementos.
 
And now, about the winner!
 
When he was eight years old, Mark Schwartz got a Stamp album from his parents, starting a life-long love of the hobby. After college and grad school, he began collecting the postal history of Boston and its North Shore, which should not be surprising since that was where he was born and raised. Mark went to a few shows close to his home in Philadelphia, and built his collections primarily from auctions and dealers at those shows. But it was not until he retired after a 37-year career in the pharmaceutical industry in 2007, that he became thoroughly immersed in organized philately.
 
He first exhibited a single frame called “The Ship Letters of Essex County, Mass.” at the Philatelic Show outside of Boston in 2008, and evidently found it very satisfying and enjoyable. Since then, Mark has shown 23 different exhibits nearly all of which have reached Gold, and 12 which have achieved Grand awards. He won the multi-frame Champion of Champions at Grand Rapids in 2015 with his “Boston Postal History”, and three single frame C of Cs with “The Trade Routes of Salem, Mass.”, “The Retaliatory Rate of 1848” and the “Use of the 1847s from Boston”.
 
In F.I.P. competition, Mark’s multi-frame Boston exhibit was a candidate for the Grand Prix National at the World Stamp Show in 2016. His exhibits range from the very early classical (Boston) to a First Day Cover exhibit of the Virginia Dare commemorative of 1937. Along the way, Mark became an accredited philatelic judge to help others enjoy exhibiting as much as he does.
 
Mark has been extremely active in a large number of philatelic organizations. In the past, he was a Director-at-Large of the American Philatelic Society and a member of its Strategic Planning Committee; the exhibit chair of the Philadelphia National Stamp Expo, Vice President of the Greater Philadelphia Stamp and Collectors Club, a Director of the Postal History Society and a member of the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists. Currently, in addition to being a member of a number of philatelic organizations, he is a Trustee of The Philatelic Foundation; a member of CANEJ; VP of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors; and a Director of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society.
 
Mark has increasingly found time to write articles. They have appeared in the Chronicle of the U.S. Classic Philatelic Issues, the London Philatelist, the Collectors Club Philatelist, the 2009 edition of the American Philatelic Congress Book and the India Post. Most recently, Mark won the Tapling Medal in 2019 from the Royal Philatelic Society of London for his two-part article on the New York Postmaster’s Provisional stamp in the London Philatelist. The first series of articles on Boston Postal History appeared in the February 2025 issue of the Chronicle; the second is awaiting publication and the third is nearly completed.
 
If you ask Mark why he does all this, he will tell you that it gives him great joy and satisfaction. He knows that when he wakes up, there is a list of things that need his attention; the people in the hobby are a surrogate family; and many have become close friends. What other hobby could be better?

 

This year’s Minnesota Stamp Expo was held at the Crystal Community Center in Crystal, Minn. July 18-20th. Members provided 6 of the 40 exhibits. And the winners were…

Vern Morris won the Multi-frame Grand, Multi-frame Large Gold, Multi-frame Large Gold and the USSS Statue of Freedom for his “Evolution & Impact of Blood’s Local Post: 1842 to 1862“.

Multi-frame Large Gold was also won by Robert Hohertz for “Revenue Imprinted Paper of the Spanish American War Tax Era” (also the Collectors Club of Chicago – Gold Medallion).

Larry Nix won Multi-frame Large Vermeil for “The Library of Congress 1800-1974” (also the APS – Gold Award of Honor).

Single-frame Gold and the USPCS Medallion were won by Alfredo Frohlich for his “Prisoner of War Mail – Fort Delaware 1862-1865“.

Dan Undersander won Single-frame Gold for “The First Issue U.S. Six Cents Postal Stationery Envelope” (also UPSS Porter Venn Single-frame Award.)

For his second exhibit, “Period Hand-Crafted First Day Covers of the Eagle Holding Shield Airmail of 1938“, Robert Hohertz won Single-frame Vermeil.

This year’s NAPEX show was held at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corners, June 6-8. The USPCS held its annual meeting at the show and many of our members exhibited.

Vernon Morris was the winner of the Multi-frame Reserve Grand with his “Evolution & Impact of Blood’s Local Post: 1842 to 1862” (also Multi-frame Large Gold; and the USPCS Medal).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Exhibits from four Society members won Multi-frame Large Gold:

• John Hotchner with “The U.S. CIPEX Souvenir Sheet of 1947: Development, Production, First Days and Contemporary Uses” (also the AAPE Award of Excellence of Treatment and the American First Day Cover Society Award).
• Daniel Ryterband with “The U. S. 1847 Issue: Post-Production Proofs”.
• Dawyne Littauer with “Pre-U.P.U. Mail Between the United States and Bremen” (also the APS Medal of Excellence Pre-1900).
• Chip Gliedman with “Imperforate Line Engraved Stamps of Great Britain from Plate Position “CG””.

Randy Smith won Multi-frame Large Vermeil for “Civil War Washington as Seen Through the Drawings of Charles Magnus, Lithographer”.
 
Gerry Oberst won Multi-frame Vermeil for “Jean-Michel Folon: Postal Artist” (also the AAPE Gold Award of Honor, the APS Medal of Excellence Post-1980 Material, and the NSDA Award for Outstanding Presentation).
 
Rounding out the multi-frame awards, Robert Toal won Multi-fame Silver for “American Souvenir Company Postcards: The Other Side of the Card” (also the Women Exhibitors Sterling Achievement Award).
 
 
Single-frame awards started off with Daniel Ryterband winning Single-frame Large Gold for “Steamboat Mail and the U.S. 1847 Issue”.
 
Three members won Single-frame Gold for their exhibits.

• Daniel Undersander for “The 5¢ Taylor Envelopes of 1875 to 1882” (also the UPSS Porter Venn Award).
• Thomas Lera for “Ship Island Postal Markings Used by Postmaster John M.G. Parker: 1862 – 1865” (also the Virginia Philatelic Federation Award for Excellence.
• Chip Gliedman for “Leominster, Mass. Provisional Postage Due and Instructional Labels ”.

Two members won Single-frame Large Vermeil.

• John Schorn for “Essays and Proofs of the 1967 UN Disarmament Stamps”.
• David Steidley for “Airmail Between the U.S. & Iraq, 1940-41”.

 
Rounding out this year’s Society winners at NAPEX is Robert Toal who won Single-frame Large Silver with “Colonial Heroes Patriotic Postcards – Anticipating the Semiquincentennial of the United States in 2026”.

EuroPhilEx was held in Birmingham, UK from May 7th through the 11th. Strong member participation at this international show resulted in a large number of awards for Society members. As a FIP show, medal levels are 5 points higher than in WSP shows. Thus it took 95 points at Europhilex to get a Large Gold, while the same medal at a WSP show would require 90 points. Congratulations to all Society members who took part in the show.

 
James Grimwood-Taylor’s “The 1839-1840 British Postal Reforms; their Origins, Milestones and International Results” was a FEPA Grand Prix Candidate.
 
In the category of Traditional Philately, three members won medals.

• Jan Hofmeyr won Multi-frame Large Gold for “Philatelic Invention in the United States: 1861-1881”. Jan’s exhibit was also a Grand Prix International Candidate.
• Vernon Morris, Jr. won Multi-frame Gold for “Evolution & Impact of Bloods Local Post: 1842 to 1862. Vern’s exhibit was also awarded Special Prize Material.
• Chip Gliedman won Multi-frame Gold for “My Victoria – Imperforate Line Engraved Stamps of Great Britain from the Plate Position ‘CG’ ”.

In the category of Postal History, seven members won medals.

• Vernon Morris, Jr. won Multi-frame Large Gold for “Evolution of American Mail 1685 to 1799” (also a Grand Prix International Candidate).
• Steven Walske won Multi-frame Large Gold for “La Debacle: Postal History of the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War”.
• Gary Diffen won Multi-frame Large Gold for “Transportation of Australian Colonial Mail to 1856”.
• Martin Camerer won Multi-frame Large Gold for “Postal relations between the United States and Germany via France 1828 1869”.
• Daniel Knowles won Multi-frame Large Gold for “Handling United States Domestic and International Mail 1860-1869”.
• Patricia Stilwell-Walker won Multi-frame Gold for “Baltimore Postal History: from Colonial Times until June 30, 1851”.
• Chip Gliedman won Multi-frame Large Vermeil for “A Postal History Map of the United States of America”.

Chery Ganz won Single-frame Gold in Aerophilately for “British Airship R100”.

In the category of Open Philately, Hal Vogel won Single-frame Large Silver for each of two exhibits, “Great Britain’s Greatest Irish Polar Expeditioner” and “1838-42 Wilkes Antarctic Expedition: Its many (often unfavourable) Facets”.
 
Members also won Literature awards.
> Nick Kirke won Large Gold for “New York City Foreign Mail 1845-1878 ” (also Best in Class).
> Ute & Elmar Dorr won Gold for “Hungarian Post Offices in Foreign Letter Service from 1900 to the Outbreak of World War ”.
> Ute Dorr won Vermeil for “The Orient-Express 1883–1914 ”.
> James Peter Gough won Large Silver for “A Special Study on First Trial Flight Between Shanghai and Tihwa by Eurasia Aviation Corporation from December 1931 to January 1932 ”.