​

    Southeastern Stamp Expo 2023

 

The Southeastern Stamp Expo in Peachtree, Georgia was a 3-day stamp show on January 27 - 29, 2023. The show was celebrating 25 years as a World Series of Philately Show. The Southeast Federation of Stamp Clubs include Clubs from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and others. The United Postal Stationary Society (UPSS) was celebrating the first postal card issued by the US. Everyone received a raffle ticket so they had a chance to win a copy of the first Postal Card, Scott Catalog number UX1. About 80 exhibit frames of Postal stationary materials were on display at the show. Tony Thaxton had a Non-Competitive Exhibit "The United States Black Heritage Series". The show program contained several Tributes. One of them was to our Past President Dr. Warachel Eileen Faison.

 

My wife and I attended for two days. We arrived on Thursday evening after a 10-hour drive from VA and when we went to the restaurant for dinner we saw two other ESPER members. Don Neal and Rosina Major were relaxing after their long day of traveling from New Jersey and New York. We had a total of 13 ESPER members attending from far and near: Tony Thaxton, Jr. (Chapter Director GA), Don Neal (Reflections Editor NJ), Rosina Major (Treasurer NY), Rhonda Ingram (Financial Secretary VA), Earnest Shinault, Sr. (ESPER Past President TN), Walter Faison (ESPER Past President NC), William Jordan (NY), Vivian Roscoe (NC), Lynda Thompson (TN), Mark Thompson (TN), Roger Quinby (GA),  Foster Miller (NJ),Vera Felts (WA) and myself. We had one new member to join during the show Laurie J. Anderson (GA). We received a donation of $75.00 from Roger Quinby.

 

I had time on Friday to visit the dealers and to attend a presentation by Foster Miller on "The Creative First Days of Hideaki Nakano". On Friday evening seven ESPER members visited a West African restaurant near the hotel and had a wonderful time fellowshipping, talking, laughing and some trying West African dishes for the very first time (namely me). On Saturday we held the ESPER Town Hall meeting. I shared with the members and others present about our plans for 2023. We plan to attend the Great American Stamp Show (GASS) in Cleveland, Ohio in August. I also shared with them information on our upcoming 35th Anniversary Celebration in St Louis, Missouri on October 19-22, 2023. The information is on the website and in the first quarter Reflections. Mark your calendars and come join us for our Anniversary. We only have this event every 5 years so all members are encouraged to attend. I continued to check-out the vendors and found several First Day Covers to add to my collection. To close out Saturday my wife and I attended the Awards Banquet. 

 

During the show I spoke with Dawn Hamman of the American Topical Association (ATA). ESPER will be Co-sponsoring an event with ATA at GASS. Second Vice President Thomas Broadhead will be doing a presentation on Josephine Baker. Several years ago ESPER was asked to be a ATA Study Unit. We will be their feature unit again this year. We will be submitting two articles that will be included in their magazine Topical Time. 

 

I had a bucket list of shows in the 1st quarter of the President's Thoughts in Reflections. I have attended the first show on my list for 2023. I am encouraging all members to attend a local show in your area. A local show can be within 50 miles of your home and generally charge no fee to attend or a small fee of $5.00 like the GA show. I am adding the NAPEX show in Tyson Corner, Virginia as a local show to my list. My daughter lives in Maryland so it is within the 50-mile limit (smile). There is no fee to attend.  Check Reflections for a list of local shows. The ones in red is where ESPER will has a table and /or a general meeting.  NAPEX is a World Series of Philately Event having our 100 exhibits, over 60 dealers and several stamp societies convening meetings. They normally have a stamp unveiling on Friday by both the USPS and the United Nations with show participates signing programs afterwards. Both also have stamps available for purchase. Don Neal and I have attended this show for several years. Bob Fields who passed in 2021 normally maned the ESPER table and he will be missed. Members in VA, Washington DC and Maryland this show is within your 50-mile local show limit. Maybe I will see you at the NAPEX show this year.

 

Howard Ingram, ESPER President