Larry Weiss Receives 2000 Hopkinson Memorial Award

Larry S. Weiss of Naperville, Illinois, has been selected to receive the Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial Award for the best article or series of articles published in The United States Specialist during 2000.

Weiss' article, "Detecting Watermarks," appeared in the October and November, 2000, issues of The United States Specialist, the monthly journal of the United States Stamp Society.  The award is given annually by the Society.

Weiss' article described watermarks and their formation, depicted the watermarks that appear on U.S. postage stamps, discussed methods for detecting watermarks on postage stamps, described fluids available for "wet" watermarking and the choice of watermarking trays, explained how to prepare stamps for watermarking (including removing old hinges without thinning the stamp), and the best technique for wet watermarking.

The second installment of the article provided a review of "dry" watermarking methods, including the Morley-Bright Detector and the Signoscope.

The selection committee for 2000 consisted of three previous winners: Roger S. Brody, who won the award in 1999 for an article entitled "Y1.9K - Handling the Mails at the Turn of the Century"; James H. Patterson, who was awarded the trophy in 1998 for his article, "Small Die Proofs of the Twentieth Century's Second Quarter"; and Brian Baba, the 1997 winner for "United States Savings Booklets."

The award was established in 1953 in honor of Walter W. Hopkinson, by his wife, Mrs. Constance B. Hopkinson, in view of Hopkinson's interest in philatelic scholarship and the dissemination of research and knowledge through the Society's publications.  Hopkinson was a plate number specialist as well as a vigorous supporter and long-time member of the Bureau Issues Association, as the society was then known.  The first award was given in 1954, and it has been presented annually thereafter.

Weiss is now a three-time winner of the Hopkinson Memorial Award.  He won first in 1984, for his series entitled "Washington-Franklin Head Issues."  His second trophy was awarded in 1991, for an exhaustive and well-researched study entitled, "Designing and Engraving the Washington-Franklin Series."

Previous winners include George W. Brett (also a three-time winner), John S. Meek (two times), Loran C. French (two times), Gary Griffith, John M. Hotchner, James H. Bruns and Henry W. Beecher.