USSS at StampShow 2003

StampShow 2003 was held from August 7th to 10th in Columbus, Ohio.  The show venue, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, was one of the best in recent memory.  It was clean, spacious, and well lit.  There was ample seating space near the inside concession stand as well as additional areas outside of the main hall and outdoors near a second concession area.

The United States Stamp Society and the efforts of our members were very visible at the show.  The Society hosted Booth A on the show floor and was a favorite meeting place for members as well as an excellent location for recruitment.  Twenty new members were signed up at the show itself and information was given to many others.  A revised edition of A Glossary of Terms for the Collector of United States Stamps was available and once again proved to be very popular.

The show featured the annual Champion of Champions competition as well as traditional Open and Literature competitions.  Of the 27 exhibits in the C of C competition, 12 were of U.S.-related material, including the winner U.S. Domestic Mails 1776-1869 by George Kramer.  The Open competition included 48 U.S.-related exhibits while 24 such entries were included in the Literature competition.  The Society's Statue of Freedom Medal was won by Eliot A. Landau for his single frame exhibit "90-Cent Lincoln Issue of 1869."

Approximately 35 USSS members and guests enjoying dinner, while Dickson Preston seems to have detected photographer John Larson.

The Society's traditional Friday night dinner was held at Damon's Famous Barbequed Ribs restaurant across the street from the convention center. Approximately thirty-five members and guests enjoyed a fine meal and a good time.  The outing concluded with the unofficial "George Wagner Bourse" which went on well into the evening.

Rod Juell gave a presentation about collecting the stamps of the 4th Bureau Issue and Jeff Shapiro hosted a meeting of the Prexie Era Study Group.  Bob Markovits spoke about one of his specialties, U.S. Special Delivery Stamps, and Dan Undersander presented Essays of U.S. Stamped Envelopes.  On Friday, show goers were able to meet with Richard Helbock and obtain an autographed copy of his new edition of Prexie Postal History.

The following members stopped by the Society table to assist and/or visit:

Ken Lawrence (left) and Kurt Lenz discuss an important topic (perhaps dinner?) at the USSS booth at StampShow.