IN MY VIEW - Otto Hornung

Brno bourse Czechs booth-holders’ takings
FIVE years ago, in 2000, a European Stamp Exhibition was held in Brno. As it was well organised and a remarkable success the Philatelic Federation of the Czech Republic understandably returned to the city on May 10 to 15 for this year's European Stamp Exhibition ...

Happy Hanover

NAPOSTA 2005 in Hanover, Germany, from June 2 to 5, was a tremendous success and undoubtedly the best stamp exhibition so far this year, even though it was only a national exhibition. With the participation of other European countries, including the UK, it was much better than the designated European exhibition in Brno, and miles better than the international Pacific Explorer in Sydney ... There was a frame showing one of the two known 'unissued Audrey Hepburn' stamps. The other was recently sold by Heinrich Köhler of Wiesbaden for €70,000 (£47,600) including commission.

(Read the entire column in the July 2005 Philatelic Exporter.)

GB COLUMN by James Skinner

A colourful departure

I HAVE been anxiously examining the contents of my letter box for well over a month now, waiting for a particularly hefty package to drop through it. What would be in that packet? This year’s Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Concise Catalogue, of course ... It seems longer than a year since the publication of the last edition and a quick look inside reveals that in fact it is 13 months since the appearance of a new edition of what I (and most dealers) consider to be the single most important publication on GB stamps ... The cause for the extra month’s work soon becomes clear when opening the book – it has been completely reset ... all those familiar stamp illustrations are now in colour ... If I had to sum up the 2005 edition in just one word, it would be 'essential'.

(Read the entire column in the July 2005 Philatelic Exporter.)

USA by Les Winick

A lot of conversation leading nowhere

AN article by Neil A Martin, which appeared in Barron’s Online May 23 2005, has been stirring up a lot of conversation, but is leading nowhere. However, since it involves one of the leading auction firms in the United States, and a major European world-wide marketeer, it warrants reporting.
The key player in this scenario regarding the marketing of stamps is Afinsa Bienes Tangibles, probably the world’s largest stamp dealer, and a very large participant in the buying and selling of all collectables. Afinsa is the parent company of Auctentia, which owns 69% of Greg Manning Auctions Inc (GMAI) ...

(Read the entire column in the July 2005 Philatelic Exporter.)

POSTCARD WORLD by Liz McKernan

From Blue Peter to ‘King of the Mods’

HAVING been an avid reader of Ron Griffiths's British Postcard Collectors Magazine, I was always intrigued by his frequent mentions of 'treasures' he’d found, and indeed which he kept on finding, from an enormous quantity of postcards which he had bought at a charity auction in 1977 ... At a price of around £15 for each lot of 20,000 postcards Ron succeeded in buying a quarter-of-a-million cards ... a week later Ron received a call from the Blue Peter warehouse asking whether he would be interested in buying the rest. He agreed a similar price and shortly after he was the proud owner of another quarter-of-a-million. He now had half-a-million postcards (described as Moderns) and the late Jim Butland in his Postcard Collectors Guide gave him the title 'King of the Mods’ ...

(Read the entire column in the July 2005 Philatelic Exporter.)

NEW BOOKS by David Rennie

All reviewed in the July 2005 Philatelic Exporter.

EUROPE by Albert Boerma

Deutsche Post not in competition with dealers
... We appreciate that there exists a past market and as we do not stock stamps prior to 2003 we can only help clients to collect 'in reverse'. Accessories should not cost more than the stamps, therefore we sell albums that are produced in quantity and are relatively cheap. The Post does not reach out to the established collectors but aims only at new and prospective collectors ...

(Read the entire column in the July 2005 Philatelic Exporter.)

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