Save the Date for ChicagoPEX November 19-21, 2021

The Germany Philatelic Society, the preeminent philatelic organization for Germany and German area collectors in North America, is pleased to hold our 2021 National Meeting at Chicagopex under the auspices of the Chicago Philatelic Society. We look forward to a great event with many German exhibits, seminars, and programs and the opportunity for philatelic fellowship with our fellow collectors. We will host a hospitality suite in the evenings and are planning on a dinner on Friday night. There will be a general membership meeting as well, where you will be able to meet the current leadership. We encourage all those interested in German philately to join us in Chicago this year. See the Chicagopex website, https://www.chicagopex.org/chicagopexcurrent.html, for more information, including information on exhibiting. We are also looking for members who would be interested in giving a talk or seminar at the show about their interests in German philately. Contact GPS Conventions Chair Ken Gilbert, at the GPS Contact Us Page if you are interested.

WELCOME MESSAGE FROM CHICAGOPEX CHAIRMAN

Greetings everyone!  As show chairman I’d like to welcome the Germany Philatelic Society and its many members to Chicagopex 2021.  It’s an honor to host you at this year’s show.  So please come and join us for three days of stamp fun and a really great time.  We are looking forward to having you with us this year. 

Sincerely,
Jerry Nylander
Show Chairman Chicagopex

Boston 2026 Update: March 28


Registration for Salon Exhibits at Boston 2026 now OPEN!

If you want to show a single frame (16 page) “Klein aber Fein” exhibit at the German-American Salon at Boston 2026, you will need to use the Boston 2026 website to do so. The site is NOW OPEN to allow Salon exhibits to go thru the Boston system. This is required in order to participate. See this link. There are a number of points to be aware of when entering your exhibit. Use the dropdown menu for “German American Salon” and “Other” for the exhibit class. A title page is required. A synopsis is NOT needed, as the Salon will not be judged. This will help the GPS and BDPh decide which exhibits to accept, if there are more exhibits than we have space for. It is also required to make an entry in the “Awards” boxes. Use “none” if the exhibit has not been shown before. There is no Award requirement for the Salon, but the box needs to have an entry in order for the form to be accepted. The closing deadline is September 30, 2025, same as the show. You may submit more than one exhibit; however, GPS reserves the right to accept or reject any exhibit to maximize the number of members who can participate. Salon exhibits are separate from the main show and will not be judged. The GPS is covering the frame fees. GPS Exhibits will be approved by the Convention Co-Chair, Ken Gilbert, who may be contacted at conventions “at” germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org. Please send him a copy of your Boston Salon application to speed the process. BDPH exhibitors will have their own process. You may also contact Ken if you have any questions or if you would like to provide a talk or seminar at Boston 2026 as part of the Salon. Note that hotel registration is also now open. More information to follow in the May issue and here on our website.

Boston 2026 Update: March 14

Registration for regular show exhibiting is now open. Hotel registration should open March 17, 2025. We will be using the Boston 2026 system to register Salon exhibits. However, that will require an update to the Boston 2026 system that will not be available until April 2025. Please keep an eye on this website for updates. Remember, the GPS will be covering frame fees for the Salon (not for the main show), and you are welcome to submit more than one One Frame “Klein aber Fein” exhibit (one frame is 16 standard pages). However, the GPS reserves the right to limit entries after the first in order to allow the maximum number of GPS members to participate. If you wish to preregister your Salon exhibit with the GPS or if you have any questions, you may do so by contacting the Conventions Co-Chair, Ken Gilbert, at “conventions *at* germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org”. This will ensure a “place in line” for the Salon. Pre-registered exhibits will have priority. You will still have to register your exhibit using the Boston 2026 system when Salon entries open. Note that the final deadline will be September 30th, 2025. We also strongly encourage all Salon exhibitors to use the Commissioner system to bring exhibits to the Salon at Boston 2026.

Registration for Attendees and Exhibitors at Boston 2026 Is Now Open

January 24, 2025: Registration for attendees and exhibitors at Boston 2026 is now open at the Boston 2026 website: boston2026.org. Hotel information is expected to follow in March 2025. Applications to exhibit at the German American Salon at Boston 2026 will run through the Germany Philatelic Society (or the Bund Deutscher Philatelisten). Registration forms for the Salon should be available by March 2025. This is intended to be be a one-frame unjudged exhibition, with 25 frames from the GPS and 25 from the BDPh. However show and GPS medals will be given for participation.

January 10, 2025, Updates for The Great American Stamp Show (GASS) 2025 and the German-American Salon at Boston 2026

A number of updates for these shows have been posted recently by the American Philatelic Society and the Boston 2026 Organizing Committee. The most important piece of information to convey too Germany Philatelic Society members is that entries for regular exhibiting at both GASS 2025 and Boston 2026 (but not the Salon) are now OPEN. Second, hotel reservations are also open for GASS at the show hotel. If you are doing a single frame exhibit, it is imperative to get your entry in as soon as possible. There are only slots for a maximum of 10 single frame exhibits in each of the show’s sections: APS, ATA, and AFDCS. These slots were filled quickly in previous years. If you intend to stay at the show hotel, rooms have booked quickly in previous years. We urge members to get their exhibiting entries and hotel reservations as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment. Keep an eye on our website for updates between issues of the Specialist. We will make regular updates.

Great American Stamp Show

The Germany Philatelic Society is in the process of planning for our National Meeting at GASS (https://stamps.org/great-american-stamp-show). We expect to offer exhibiting awards, some in conjunction with the Germany Colonies Collectors Group. There will be a general meeting of the Society as well as a board meeting. The appropriate 25 and 50 year member medals will be given out at our general meeting, plus the Blizel Award for the best article in the German Postal Specialist in the preceding year. We hope to offer a dinner at the show, likely on Thursday, as we have many members in the Chicago area. Planning is in process for this proposed event. We plan to have a member’s table at the show, in conjunction with the Germany Colonies Collectors Group. We wish to offer talks and seminars at the show. If you are interested in giving a talk or seminar at the show, please contact the Convention co-chair, Ken Gilbert, at conventions *at* germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org. If you have any questions about the GPS at GASS, please use the same contact address.

German-American Salon 2026

We are in the early stages of planning for this show. It will also be our National Meeting for 2026. Note that Bulletin 2 for Boston 2026 was just released (January 2025) by the organizing committee. See https://boston2026.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/BostonBulletin2Final.pdf.

This bulletin contains the information for exhibiting at the show. This show will be under FIP rules. That’s the world-wide federation for philately. Those rules differ from rules in the US, and they should be read carefully. They are often stricter. There is also a rule regarding number of frames. There are three types available: One frame, five frames, and eight frames. To exhibit at this show, you must have received at least a vermeil at a World Series of Philately show. To show eight frames, you must have received at least a large vermeil at an FIP show. Note that medal levels are stricter for FIP exhibiting. For example, a Large Gold in the US is 90-100 points, while it is 95-100 points under FIP rules. There are other differences. The deadline for exhibit entries is September 30, 2025.

There is also information on exhibiting at the Salon in Bulletin #2. There is one difference in the information given. The GPS will be covering the frame fees for the exhibitors! There will be a total of 50 16-page frames available. The concept here is “Klein aber Fine” (Small but Fine). We strongly prefer one frame exhibits. They may be extracted from a larger exhibit. The GPS will be responsible for filling 25 of the 50 frames. These do NOT have to be specifically German-area exhibits. Since the ArGe USA/Canada, a working group of the Bund Deutscher Philatelisten, has been an important part of the Salon, there have been a number of US and Canadian area exhibits in past Salons as well as topical and display class exhibits, All entries for the Salon will come through the respective organizations (the GPS and the BDPh) and will be forwarded on to the Boston 2026 Exhibition Committee. Do not enter the Salon directly. Salon exhibitors will NOT be allowed to mount their own exhibits. They must either be given to the Commissioner for your country or taken to the Bin Room (where exhibits are stored pre-show) before the show. At present, we do not have an application for the Salon. This will be forthcoming, likely in the March issue of the Specialist (and on the GPS webpage before that). We hope for wide participation from all of our members. We will likely limit entries to two per person, unless more are needed. If you have an questions, again contact us through the conventions email address. Note that show medals will be given for all slain entries as well as GPS medals, but no other awards will be made, nor will the Salon exhibits be judged. Ken Gilbert is chairing the Salon Exhibition Committee for the GPS. Any questions may also be addressed to the convention email address.