We were pleaseed to have twenty-two entries in the 2013 One Frame Exhibition. As is usual, the entries covered the gamut of philately, from the very best of one frame exhibits seen in any competition, to presentations by members illustrating areas of their interest without regard to being serious contenders for the top awards. My sincerest thanks to all of the exhibitors for making this another overflow event, with the frames and the room filled beyond normal capacities (Figure 1).

A full list of the exhibits is shown on the Collectors Club web site. Dr. Mark Banchik chaired the judge’s panel with the most able assistance of Colin Fraser and Hal Vogel. Once again the judges were presented with a complex conundrum in assigning the awards, and once again they did a most admirable job. In addition to the Grand and Reserve Grand Awards, four Awards of Merit were presented, and the membership voted their choice for the Friendship Cup, which was established a few years ago by member Alan Holyoake of the United Kingdom to celebrate the enduring friendship between the Royal Philatelic Society and the Collectors Club.

Figure 2, One FrameNick Lombardi captured the Grand Award for his exhibit entitled: The U.S. Three Cent Jackson Stamp of the 1902 Series. As Nick noted in his summary presentation, the three cent Jackson stamp was issued as a utility stamp to be used in combination with other issues of the 1902 Series to make up unusual combination rates. As such, it saw little use, and makes an excellent choice on which to build a one frame exhibit. An example of an exceptional use of this stamp was shown on Nick’s title page. A pair of the three cent Jacksons was used to pay the six cent due charge on the British post card shown in Figure 2. At first I was confused by the reason for the due charge on this card. However, a blow-up of the printed instructions on the card revealed that the small message space on the front of the card could only be used for inland messages. Messages to overseas destinations had to be written on the reverse of the card. The outcome of the sender’s failure to read the instructions and the arrival office’s decision to use postage stamps for the amount due is this marvelous piece of postal history.

Figure 3, One FrameThe Reserve Grand Award went to Mark Schwartz who continued with his study of the state of Massachusetts with his exhibit entitled: The Postal Markings of Newbury and Newburyport, Mass. During the Stampless Period: 1755 – 1855. The purpose of the exhibit was to illustrate the postal markings used by the colonial and United States Post Offices in these two entities on stampless mail until the requirement for the use of stamps in January 1856. Illustrative of the excellence of Mark’s exhibit is the cover shown in Figure 3. It is one of four known (one is in an archive) with the straight line NEWBURY hand stamp of 1775.  It is the only Newbury postmark known after Newburyport was carved out of Newbury in 1764, as this new and very small town included the area where the Newbury post office was situated. Originally it was thought to be a marking from the Goddard Post, it is now recognized as one of the last group of Royal hand stamps used in the Colonies.

Larry Lyons received an Award of Merit for his exhibit entitled: America’s First Stamp Design, The United States City Despatch Post: August 16, 1842 – November 28, 1846. This exhibit is yet another example of Larry’s long-standing enchantment with United States Locals and Carriers. In this study he noted that this stamp was the first adhesive stamp used in the United States and the first used under authority of the U. S. Post Office Department. The exhibit began with the unique August 16, 1842 first day of use of this stamp. The Hon J. W. Middendorf also won an Award of Merit for his study of Classic Hawaii. Clearly the judges were impressed by the rarity and quality of the material in this exhibit. Ambassador Middendorf has supported this Club activity in past years. We hope that he will not only enter an exhibit next year, but be able to come to the meeting. I am certain that there are many younger members who would delight in meeting him.

John Pedneault won an Award of Merit for his exhibit: The Irishman Always Writes Home. In the past John has presented numerous exhibits on the Irish overprints, an area in which he is one of the world’s experts. This year he decided on a change in approach, and showed one frame on postal history written to Ireland which was replete with numerous rarities. My personal favorite was his example of a Ballon Monte from the Siege of Paris sent home to Ireland. Also, a special note of thanks to John for once again taking care of the mounting and dismounting of the exhibits for the evening. The final Award of Merit went to Roger Brody for his exhibit entitled Jamestown 1907: Essays and Proofs. After his recent work on ‘In Cahoots’, we were unsure of what Roger would come up for this year. He finally went with a more traditional exhibit which featured Essay Drawings, Essay Die Proofs, Approval Die Proofs and Posthumous Die Proofs to complete the story of the beautiful Jamestown Issue.

Figure 4, One FrameWinning this year’s Friendship Cup was Ed Mendlowitz with his exhibit on Early Years as a Cover Collector and Dealer (1953 – 1967). To the best of my knowledge, this was Ed’s first attempt at a one frame exhibit, and he clearly caught the attention of the attendees. Ed chose to do a very personal exhibit telling the viewers about his personal joy in building a collection of United States Presidential Inauguration Day Covers. To capture his view of rarity and American history, he showed the Harry S Truman inauguration cover from April 12, 1945 shown in Figure 4. It was postmarked at Victory, VT on the appropriate day and signed by Mr. Truman. The inscription, which notes that Truman was the 33rd President of the United States, was corrected by Mr. Truman to the 32nd President, reflecting the fact that Cleveland served two nonconsecutive terms and Mr. Truman felt that he should not be counted twice. Malcolm Forbes previously noted that he possessed a document written by Truman stating this position, and Ed’s inauguration card confirms this view.

In Figure 5, One Frame Member Keith Stupell enjoys the J. W. Scott exhibit.
The most unusual exhibit in this year’s competition was presented by one J. W. Scott and it was entitled: 20th Century United States Gems and Rarities. This exhibit highlighted a number of ‘rarities’ that have yet to receive catalog recognition. Keith Stupell is shown in Figure 5 enjoying one of the pages in this exhibit. My eye was caught by pages 2, 3 and 4 of the exhibit which show the unreported no-capsule, double capsule and reversed capsule varieties of the of the 1962 Mercury Capsule stamp. This exhibit continued in this fashion for the full frame and provided a delightful ending to one of our most successful One Frame Exhibitions. Thank you Mr. J. W. Scott! As usual, awards will be presented at next May’s Awards Banquet