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Cinderella Stamp Congress 2016

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Steve View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Cinderella Stamp Congress 2016
    Posted: 17 August 2016 at 09:03
Is anybody here going to this FREE event?
London - Royal Philatelic Society
Evening of Friday 16th to afternoon of Sunday 18th Sept

Friday 5-8pm reception and displays
Saturday am Revenues
        pm Swedish Cinds
        5pm Auction
Sunday   am Poster stamps and local
        pm various

I may go for Sat afternoon and Sun morning
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Colin View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Colin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 September 2016 at 12:18
So - is anyone else going?  And which day(s)?


My Etsy shop - FarFetchedPhilately - new 'stuff' coming soon...




https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FarFetchedPhilately

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Steve View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 September 2016 at 05:09
This September saw the 1st International Cinderella Stamp Congress, arranged by the Cinderella stamp Club. It was held at the HQ of the Royal Philatelic Society in London, and was well attended with many delegates from overseas. Not only were the Scandinavian countries well represented, but some came from North America too. I only attended the Saturday, but this provided two interesting sessions, a chance to see what a handful of dealers had to offer, and stay afterwards for the ‘live’ part of this year’s CSC stamp auction.

The RPS building and some of their museum exhibits

The morning session featured Revenues by Ed Hitchings of the Revenue Society of GB. These stamps were considered ‘fair game’ for philatelists 140 years ago, but were discretely dropped by the major catalogues in the 20th century. Now we know that some collectors won’t touch anything that isn’t listed by Gibbons or Scott, so revenues dropped out of fashion. Ed made a valid point, which I whole-heartedly agree with, that one should collect whatever you like and not be bound to artificial constructs. If it looks like a stamp then it is a stamp! It was said the many philatelists are shy to reveal their hobby to strangers, yet when he explains that he collects revenue stamps and what they are, people get interested. They do have a definition of what constitutes a revenue stamp XXXXX, but by this opens up a world of possibilities for collectors. Take a look at www.revenuesociety.org.uk to see the range of what they consider be collectable revenues.
The removal of revenues from catalogues means that they are often comparatively inexpensive compared to postage stamps of the same country and period. Yet, frequently the same designers and security printing companies are used. One can collect some quite magnificent Victoria head revenues surface printed at a fraction of the equivalent postage stamps. The other message that came across was that revenues in particular and cinderellas in general can often provide something new. Buy a mixed lot, go through them and you can find things not in the specialised catalogues and listing. Rare items can be picked up for pennies. Of course that does not make them valuable, just nice to have.


After refuelling in a local and traditional hostelry, for the afternoon Lars Liwendahl of Bältespännaren, the Swedish Cinderella stamp club, gave a presentation on Swedish local stamps. Not locals in that someone has ‘invented’ a postal service that doesn’t really exist, but real ones which made up for deficiencies in the Swedish postal service at various points in time. Very often they undercut the cost of postage considerably, to the point where the postal service had to ‘up’ their game, and remove the need for a local post. There were examples from towns across Sweden, with some equivalent to the Circular Posts that operated in late 19th century UK cities. They even managed to combine all the themes for the day with some local town municipal tax stamps on display.


Both sessions were well illustrated by stamps with stamp displays from the society members. Collectors in the audience also had a chance to show their own displays and give a 5-10 talk about them. The free souvenir gifts weren’t quite to my collecting taste unfortunately (a miscellaneous selection of labels and repro sheets of wartime Guernsey stamps), but I got some that were from the dealer stands.
One problem I have had with the annual CSC postal auction is that when you have an unillustrated catalogue of 1000+ lots, with only a couple of lines of text, you cannot really judge what to bid on. My collecting covers not only some specific subjects, but also items that catch my eye. A lot described as “World Cinderellas in stockbook, good mix 250+ some duplication” would always be a case of pot luck. This meeting gave me the chance to view the 300 lots that were being auctioned at the end of the day. I put a tick next to more than I normally do. However even as we sat down for Lot #1 the fire alarm went off. Someone had accidentally opened a downstairs fire door! It was a case of waiting on the pavement for 30 minutes while they shut that alarm and the burglar alarm off. Once going though, the auction was quite lively, and unfortunately there were others interested in the same items as myself, and they went for quite a bit over the low reserves. With a few lots still to go I decided best to catch the train home.
Would I go again? It probably wasn’t the event for everybody here, but I found it worth it. It was a chance to meet a few people, some of whom I recognised by name. A second congress was suggested with heavy hints that Stockholm should be the host. I doubt if I would go that far, even if seeing a bit of Sweden tagged on was an option. But another in London would be a possibility. I might even put up a few frames of stamps for the displays.
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Joolz View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Joolz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 September 2016 at 11:51
Thanks for the report, Steve. Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Londonbus1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 September 2016 at 22:29
I have just returned from London, so when I am organized with things here I will post another report on the Congress from a different point of view.
I was there for all 3 days and hopefully my images will be OK to post up here.
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