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By Roger S. Brody
P.O. Box 722, Westfield, NJ 07091-0722
The United States Stamp Society's most important award for 19th Century
exhibiting was won by Irv Heimburger of Evansville, IN at the
annual meeting exhibition at NAPEX 2000. Heimburger's exhibit, "The
First Ten Years of Bureau Issues," displayed the initial issues produced
by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The exhibit contained stamps
and postal history starting with the 1894 regular issue (First Bureau
Issue), the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition Issue, the 1901
Pan-American issue and the Series 1902 regular issue (Second Bureau
Issue).
Irv Heimburger is only the eleventh winner of The Southgate Trophy since
its inception in 1969. Heimburger received the sterling silver tray at
the NAPEX 2000 awards ceremony. Heimburger joins an elite list of
winners, the first of whom was Morton Dean Joyce, for his exhibit of
United States booklet panes at SEPAD.
It was first announced in the November, 1968 issue of The United States
Specialist that one of our members had offered to match the
BIA-Hopkinson Trophy, given for an exhibit of 20th Century U.S., with
one of equal stature for 19th Century United States stamps. George W.
Brett reported on page 424 in that issue as follows:
This award will be in honor of the memory of Hugh M. Southgate
(1871-1940), first President of the Bureau Issues Association and one of
its original founders. HMS, as he was affectionately known, was one of
the most respected researchers and writers of his day and his leadership
in philatelic circles brought great prestige to our Association. His
opinions and knowledge were eagerly sought by students and philatelic
writers everywhere. The Southgate Memorial Trophy is intended to
complement the Hopkinson award with one of equal distinction for most of
the U.S. field not covered by the latter. This matching award will be
given annually during the lifetime of the donor. The award will be
first offered in calendar year 1969. As with the Hopkinson, it will be
offered only at a national or international show as determined by the
Executive Committee; it may or may not be given at the same show as the
Hopkinson. Applications are welcome at any time from appropriate shows
and may be made to Morris Merkur, Secretary of the Association, for 1969
and succeeding years. Only members of this Association will be eligible
to compete for the Southgate award and they may win it only once. A
Hopkinson award winner, however, is not barred from receiving the
Southgate trophy for appropriate material, nor would a Southgate award
winner be ineligible for that reason to compete for the Hopkinson. For
the Southgate trophy to be earned there must be at least three eligible
exhibitors at the show where it is offered and the award is to be given
to the best exhibit, in the opinion of the judges, of those eligible.
While essentially, the Southgate award is to be given for an exhibit of
19th century U.S. stamps of any or all classes (provided they were
issued by the national government), it is intended that any related and
sequential 20th century material may be included in considering an
exhibit for the award. An example of this would be an exhibit where
most of the issues are 19th century but for which there may be a few
20th Century specimens necessary to show completion of the subject being
exhibited. Thus, the Southgate award differs from the Hopkinson as the
latter is awarded strictly on the basis of an exhibit's 20th century
U.S. content. The Southgate is intended to provide more leeway in the
judging with the desire that questions be resolved in favor of giving
the award, rather than not giving it.
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The Board of Governors, on behalf of the membership, extends
congratulations to Irv Heimburger.
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![[Irv Heimburger]](image/heimburger.jpg)