Show Report: New York Mega Show March 15-18, 2007

The Spring Mega Event was once again held in Madison Square Garden in the heart of Manhattan.  The show floor was occupied by 83 dealers, five postal administrations, and eight societies, including the United States Stamp Society.  Our booth was staffed throughout the four days of the show and served as both a meeting place for current members as well as a means of attracting new members.  Our Society banner along with a display of our current books, reprints, and past copies of The Specialist made an attractive showing and resulted in the recruitment of two new members along with good publication sales figures.

The Spring Mega Event is a World Series of Philately show and featured 30 exhibits contained in 160 frames.  Inasmuch as the show hosted a joint meeting of the Philatelic Group of Greater Southern Africa and the British Empire Study Group, the majority of the exhibits related to these areas.  There were, however, two exhibits that contained very nice U.S. material.  Frank Acevedo showed Puerto Rico Early Postal History, which contained many terrific U.S. pieces.  The exhibit received a Gold Medal along with the APS Pre-1900 Medal of Excellence.  Carl Shaff II presented an eight-frame exhibit titled Used Plate Numbers of the U.S.-Nineteenth Century.  One of many eye-catching pieces shown was a complete used sheet, including selvage, of the 1¢ 1895 Perf 12 DL watermark issue.  In addition to a Vermeil Medal, Mr. Shaff garnered the USSS Statue of Freedom Award.

The U.S. Postal Service issued new stamps on each of the first two days of the show.  On Thursday, March 15th, a formal first day of issue ceremony was held for the release of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow commemorative, the 23rd stamp in the Literary Arts Series.  The following day, March 16th, saw the unceremonious issuance of the sheet stamp versions of the 1¢ Tiffany Lamp and the 3¢ Silver Coffee Pot definitive stamps of the American Design Series.  There was no first day ceremony for either of these two stamps, although first day of issue cancels were available.  Coil versions of each stamp had previously been issued during 2003 and 2005, respectively.

Overall, the attendance seemed to be a little lower than expected, probably due to a nasty snow and ice storm that lasted all day Friday and had people still digging out for a good part of Saturday.  A number of dealers, however, said that Thursday, the first day of the show, was so busy that they didn't mind the smaller Friday and Saturday crowds.  The final day, Sunday, seemed typical for the last day of a four day show.  All in all, both dealers and show management seemed pleased with the results.

As mentioned earlier, our booth was a popular place for members to get together and exchange information.  Although most of those who stopped by were from the immediate area, we were pleased to meet members from as far away as Florida and California.  Those visiting the booth included: