Congratulations and thanks to Francis Ferguson who retired after 20 years of service as chair of the FLOREX show following their December show. FLOREX is one of about 30 national, often referred to as World Series of Philately (WSP), exhibitions accredited by the American Philatelic Society.
Ferguson agreed to assume the show chair duties from Phil Fettig in 2002, and in 2003 the decision was made to build the show back up and apply for re-accreditation as a WSP event, which was approved in 2008.
In addition to serving as FLOREX show chair, Ferguson has served as the Florida Stamp Dealers Association president, the Central Florida Stamp Club president, and the Florida Postal History Society president. Next year, FLOREX will be held December 2-3. Thanks also to Mike Schumacher, who is assuming the duties of show chair.
The 2021 FLOREX was held December 3-5 and included meetings of the Canal Zone Study Group, the Florida Postal History Society, the Florida Stamp Dealers Association, the Germany Philatelic Society Chapter 23 and the United States Philatelic Classics Society. The exhibition included about 30 dealers and around 40 competitive exhibits. The multi-frame grand award was won by Juan L. Farah for his exhibit “Great Britain Penny Red Stars 1850-1864.” Ladd Faszold received the multi-frame reserve grand for “A Penny Saved … Coating Postal Cards for Reuse, 1876-1902.” Brian Callan took home the single frame grand award for “Electric Telegraph Company Stamps 1846 – 1870” and show attendees gave the People’s Choice Award to Robert Fisher for “The Story of FLOREX.”
Ladd Faszold, mentioned in the FLOREX winners above, wrote thanking me for mentioning the United Postal Stationery Society Champion of Champion (C-of-C) awards announced at Philatelic Show. Because of the pandemic, there were actually two C-of-C competitions at the show. The individuals mentioned in the November column were for 2020. The 2021 C-of-C awards were: multi-frame to “Persia, Qajar Postal Stationery, Issued 1876-1925,” by Behruz Nassre-Esfahani; and single frame to “Singular Postal Cards: Created by Production Anomalies,” by Ladd Faszold.
From left, Len Piszkiewicz and Nick Lombardi, with Joann and Kurt Lenz.
In my December column I mentioned the passing of Stanley Piller who was the president of the American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA). Two individuals contacted me suggesting that I should have shared the name of the new ASDA president. Longtime dealer, past APS dealer representative and APS Summer Seminar instructor and auctioneer Irv Miller moved up from vice president to be the new ASDA president. Former ASDA Secretary Scott Shaulis is now vice president. Tracy Carey, one of their board directors, is the new secretary; and former APS Young Philatelic Leadership Fellow Charles Epting was elected to fill the vacancy as director.
Philately is blessed to have a number of couples in which both spouses provide tremendous support to the hobby. Many APS members would recognize the names Dan and Pat Walker or Nancy and Doug Clark. Unfortunately, the hobby has lost part of another such power team. Kurt Lenz, spouse and philatelic partner of Joann Lenz, passed away in December.
Until a few years ago Kurt and Joann were regulars at many national philatelic shows as exhibitors and seminar presenters who often would be found staffing the booth of the United States Stamp Society or other philatelic organizations. Their exhibits included “The 6¢ Theodore Roosevelt Definitive Stamp 1955-1968,” “U.S. Test Stamps Related to the B.E.P. (ca. 1907-1959),” which won at least one single frame grand, and “U.S. Postal Counterfeits from 1894 to the Modern Times,” which was done jointly with Rich Drews and John Hotchner.
Kurt and Joann were also members of the “Ugly Shirt Club” (with others including Irv Miller, mentioned above) which were often worn on the Sunday of philatelic events. Kurt also was a member of the APS fundraising Campaign for Philately Committee and he and Joann made a major donation to help fund the Liberty Series Reading Lounge in the American Philatelic Research Library. Kurt will be much missed.