The 2002 annual show for the SHP was held on May 31 - June 2, at the McLean Hilton Hotel in Tyson's Corner, Virginia. This was the first participation at this show by our Society; and, overall, I was quite pleased with the facility, the venue, and results of the Society exhibits. NAPEX was also the annual show for our sister society, the Society for Czechoslovak Philately (SCP). We shared adjoining society tables, participated in a joint breakfast and were invited to a ‘decompression’ cookout at our member’s (Henry Hahn) home on Sunday evening after the show’s closing.

Although I overheard comments from other attendees that they did not like the hotel setup because of the cut-up rooms for the dealers, I considered it to be more intimate. The arrangement permitted us to share stories between the society and dealer tables (Fall River Stamp & Coin was a riot!), enabled us to see the wonderful youth table activities that occurred right next to us and gave us hope that philately won’t die out with the future generation. I especially liked the exhibit hall where the spacing of the frames permitted sufficient room to view the noted exhibits and lighting seemed sufficiently bright to me. On the outer edge, the dealers’ tables surrounded the hall and permitted easy traffic for purchases, browsing or just people-watching.

As with any show, problems arise, and this year was no exception. The temperature was up and down at the society table making it uncomfortable for guests during the hot cycles. Coordination by the organizers before the start of the show could not arrange for a cost-effective, joint breakfast between SHP and SCP, so it was recommended that folks just join together at breakfast tables in the restaurant. In retrospect, this was a disaster. The server staff’s confusion on producing checks left everyone with a poor impression on running an effective restaurant. Unfortunately, your president missed this opportunity, and the society awards were supposed to be presented at a special joint ceremony after the breakfast. Another mix-up occurred when the NAPEX awards committee distributed the SHP society awards at the Saturday evening banquet instead. But, all was well that ends well. The Society awards were simply outstanding to view and went to the best SHP exhibitors as reflected separately in this report.

Activity at the SHP membership table was very active on Friday, the opening day, but slower as each day went on with virtually no traffic by Sunday. Many members stopped by for a chat, viewed and purchased our first-ever presentation of the binding editions, and helped educate many on their own philatelic research. Of special interest was a gentleman who collected revenues from obscure areas, and he described the private courier mail stamps created for Col. Harry Bandholtz’s mail service in 1920 from Budapest. I have asked this gentleman to compose an article on this for our readers. I also want to thank my wife Annette for manning the society table the entire three days and for encouraging everyone who stopped by to sit awhile and chat. We encourage others to assist at the society table at future shows.

A General Membership Meeting was held on Friday, and every member of the Society that was at the show attended! We had great participation in discussing the society activities; future goals and how to further encourage others to attend our annual meetings. The preservation of the invaluable research performed by all exhibitors and displayed in their exhibit is of continued. As we all get older and start to sell off collections or age overcomes us, much of this information is often lost. We discussed the potential scanning or copying of exhibits. Although some members are not always comfortable with this, it is a project that we would love to pursue. How to do it is a different problem. We hope that we can discuss this further to preserve this wonderful research as a society for the future of Hungarian philately. Do you have any suggestions on this?

Future projects and opportunities were also discussed at the membership meeting. Paul Szilagyi volunteered to be the Society Coordinator for our participation in the FIP Washington 2006. Paul has recommended that we celebrate the 150th anniversary of independent Hungarian Post during the 2006 show, and he will attempt to organize some extra activities including contact with the Hungarian Post Office for potential stamp issue for the event. Details will follow as we solidify them.

Now, for an important part of all stamp shows - how the society did in exhibiting! This year, we had the opportunity to request a judge who was familiar with Hungarian material in order to better educate the jury on the importance of our Society exhibits. Our choice was life member Kalman Illyefalvi. Thank you, Kalman, for supporting our Society and for assisting us in our quest to bring the importance of Hungarian philatelic material and exhibits to the philatelic world.
The exhibitors’ results were as follows.

Court of Honor: Henry Hahn, Czechoslovakia - The First Republic (1918-1938);
Gold medal and SHP Best Hungarian Exhibit Award: Stephan I. Frater, M.D., The Stampless Mail in Hungary, 1700-1850;
Gold medal: Thomas Phillips, The So-called Envelope Issue of Hungary, 1874-1899;
Alfred F. Kugel, The Breakup of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, 1918-1923;
Vermeil medal: Dr. Paul J. Szilagyi, The Stamps of Western Hungary (Lajtabánság), 1921-1922;
Jan Verlag (non-SHP member), Postal History of the Carpatho-Ukraine, 1700-1850;
Silver medal: Steven Arato, Gifts of the Hungarian Post / A Magyar Posta Ajándékai;
Single Frame, Vermeil medal and SHP Best Hungarian Single Frame Award: Alfred F. Kugel, Austro-Hungarian Naval Aviation on the Adriatic;
Single Frame, Vermeil medal: Alfred F. Kugel, Austria-Hungary’s Vistula Flotilla in World War I.

Overall, I felt the show was a great success and I thank the exhibitors for their participation and support of the Society. Each year we continue to make our Society more visible to the philatelic world and your president appreciates the support of all.

It was wonderful to share time with SHP members again, thank you all for coming and participating. I look forward to meeting you all again next year at STAMPSHOW 2003 in Columbus OH and hope more society members join us and see what fun this is.

H. Alan Hoover

Used with permission from the Editor