By Raymus Wahlang
SHILLONG: It t is heartening to learn that the Department of Posts in Meghalaya is organizing a State level philatelic exhibition-“MEGHAPEX 2014” from February 19-21 2 in Anton Hall, Laitumkhrah, Shillong.
This philatelic exhibition in Shillong comes within a span of barely two years with the last one “NEPEX 2012″ held from 27th to 29th February 2012. For a budding philatelist, there is no greater joy than to know that a ‘philatelic exhibition’ is just round the corner.
Before we take a closer look at how to display one’s collections in a philatelic exhibition, let us bear in mind that Philately is a very personal hobby and maybe purely for one’s own pleasure and satisfaction. If that is the case then one does not need to exhibit his collection. However, it may also be the goal of many collectors to exhibit their collection and win appreciation or even a trophy at the exhibition.
Normally one loves to display one’s collection to friends and explain the basics of the collections. But if a collector wishes to submit his collection to a formal exhibition, then his stamps should speak for themselves. For this, one requires to display his collection in an ‘exhibit”.
The exhibit basically consists of a number of loose leaf standard album pages with stamps/philatelic material. In addition the exhibitor should also incorporate in his exhibits, a written introduction and a general plan, all with a view to impress the visitors and also the juror. Great care is therefore, required while preparing the exhibits, so that one can display one’s chosen field of study/theme or type of collection in the most effective way. There are two types of exhibitions: non-competitive and competitive. In the first type, there are few restrictions. However in the competitive exhibitions, certain rules and regulations are followed.
Competitive exhibitions require hard work, imagination and some expenses to incur as well. Competitive exhibitions may again be divided into four classes/levels: (i) Society exhibitions (ii) State/Zonal/Regional exhibitions (iii) National exhibitions and (iv) International/Global exhibitions. In any of above exhibitions the ‘exhibits’ are assessed and judged by the members of the Jury based on certain criteria which includes: Presentation, Plan, Personal Study and Research, Philatelic material and Knowledge, Conditions and Rarity of Material Displayed.
Points in a scale of 1 to 100 marks are awarded and different medals are presented to the deserving participants based on the points earned. For instance 60 points entitles a participant to a bronze medal and 95 points earns the ultimate gold medal. However, the final decisions for awarding a particular medal is based on the report of the ‘jury’ depending upon the quality of the exhibits displayed and the class and standard of the exhibition itself. Therefore it is very important to carefully plan and display one’s stamp exhibits in a competitive exhibition to ensure a win.
Philately today embraces different types of collections which are classified into several branches such as traditional philately, postal history, aero-philately, thematic philately, fiscal philately, maximaphilly and others. Amongst them two of the most popular collections are Traditional Country Collection and Thematic Collection.
MEGHAPEX 2014 invites entries not only in both but in the general collection (free to display in any manner) as well, essentially to encourage and to accommodate amateurs and professionals alike.
Philately has undergone great changes, from a simple hobby of accumulating postage stamps and filling up an album pages to a challenging task of competing in an exhibition. (By Raymus Wahlang, a renowned philatelist of the Northeast)