Competitions

 

We usually have five 9-sheet competitions during the year. Traditional(Stamps) and Postal History are held on the same night as are the Open(& Thematic) and Cinderella. The Postcard competition is held on its own with  the opportunity to display other postcards after the competition.

In the Open competition you can enter either an Open entry or a Thematic entry.

 

Maidenhead and District Philatelic Society

Rules for the 9-sheet Competitions

 

General: All exhibits need to include an introduction with a brief description of the material.

1. CLASSES

            (A) Traditional

Entries may be of a general or specialised nature and may include:-

Postage stamps used or unused, as singles or multiples and stamps used on cover to illustrate their postal usage.

Varieties e.g. watermark, gum, perforation, printing etc.; essays and proofs, both adopted and rejected.

Specialised items e.g. postal forgeries, postally used fiscal stamps .

Postal stationery, to illustrate an issue per se rather than routes, rates or markings.

Specimens - whether perfinned or overprinted (or hand-stamped).

Perfins can be included if they are official postal perfins only - as can  any other postal officials.

Airmail stamps, mint or used

            (B) Postal History

Entries should comprise a study of postal routes, rates, markings or marcophily (a study of cancellations or instructional and informative markings).

Entries that were formerly classified as ‘Social’, that are Postal History supplemented by relevant ephemera are now classified as Postal History.  The supplementary material must not comprise more than 50% of the exhibit.

            Aerophilately is included in the Postal History section for economic reasons and to save space and time.

Entries may include documents carried by air, official and semi-official stamps – mint and used and on cover, postal markings, vignettes, labels, leaflets, messages, and papers dropped from the air, mail recovered from accidents, relevant maps, photographs, and timetables.

            Exhibits which consist solely of airmail stamps will be accepted in the Traditional class (see above).

            (C) Thematic & Open

A Thematic collection, of which the exhibit is a part, develops a theme according to a plan, demonstrating the best knowledge of a theme or topic through the philatelic items chosen. For 9-sheet entries the plan may occupy less than one page.

The thematic collection uses all types of related appropriate philatelic material. Non-Philatelic items should not be included.

            Material should be included from a range of stamp issuing territories. Mint and used material should not normally be mixed on one sheet. Use of postal material other than stamps that is relevant to the theme (e.g. postmarks. postal stationery, proofs, essays, miniature sheets) is encouraged.

             Open - space and time forces the inclusion  here in the Thematic section.

An Open Class exhibit develops a subject according to the choice of the collector, giving them the total freedom to arrange it with the only limits being:

The introductory page(s) must include a plan of the exhibit.

        The philatelic material will cover at least 50% of the extent of the exhibit

         The non-philatelic material should be no thicker than 5mm to fit into standard exhibition frames.

         The material selected will ‘tell a story’.

             (D) Cinderella

Entries may consist of embossed, imprinted or adhesive stamps or labels, which were issued for Fiscal or Revenue purposes or other non-postal purposes or even stamps issued for postal purposes which were fiscally used. Entries may include documents bearing such stamps or labels or relating to the origin or usage of such stamps or labels.

All perfins (except for Officials - see Traditional) may be included here whether postally or fiscally used, school specimens or training stamps, testing labels, fakes and forgeries, National Insurance stamps, poster stamps, Christmas labels, Bogus stamps and local carriage labels.

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Everyone is now allowed to judge the exhibits on the understanding that no-one votes for their own entry.

 

No entry, which has won in any class over the previous five years, should be re-entered in that, or any other class,  unless it has been substantially altered or improved and proof of that change or alteration can be shown.

 

Only one entry per class is permitted for each member.

 

Maidenhead & District

Philatelic Society

February 2013