Advanced Philatelic Exhibiting

The standard unit of entry for competitive philately from Federation to International level, is the “frame”, which consists of sixteen sheets arranged in a four by four matrix (four sheets across by four rows down). This is exhibited with four “key sheets” in the centre, to which I shall refer later.

It would be logical for smaller competitions to consist of eight sheets, but there is no aesthetically pleasing way of arranging eight sheets. Accordingly most smaller competitions consist of nine sheets, arranged in a three by three matrix, which maintains the concept of a “key sheet”.

Federation competitions, certainly senior ones, consist of one frame (16 sheets), whilst National Competitions such as Stampex usually ask for two frames (32 sheets), and International Competitions of anything between five frames (80 sheets) for a first-time entrant to ten frames (160 sheets) for a previous gold medal winner. The size of these sheets is specified in the competition prospectus, and always includes the protective covering unless otherwise stated. You must submit the correct number of sheets for a competition and they must lie within the size parameters specified. Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law or philatelic judges. You must obtain a prospectus before you start to put together your entry, and read it carefully. It would be a pity to mount material on the wrong sized pages, for example, and have to start again.

Starting an exhibit is by far the most difficult step in my experience. I have found that the choice of subject tends to be straightforward – if I have enough material - I have a subject for competition! What I need to do initially is to assess what I have, and try to purchase items to fill obvious gaps. The planning now starts.

My first step is to draw a 4x4 (or 3x3) matrix on a piece of paper, and jot down in the squares what I propose mounting on the respective pages. There are several points to consider.

The first page should be a title page. This should briefly describe the background to the display, and might include a small map of postal routes, but probably would not include philatelic material. I have myself included an enlarged colour photograph of a stamp here, where the display is of stamps of identical design, or a postcard depicting the flag of the country being shown. Remember judges, despite what they say, do not read what you write, they word gaze, so make it brief and to the point, and that applies throughout, if you hope to get information across to a reader.

I referred earlier to “key pages”. These are the central page(s) of any frame and are the ones to which the eye is drawn first. This is where your best material should be at all costs. Never put your covers in the corners if you want them to be seen, since they could so easily be missed by the judges, unless of course that is all you are showing, or it is essential for “balance”, a point I shall refer to later.

Chronological order is not essential.

Overall balance must be considered whenever possible, but it is not always possible to achieve. In the overview, pages should be considered as part of a row of four.

Balance within a row is important and balancing the rows against each other is also important, but again compromises will have to be made. Few collectors have the resources to draw upon to enable the “ideal” exhibit to be put together, but what we all can do is consider these points within the limitations of our own material, and produce a plan which gives us the satisfaction of knowing that is the best we can do.

Once the plan is finished the work begins.

A standard page format must be decided upon. For myself, the title appears in bold letters on the title page and much less predominantly on the album pages. I try to achieve a balance in the writing up. I describe the contents at the top “18 February 1902: The Issued Stamps” or “16 March 1901: A Registered Cover from Mangua to Switzerland / via Panama and New York”. I have the same number of lines to write up at the foot of the page and I arrange my stamps and blocks so that there are the same number of rows on balanced pages (inner two, outer two, or all four).

It is considered “bad form” to point out key stamps, or describe items as “unique” or “rare”, because the judges are supposed to know what they are looking at. Certainly the further you go towards International exhibitions the more the judges are likely to know, but clearly they cannot know everything. A subtle approach is required to bring information to the attention of the judges. A thin frame could be drawn around key passages of text, or key stamps to make them stand out. Phrases such as “not many are known in this condition”, or “believed to be the only one know” are acceptable. “Unique” is a word which should be avoided since it is open to argument. Do not be afraid to point things out to the judges, especially if your speciality is not well know.

Avoid catalogue numbers; they are irrelevant. Your write up should include technical information as to paper, perforation, watermark and method of printing, but should avoid well known facts easily obtained from catalogues, since space is at a premium. Of more importance is the fact that “75,000 were printed” or “the cover is a triple rate letter” or “there was no postal need for that particular value”, especially if you have found that out for yourself. Philatelic knowledge is vital for success, and should be displayed at every opportunity.

At this point, trying to see an overall picture is difficult. I solved this problem by making my own “frame” from a sheet of hardboard and four strips of beading. I lean this against the wall, place the completed pages on it, and am able to get a clear idea of the overall impression that the frame will give the judges. I know of a collector who has five such frames, which enable him to see the whole of his exhibit simultaneously, and adjust the balance between frames.

I have covered what I believe are the general points of presentation. The mark allocated for presentation is, rightly I believe, relatively small, but a collector would be naïve to believe that presentation is simply about obtaining the mark allocation. Judging is at present, rather subjective and the presentation does, I feel, influence the judge’s attitude to other aspects of the display. Bad presentation can discourage a judge from looking too closely and can bias his views against the exhibit. It shouldn’t, but it probably will. It would be ideal if marks were criterion referenced, but we are a long way from that. In the meantime the introduction of a written and itemised mark allocation will go some way towards more objective judging.

Mike Birks