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2025 Tony Dewey Passes

Anthony Francis (“Tony”) Dewey passed away Monday, April 14, 2025 at the young age of 69, after a four-year battle with cancer. He was born in Hartford and was an Eagle Scout. He studied Software Engineering at U. Conn. and married Martha O’Brien in 1982. His daughter, Hannah Elizabeth (Miles), born in 1991, was the “sunshine of his life”.
 
Tony had a special place in his heart for our hobby. He was a respected and successful collector, exhibitor, published author, mentor, accredited philatelic judge and an unrepentant “mug hunter”. Most recently he won the George Brett Cup and accomplished a philatelic hat-trick – winning the multi- and single frame Grands as well as the multi-frame Reserve at a single show.
 
He focused on Connecticut and on Hartford, where he lived. His Postal History of Hartford, Connecticut was consistently a Large Gold winner and competed for the Champion of Champions more than once. He was also very active in First Day Cover events, and his Connecticut Tercentenary followed the same path as his Hartford Exhibit. Most recently, he exhibited a specialized and particularly beautiful FDC collection of Tom Mueller cachets.
 
Besides his love of philately, and his family, he was especially fond of cats. Tony had a full life but often noted that was happiest at home with a cat on his lap.
 
Tony will be very much missed.

Society Events at NAPEX 2025

The US Philatelic Classics Society is holding its annual meeting at NAPEX this year. The meeting runs June 6th to the 8th at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner. This year’s theme is the 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord so expect appropriately themed exhibits and presentations. For show-specific information, please visit NAPEX2025.
 

Society-specific presentations have been finalized:
• “The Postal Crisis of 1775” by Vernon Morris 1-2pm, Friday June 6th
• “Free Franks of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence” by Ed Siskin, 1-2pm Saturday June 7th
• “Colonial Postal History 1639 – 1781” by Tim O’Connor, 2-3pm Saturday June 7th
• “Myths and Realities of the American Revolution” by Randal Flood*, 11am-12pm, Sunday June 8th
 

* Randal Flood is Host and Executive Producer of The Real American Revolution Multimedia Center & Consortium for Civic Education; established to educate the American people about what really happened during our American Revolution. Randy is producing a documentary about the Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route in Virginia, which includes fifteen of the most publicly accessible sites along the Route from Mount Vernon to Yorktown. He teaches over 40 classes about the American Revolution with a particular focus on offering professional development certifications to help Virginia History and Social Science teachers educate their students about our early American heritage.
 

The Society’s Board of Director’s meeting will be held 8-10am, Saturday June 7th.
The Annual Member Meeting will be held immediately after, 10-11am, Saturday June 7th.

 
The USPCS will hold a dinner jointly with the American Revenue Association and the State Revenue Society. The dinner will take place June 6th starting at 6:30 PM. The cost will be $79 per person, which includes appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert.
 
Location

Maggiano’s Little Italy Tysons Corner 2001 International Dr. McLean, VA 22102

Menu
Appetizers: Tomato Bruschetta (v), Truffle & Honey Whipped Ricotta (v), and Crab Cakes
Maggiano’s Salad (GF)

Entrees: Spaghetti Marinara (v), Rigatoni “D”, Beef Medallions, Salmon (GF)

Dessert: NY Style Cheese Cake, Warm Apple Crostada (v)

Non-alcoholic drinks are included, and a cash bar will be available
(The dinner will be served family style, so no need to make a selection now)
 
To reserve your spot for the dinner, mail your check to:
USPCS
Wayne Farley
1 Westwood Drive, Unit 304,
Saint Clairsville, OH 43950-1053
 
Seating is limited and payment secures your spot, so reserve early. All checks need to be mailed by June 1. If you have questions or need to arrange for an electronic payment option, please reach out to Wayne Farley at cwfarley@aol.com or Scott Steward at scott_steward@hotmail.com .
 
 
Stay tuned for updates as the details about other Society events are defined.

2025 March St. Louis Stamp Expo

Society member Dan Knowles took the Multi-frame Grand Award with his “The Handling of Mail in the Confederate States of America by the Confederate Government and Private Individuals from Secession to Appomattox” (also Multi-frame Large Gold, the AAPE Treatment Presentation Award and the USPCS Medal).
 

Two other members won Multi-frame Large Gold:

  • William/Bill Johnson for “James William Denver – The Man and His Times” (also the ATA First Award).
  • J. James Maxwell for “The Erie Canal and its Offspring” (also the American Philatelic Congress Award).

In addition to his Large Gold, H. James Maxwell won Single-frame Gold for his “Nationalist China’s Last Commemoratives”.
 

Gus Clark won Single-frame Large Vermeil for “Sustaining Postal Service Amid Political Turmoil in Hawaii—1893”.
 

And two members won Single-frame Large Silver for their exhibits:

  • Nathan Esbeck for “Terror in the Mail: The 2001 Anthrax Attacks” (also the Women Exhibitors Sterling Achievement Award).
  • Dr. Bruce Wasserman for “The Rapid Censorship of Civilian Mail in WWII”.

2025 Garfield-Perry Awards

The 2025 edition of the Garfield-Perry March Party took place 14-16 March at its usual venue in Strongsville, Ohio – just outside Cleveland.
 

Multi-frame Grand went to Alfredo Frohlich for “United States of Colombia 1868-1881” (also Multi-frame Large Gold and the Dale Pulver Award for Best Foreign Exhibit).
 

Multi-frame Reserve Grand went to Tony Dewey for “The U. S. Alphabet-Denominated Rate-Change Series 1978-1998” (also Multi-frame Large Gold; the US Stamp Society Statue of Freedom Medal; and the USSS Southgate Memorial Trophy).
 

Single-frame Grand went to Mark Schwartz for “Carrier Service at Boston: 1821-1863” (also Single-frame Large Gold; Garfield-Perry Award for Best US Exhibit; and the Garfield-Perry Award for Best Postal History Exhibit).
 

Four members won Multi-frame Large Gold for their exhibits:

  • Mark Schwartz for “Independent Mail and Express Company Operations at Boston: 1843-5” (also the American Philatelic Congress Award).
  • William Fort for “Pan American Airlines FAM-5 Air Mail Routes 1929-1945” (also the APS Medal of Excellence 1940-1980 and the American Airmail Society Award).
  • Leonard Hartmann for “Confederate States of America: Lithographed General Issues” (also the APS Research Medal).
  • John Hotchner for “The U. S. CIPEX Souvenir Sheet of 1947: Development, Production, First Days and Contemporary Use” (also the Collectors Club of Chicago Gold Medallion).

For additional members won Multi-frame Gold:

  • Robert Meegan for “United States Domestic Letter Rates from the Act of 1792 to October 1, 1883”.
  • David Mayo for “The U.S. 2¢ Columbian of 1893”.
  • Wayne Farley for “West Virginia in the Confederacy”.
  • Randolph Smith for “Civil War Washington as Seen Through the Drawings of Charles Magnus, Lithographer” (also the AAPE Creativity Award).

Finishing up the multi-frame awards, Thomas Richards won Multi-frame Vermeil for “Mary Pickford (America’s Sweetheart)”.

 

 

William Schultz won Single-frame Large Gold for “Barr-Fyke Machine Cancel – 1899 to 1901 – Westchester, PA.” (also the Machine Cancel Society Award).
 

Two members won Single-frame Gold:

  • Leonard Hartmann for “Jean de Sperati Fake Stamps and Cancellations of the Confederate States of America Stamps”.
  • John Hotchner for “Designing The U.S. Hummingbird Issue of 1992”.

Scott Pendleton’s “Uses of the 1902 Second Bureau 15 Cents Henry Clay” won Single-frame Large Vermeil.
 

Two members won Single-frame Vermeil:

  • Kenneth Nilestuen for “The Era of the Algerine Corsairs, 1597 – 1830”.
  • William Armstrong for “BALLOON MAIL Flights that failed”.

2025 YPLF

The American Philatelic Society runs a program called the Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship (YPLF) with the aim of encouraging and developing philatelic participation. The US Philatelic Classics Society has been a co-sponsor of the YPLF since the program’s inception in 2009. The Society provides some funding and our members provide mentoring and advice to individual fellows.

 

The YPLF is focused on “young adult philatelists between the ages of 16 and 24” and has 6 possible tracks of participation each of which culminates in completion of a project presented at a stamp show:

 

• Author – Choose a philatelic topic, write 2 articles for publication and create one multi-media presentation
• Curator – Create a museum-style exhibit
• Dealer – Develop a business plan
• Analytic – Conduct 1-3 technical research activities related to philately
• Designer – Create 8 different, original cachets and to present at a national stamp show
• Exhibitor – Build a philatelic exhibit around a topic and that tells a story

 

Each project demonstrates the expertise and skills developed during the fellowship.

 

Fellows are assigned a mentor who assists their development by providing advice, counsel, and introduction to relevant expertise and materials. Also, Fellows attend one or more national stamp shows to both further their development and to show the results of their efforts.

 

Over the course of the program, The Society has sponsored 9 Fellows
2025 – Sjon Brejtfus – Dealer Track
2024 – Theodore Rosenberg – Author/Analytic Track
2023 – Bethany Hunter – Author Track
2019/23 – Victor Livesay – Dealer Track, Alfredo Frohlich Fellow, sponsored by Alexander Haimann
2016 – Evan Schlosser – Author Track
2015 – Charles Epting – Author Track
2014 – Sabrina McGill – Author Track
2013 – Casey Cook – Dealer Track
2012 – Alex Gill – Dealer Track
2011 – John Phillips – Exhibitor Track
2010 – Melissa Stanton – Author Track

 

Alex Gill (YPLF 2012) represents one of the many positive outcomes of the YPLF Program. Just after his college graduation, he served on the expert committee for The Philatelic Foundation in New York City. He has also served as editor-in-chief of two philatelic publications, Across The Fence Post and the Wisconsin Badger Postal History Journal, both issued to stamp collectors across his home state of Wisconsin.

 

Our members have actively served as mentors and sponsors of individual Fellows. One measure of the success of the program is the transition of Fellows to membership in the USPCS.

 

Applications for the class of 2026 are now being accepted [closing date is 15 May]. If you know someone whom you think would be a good fit for the program, please recommend them or encourage them to apply. Instructions and forms are available here: https://stamps.org/learn/youth-in-philately.

 

If you want to directly assist with the program, please reach out to Sarah Aldrich at education@stamps.org.

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