This year’s instance of the Great American Stamp Show took place adjacent to Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio at the Huntington Convention Center from the 10th to the 13th of August. The show was hosted jointly by the American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS), American Philatelic Society (APS), and the American Topical Society (ATS).
GASS is the American Philatelic Society’s annual, ultimate World Series of Philately (WSP) show at which exhibits that have won Multi-Frame Grand awards at other WSP shows during the preceding year may compete for the coveted Champion of Champions award. Only one exhibit wins the Champion of Champions award, all others win the Prix d’Honneur.
In addition to the judged awards, two sets of Most Popular awards are given based on viewer voting. The WSP entrants compete for the Most Popular Champion of Champions award; the runners up receive earn a Most Popular Prix d’Honneur award. Other exhibits compete for Most Popular in three categories; APS Stamp Show, Americover, and National Topical Stamp Show.
Nicholas Lombardi took top honors with “The 1903 Two Cent Washington Shield Issue”, winning the Benjamin & Naomi Wishnietsky Multi-frame Champion of Champions award. Nicholas’ exhibit had previously won the Grand at the Plymouth Show 2023. Vince King’s “In the Beginning…Timbromanie, The Proliferation of Postage Stamps Inspires a Collecting Revolution” won the Champion of Champions award in GASS 2022 in Sacramento.
World Series Prix d’Honneur awards were won by Tony Dewey for “The 3¢ Connecticut Tercentenary Issue of 1935 and its First Days”; Cheryl Ganz for “Zeppelins & the United States”; Leonard Hartmann for “Lithographed General Issues of the Confederate States of America”; Daniel Knowles for “The Handling of Mail in the Confederate States of America by the Confederate Government and Private Individuals from Secession to Appomattox”; Lester Lanphear, III for “U.S. Departmentals, 1873 to 1884”; Vernon Morris for “Evolution and Impact of Blood’s Local Post, 1842 to 1862”; Daniel Ryterband for “The U.S. 1847 Issue: America’s First Stamps”; and Ross Towle for “Chile Postal Stationery. Archival Items 1872-1924”.
Most Popular Prix d’Honneur awards were won by Tony Dewey for “The U. S. Alphabet-Denominated Rate-Change Series, 1978-1998” and “The 3¢ Connecticut Tercentenary Issue of 1935 and its First Days”; Nicholas Kirke for “The Evolution of Outbound Foreign Mail Cancelled in New York City 1845-1878”; and Daniel Knowles for “The Handling of Mail in the Confederate States of America by the Confederate Government and Private Individuals from Secession to Appomattox” and “The U. S. 1847 Issue: America’s First stamps”.
APS Stamp Show Awards
Nicholas Kirke won the Multi-Frame Grand award for “The Evolution of Outbound Foreign Mail Cancelled in New York City 1845-1878” (also Large Gold). Nicholas’ exhibit won the United States Classic Society’s and United States Stamp Society’s Statue of Freedom.
Vernon Morris won the Reserve Multi-Frame Grand award as well as Large Gold for “Evolution and Development of the USPO to 1799”.
The Stamp Show’s Most Popular Exhibit was won by Randy Smith with “Coping with Adversity: Confederate Covers in a time of paper shortage”; Randy’s exhibit also won Multi-Frame Large Gold and the American Philatelic Congress Award.
Multi-Frame Large Gold was won by Murray Abramson for “Geographic Expansion of Commercial US Mail to Foreign Destinations via Airmail (1920-41)” (also American Air Mail Society Award); James Allen for “The Rise and Fall of the Grand Trunk Railway – The Big Picture” (also the APS Research Medal); Tony Dewey for “The U.S. Alphabet-Denominated Rate-Change Series, 1978-1998” (also APS Post 1980 Medal of Excellence); Alfredo Frohlich for “Delaware Postal History 1732-1847”; Carey E. Johnson for “Evolution of Territorial Michigan: 1792-1837” (also the Philatelic Foundation Award for Research); Randy Smith for “Flag Covers Rallied Southern Pride in a New Nation”; Patricia Stilwell-Walker for “Baltimore Postal History: From Colonial Times until June 30, 1851” (also the Postal History Society Award); and Chip Gliedman for “A Postal History Map of the United States of America”.
Single-Frame Large Gold was won by Daniel Ryterband for “The 10₵ Copper Plate Engraved Stamps of the Rebel States”; Richard Taschenberg for “1861 Bicolor Envelope Usage – Unrecognized Rarity” (also the US Postal Stationary Society Best Single Frame); and Patricia Stilwell-Walker for “Ship Letter Rates of Ireland: Act of 1711 through Act of 1840” (also Universal Ship Cancellation Society Jesse Burgess Thomas Memorial).
National Topical Stamp Show Awards
Fran Adams won the NTSS Single-Frame Grand and Large Gold for “United Nations Special Committee on Palestine – 1947”.
Thomas Lera won NTSS Singe-Frame Vermeil for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”.
AFDCS Show Awards
Tony Dewey won the Americover Most Popular Award, Multi-Frame Large Gold, and the AFDCS Award of Excellence Hand Drawn/Hand Painted Cachets for “The Amazing Cachets of Tom Mueller”.
Ralph Naziger won Americover Multi-Frame Gold and the AFDCS Award of Excellence Modern Era 1946-1980 for “The 15¢ 1978 Viking Mars Issue”.
Literature Awards
Patricia Kaufman won Literature Gold for “A Cammann Imprint Discovery that Changed a Catalog Listing, Plus Insights on Dr. James T. Patterson”.
Robert Conley won Catalogs Large Gold for “New Mexico Territorial Postmark Catalog, 11th Edition”.
Dennis Sadowski won Columns Gold for “Stamp Collecting Column”.
Anthony Wawrukiewicz (posthumously) won Handbooks Large Gold and the APS Research Medal for “The Uses of U.S. Postage Due Stamps and Their Substitutes, 1879-2023”.
Photos courtesy the APS.
