Exhibition Report from Ian McMahon, Australian Commissioner

Bangkok 2007 was an FIAP exhibition held in Bangkok from 3-12 August 2007. The exhibition included all FIP classes in addition to a One-Frame Class.

The exhibition ran for 10 days, to cover two weekends. The decision to cover two weekends was clearly justified for Thailand Post and the local dealers with very large crowds attending on both weekends. HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn opened the Exhibition.

Venue

The Exhibition was held in a large Convention Hall, the Royal Paragon Hall, on the fifth floor of the Siam Paragon, a major modern shopping centre in Siam Square in the heart of Bangkok's shopping district. The Venue was large and spacious with easy access from Bangkok's Skytrain.

Thailand Post

The Exhibition was very heavily supported and promoted by Thailand Post which had a number of stands selling stamps, personalised stamps, special issues and other products including a 'post shop'. All stands were well attended by visitors eagerly buying recent and new issues and completing their exhibition passports. A number of issues were released for the exhibition including sets of stamps and miniature sheets depicting Thai art in line with the Exhibition's theme 'the Art of the Kingdom'. An issue commemorating the 20th anniversary of ASEAN was released during the exhibition, with the designer of the stamps being present to autograph covers.

Pictorial postmarkers were provided for each day of the Exhibition with the cancellers available for visitors to use. Post services were also provided.

Dealers and Postal Administrations

Dealers were primarily limited to Thai dealers with only a few overseas dealers in attendance. The Thai dealers were primarily limited to selling modern Thai material but were well patronised by visitors. Almost 20 overseas postal administrations were represented including Australia Post and New Zealand Post. Australia Post released a Sydney Harbour Bridge miniature sheet overprinted for the exhibition. As was the case for one of the Sydney Stamp Expo 2007 miniature sheets, both stamps on the miniature sheet were perforated. New Zealand Post also issued a miniature sheet for the Exhibition. As for Thailand Post, the overseas postal administrations were also very busy with visitors seeking stamps and postmarks for their exhibition passports. The Philatelists Association of Thailand also had a stand, selling their excellent publications on Thai philately.

Exhibits

Bangkok 2007 had 881 frames of competitive entries with large traditional and postal history classes, a strong revenue class and over 30 one-frame exhibits. One innovation of the one-frame class was that exhibits could comprise up to 3 frames. Only one exhibitor took advantage of this.

Palmares

The Palmares was held in the Ballroom at the Arnoma Hotel, not far from the Siam Paragon. Medals of all levels were awarded to exhibitors who were present along with the Grand Awards.

The Grand Prix D'Honneur was awarded to Shin Jen Chen for his exhibit "Empress Dowager Jubilee and its Surcharges", the Grand Prix International to Mario Que for "Phillippine: King Alfonso XIII" and the Grand Prix National to Charnchai Karnasuta's Development of Early Post Offices in Siam (1880-1909). Three large gold and 21 gold medals were awarded. Ian McMahon was Australian commissioner with David Figg assistant commissioner.

Traditional