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Hong Kong 2009
Exhibition
Report from Linda Lee, MAP
Australian Commissioner
This FIAP Exhibition was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The air-conditioned venue was ample with space for dealers, exhibits and the Jury, Commissioners and Seminar rooms. The Show Organizer, the Hong Kong Philatelic Society is to be congratulated on a very successful FIAP Show. Between 14 to 17 May approximately 12,000 people visited HK2009 and most of the booth holders recorded good profit despite the downward trend in world economy.
The
Show's frames had doors which made them easy to open and mount
and dismount the exhibits. They were very secure with three locks
which required different keys to close. The Literature display
area also impressed Assistant Commissioner David Figg (pictured
right) and me. As the picture shows, the books were displayed
on shelves so that visitors could look at them, but they were
well secured to the stand by metal chains. It was a feature I would recommend to Australian Show Organizing Committees
as it is visitor friendly while being very secure.
There were a fair number of Australians at the Show including Paul Storm, John Au, Keith Emery and Peter Leitch. The Commissioners were asked to mount and dismount their own entries. David and I were helped by Gary Brown, Arthur Gray and the NZ Commissioners for completing the mounting of the Australian exhibits by late Wednesday night. For dismounting we were assisted by four teams and a Bin Room assistant dedicated to the Australian Commissioners. Thanks are due to Gary Brown, his daughter Melanie and son-in-law Nathan, Arthur Gray, Graeme and Gaye Chequer and Hong Kong Philatelic Society members for working as the "pull down" teams.
While Hong Kong 2009 did not have celebrities it did have a very unusual item in attendance - a block of glacial ice in front of the Greenland Stand. The ice block was genuine Artic glacier ice collected in South Greenland, transported to Denmark by Supply Ship and then shipped by air to Hong Kong. The arrival weight was 1,000 kgs. Here it is on arrival day!
Left: the
block of glacial ice in front of the Greenland Stand. Centre: Tasmanians Graeme and Gaye Chequer found it had
not shrunk much during its days at the Show! Right: The
proudest and biggest surprise for the Australians was Arthur Gray
winning the Grand Award and Gary Brown the Runners-Up Grand Award. They are
shown with Gary's daughter Melanie at the
Palmares dinner.
This was a limited class show with Traditional, Postal History, Thematics, Youth and One Frame classes only. The Australians did extremely well at this FIAP Show. Of the 15 exhibits accepted for Hong Kong 2009, 8 were awarded Special Prizes. There were 3 Large Gold Medals, 1 Gold Medal, 2 Large Vermeil Medals, 3 Vermeil Medals, 2 Large Silver Medals and 1 Silver Bronze Medal. The 3 One Frame Exhibits were given points but not medals. (See the APF website for full results). Geoffrey Lewis and Joan Orr won their Subject One Frame Class receiving Special Prizes. Youth Class exhibitors Joseph Snyder and Anita Orr won their age class and were awarded Special Prizes.
I was delighted to find that like Efiro 2008, the Jury Teams were available for critiques on the frames on the last day of the Show. David and I were able to get feedback on Traditional and Postal History Class exhibits and this has been given to the exhibiters. As the Thematic Philately Team Leader, Bernard Beston gave a comprehensive critique on the frames to Gaye and Graeme Chequer.
Special thanks to QANTAS kindly provided extra luggage allowances and the airports honoured these arrangements.
Australian Medal Results were as follows:
| Yung Benson | Tunisia, 18th Century to 1940 [Traditional - 5 frames] | Large Silver [78] |
| Arthur Gray | The George V Definitive Issues of Australia, 1913-1938 [Traditional - 8 frames] | Large Gold [96] + Grand Award |
| Michael Rhodes | Mexico Exporta 1975-1993 [Traditional - 5 frames] | Large Silver [76] |
| Gary Brown ** | Aden Postal History [Postal History - 8 frames] | Large Gold [96] +SP |
| Stephen Browne | The Postal History of New South Wales 1810-1849 [Postal History - 8 frames] | Large Gold [95] +SP |
| Ross Wood | Postal History of Nyasaland during the Reign of King George VI [Postal History - 5 frames] | Vermeil [81] |
| John Pugsley | Aspects of the Boer War 1899-1902 [Postal History - 8 frames] | Gold [92] +SP |
| Heinz Weingarten | Rates and Routes at the times of the German Reich Embossed Shield Issue, 1872-1875 [Postal History - 8 frames] | Large Vermeil [85] |
| Graeme & Gaye Chequer | About Orchids - A Chat [Thematics - 5 frames] | Vermeil [81] |
| Joseph Snyder | Australia: King George V 5d Brown Plate 3 [Youth - 3 frames] | Vermeil [83] +SP |
| Anita Orr | Lawn Tennis [Youth - 4 frames] | Large Vermeil [85] +SP |
| Ian McMahon | Listing of Australian Non-Denominated and Flat Rate Postal Stationery [Literature] | Silver-Bronze [68] |
| John DiBiaise | Australia: The Gowrie and Gloucester Red Cross Appeal Labels 1940-1945 [One Frame - Postal History] | [79] |
| Geoffrey Lewis | Hostilities in the Philippines, circa 1898 [One Frame - Postal History] | [90] +SP |
| Joan Orr | Black Swan Dreaming [One Frame - Thematics] | [83] +SP |
** Special Note: Gary Brown was the other candidate for the GRAND AWARD of the exhibition.
[ Journal Coverage: APF News, July 2009 ]