eBay Users' Stamp Club meeting Nov 21-23: “Displays, exhibits, presentations”

[sheryll*net]

*** eBay Users' Stamp Club ***

Please join us for our monthly meeting on “Displays, exhibits, presentations: how do you show off your collection?”

from any time on Friday Nov 21 till midnight PST on Sunday Nov 23.

Displays, exhibits, presentations: how do you show off your collection?

Many of us store our items in albums, stockbooks or Vario/Hagner sheets (and sometimes shoeboxes). But if you are wanting to share your collection with others at club meetings, stamp shows or as part of a presentation, you may want to make it a little more fancy looking.

Tell us how you show off your collection:

• Do you use special paper, protectors, or stamp mounts?
• Do you add illustrations, photos, postcards or ephemera?
• Do you just show groups of similar items or do you tell a story?
• What else do you do?

Anne and I will be decorating the balcony with ornately designed stamps with matching covers. A set of 16-page exhibit frames will be set up for those who’d like to display their collection and give viewers a run-down of the techniques used.

Japanese hors d’oeuvres will be available to show you how important presentation can be.

See you then!

Sheryll and Anne
eUSC 2014 Co-Presidents sheryll*net (Sheryll in OR) and abt1950 (Anne in NJ)

[rfaux]

Sheryll,

I like the Hammarskjold page very much.  while we may be only speaking to ourselves here, I'd like to point out how nicely you differentiate the regular stamp from the inverts by using the different matting technique.  Very nice.

I agree - I like the grays for matting the best.  I have taken to a printed blue border for top items in my exhibit.  That seems to work pretty well.  I might prefer something subtler, but have found that many of the judges who view want something that stands out a bit more - without being too ridiculous.  It's a fine line and the blue border doesn't seem to cross it too much.  Not unlike your hand drawn red to highlight certain items.  But, I suspect, like you, I don't mind spending time on my pages, but there is a limit to how MUCH of that time I'll spend.

Regarding your invert page.  Is it possible to rework it and show the why/wherefores of the different invert types?  I suspect it isn't worth it.  I'm just trying to figure out a way to highlight the differences even more than they are already.  could a person somehow render a graphic that shows the outline of the intended printing area for the yellow?  don't know, just thinking out loud here.

Regarding the font type on the Farming exhibit - Book Antiqua.  I like it for that exhibit in part because I don't want it to feel too formal.  On the other hand, it doesn't seem to work with the classic 24 cent exhibit because I want it to feel a bit more formal.

Best,

Rob

[sheryll*net]

Hi again, Rob. Hopefully others will join us as the meeting is formally open. And there is plenty of seating in the balcony.

I standardized my exhibit format in 2002 with printed light gray mats and dark gray for significant items. I like the look of it and it is very easy to do.

My concerns with that format are:

- the covers themselves are in contact with the printed mat

- I cannot print pages in color as the gray turns into a horrible blue color

- when one scans items on the page at a high resolution, the mat shows up as printed dots, and to me is not elegant for any show and tell session.

I have yet to remount my exhibit from its last competitive iteration in 2009, but it does need to be done for the sake of the covers.

Thanks for the feedback on the Hammarskjold invert page. I am not a whizz with graphics, butr someone else might easily be able to do what you suggest. It would take me too much time. I wonder if anyone has exhibited them.

BTW, the fonts used on that page are Copperplate Gothic and Bookman Old Style.

What is the more formal font you use for the 24c exhibit?

The headings on the China via Marseilles page you showed appear to be Book Antiqua.

[rolyrj]

Hi Sheyll

I find this whole thing of exhibiting fascinating and something I have wanted to do on a more formal basis for a long time.

My speciality is the NZ Penny Universal and the NZ Penny Dominion and I sure have enough material to fill several frames but I have never really known how to go about doing it, so this topic is very interesting indeed.

I have a few very basic questions  (rooky stuff).

What are the size sheets you use for exhibiting or is that decided by the exhibitor?

Is A4 a standard size to use?

I have been to several exhibitions both here in New Zealand and Australia and I notice that all the pages are housed in a protective plastic sheet.

I have made several enquiries here in NZ but I simply cannot find anything suitable. There is one philatelic supplier who has something but at a real fierce price.

What is used and where can I source suitable protectors at a reasonable price?

I am bound to have a heap more questions but that will do for this rooky at the moment.

Cheers

Roly

[sheryll*net]

Hi Roly,

Thanks for your enthusiasm and questions. I will do my best to answer them and anyone else can chime in too.

Firstly, your exhibit pages need to fit into the frames at the stamp show. The show will have a prospectus which tells you how big the pages can be. e.g., the recent BAYPEX show prospectus states (point 5):  

Each frame consists of four rows of four pages and allows for pages including protectors not to exceed 29 cm in height and 23 cm in width. Double width pages are accepted as necessary.

I used A4 pages and used a paper trimmer to fit them into my protectors, but many other exhibitors used a wider page as they had wider printers. Letter paper is a good size and fits the frames perfectly here in the US.

I bought mylar protectors of a size that would take wider paper, as I have a couple of items that went on a bigger page (borrowed or 2 pages glued together).

I recentely ordered mylar in the wider Aussie size (285mm x 240mm – top open) from US firm Altlantic Protective Pouches. This size does need to overlap a bit at the frames, so you might prefer the usual size of 285 x 225mm - top open.  They will make them in any size you want. They are friendly and will fix any problems you might have. It is possible that it is cheaper to buy it from them than in NZ/Aust. Here are the APF prices.

A cheaper protector is the polypropylene (see APF price list), and I have bought a few of them and even used them for some smaller exhibits.

Over here, there are many firms which make protectors which fit into a 3-ring binder. I have gone into these in a big way for my displays (I use the Avery premium heavyweight). They fit letter paper but will take A4 with 1/4 inch trimmed off the top. If these can be bought in NZ, they woulld make for a cheaper alternative than the purely philatelic products.

Of course the cheap thin protectors you can get at newsagents will do the job too. 😉

Remember, whatever you choose, the paper and protectors should be acid-free.

Keep asking questions, esp if anything isn't clear.

[sheryll*net]

Roly - Oops, I see now that your protector size should be 285 x 225mm, to fit the size requested in the prospectus.

[rfaux]

Roly,

Good to see you posting.  I like Sheryll and all, but it is supposed to be a club meeting, not a conversation between two people.  🙂

I strongly recommend you give exhibiting a shot.  It helps you to more fully appreciate your collection.  Just remember, it is STILL your collection.  Don't let the competitive part of exhibiting take away your enjoyment.  And, when you get feedback from judges, always listen with an open mind.  Exhibiting is an effort to communicate to others what you find interesting in the things you are showing.  Most of the feedback you will get simply shows you how you failed to communicate.

In my, case, the 24 cent exhibit has helped me to focus a limited budget on something.  As a result, I've been able to afford things I wouldn't normally have considered.

Font types:

Sheryll is correct, the serif font is Book Antiqua.  I feel that it gives a clean look that is not too ornate.  The other font (sans serif) is Arial.  Again, I use it for the recurring information on rates and routes in my exhibit.  So, it gives a clue as to what sort of content you are about to read depending on the font.  I do tend to fall back on these for pages when I'm not feeling creative.  But, sometimes I want to do something different.  I've considered a for fun exhibit of Transportation coils and figured I might have some fun with the font there. 

Scanning pages:

Sheryll, I see the problem with the gray dots on the scan.  I rarely scan my pages anymore.  What I do instead is I scan my covers/stamps at their actual size.  Then, I insert these scans into the page with the software I use to make the page.  Now, I can print that page.  What it will not show is any matting that I might have.  But, I'm ok with that.  It reduces the number of times I put these items on the scanner bed.  It also means you get a better representation of any printed item on the page.

Printed Matte

I considered that as well, but cannot see myself putting any of the classic items on a printed matte and having contact with it.  So, I go with the paper.  Or, no matte but a printed border a little bit away from the cover.

Another exhibit page example

Below is one of my favorite items in my collection.  I can explain more about that some other day.  But, we're talking about how I'm choosing to display the item.  I am not fully satisfied with this layout.  But, I think I'm ok with the way I am trying to highlight the plate variety that is on the 24 cent stamp.  What you have to remember is that this page is part of a story, so it sets up the rest of the French Treaty Mail section in addition to showing the uniqueness of the cover.

The headings at the top are in full black when they are new introductions to the outline of the exhibit.  They are grayed out if it is a continuation of a topic.  I think the china page illustrates this.

Rob

[rfaux]

Oh heck,

I'll explain about that cover. 

The 24 cent 1861 stamp is known for its color variations more than anything.  But, there is one plate variety that has been in Scott catalogues, etc for a long time titled "Scratch Under A."  Once I chose this stamp for detailed study, I figured I'd run into one some day since it didn't seem like it got the attention as being a huge rarity, etc that some other things do.  Then, one day I read a US Classics article about a person who was trying to find anyone who had seen one of these.   It seems that it had been mentioned in books like Brookman, etc, but no one had illustrated it?  This same author later showed a picture of a plate flaw that might qualify as the 'Scratch Under A' but they did not have anyone to confirm that this was the plate flaw in question.  Of course, I intensified my search to find one of these.

I've been looking for several years and finally had one pointed out to me by the previous owner of this item.  He had already consigned his collection, so I was forced to bid at auction on it.  And...I didn't win it.  I suppose I could say I was devastated, but that would be silly.  I am used to having people outbid me for things.  It's the nature of the sandbox I've chosen to play in.

But, much to my surprise, I learned it had not sold (it didn't meet the reserve) and it would be re offered by the same auction house in the next auction.  I was able to inquire of the prior owner what would be needed to meet his needs for the item and I saved up and made that bid. 

I won the second time around.  And here it is. 

It gets better.  I picked up a lot with eight covers with 24 cent stamps to Spain.  Once received, I found another Scratch Under A plate flaw on one of the eight covers I had purchased.  These covers were the last of the Gomez correspondence to Spain that still resided with his family, so these have not been in 'collector's' hands until now. 

Story time over.  Everyone have a great day.

Rob

[sheryll*net]

Hi Rob, Roly and Roger (who is having trouble posting to the boards these days)!

Great story, Rob! I admit to having written up a few stories of acquisition as part of recording the price paid for items.
I have considered doing it as part of my online exhibit (e.g., click on the $ or ? icon to read the story), but I fear I would come across poorly in my hunger for sexy items in those first few years of exhibiting.

The New Hebrides was supposed to be a cheap country too, but prices seem to be an order of magnitude higher than other French colonies these days.

-------------------------------------------------------------

This topic is not just about competitive exhibiting. It is also about how you present your collections just for your own enjoyment, so to those in the balcony, please jump in!

I have started to make online displays. They are then at my fingertips without my having to haul out the appropriate binder.
The New Hebrides one is a work in progress, and may show research in progress or more historical or social aspects of the philatelic material.

I have recently "basically completed" a textless display of the US states. I still add stamps to it as they turn up, and am keeping an eye out for the appropriate state to state correspondence.

[billsey]

Roly, you might check out AliExpress as a source for page protectors also.

[billsey]

Needless to say though I have an exhibit, most of my collection sharing is done via my website. It allows me to have more flexibility in what I display and tends to keep me away from the stresses of formatting pages to match what judges want to see. I create my pages using Adobe inDesign (an older version, I don't want to pay a monthly fee for my usage) and print on outsized paper to match my preferred binder size. I fond it relatively easy to get a local print shop to cut and drill paper to match my needs, and it's typically cheaper than buying blank pages from the stamp collector supply houses. I do have to use a wide carriage printer, but then that also gives me a wide carriage scanner (My Brother MFC-6490CW does 11"x17").

I also help some collectors out by hosting their websites, like the new Bjorn Bakken History on Stamps site

[sheryll*net]

Rob - I remember when I first came onto the eBay chat board in 2001 that you were helping Mitch with his design for webpages for his world collection. After you were done, a lot of us made our own websites based on that code. Thanks for that!

I put my New Hebrides exhibit online back in 2001, and after seeing Rob's results set mine up in much the same way. All the iterations from 2000 to 2012 can be found on my exhibit webpage.

[malolo]

Hi,

 I could not sign in to these Discussion pages. Working with an eBay Help person, who will be reporting an error which he was able to confirm, I discovered a very strange work-around for Safari. I randomly discovered how to get here. For any of you reading the Discussions here's how to get signed in.

When clicking on the "sign in" links on this page, I was taken to a newish page with scrolling excerpts of Discussion messages from everywhere. I click on one of the "Reply" buttons and it opened into a text window for sending a reply. When I come back to this page I can now see an active button. I can't exaplin it but someone may be reading this page and wishes to participate. Give it a try.

Anyway, most of you know I've been exhibiting for about 10 years and I've got some observations I can pass on from my point of view.

The Atlantic mylar sheet protectors are the best and come in two thicknesses. I've found either works well though I prefer the thicker film, though it weighs more when shipping an exhibit. The sheet protector from your local stationers are much cheaper and are satisfactory for showing your exhibit, but not for long term storage. I don't know the issues becaue they are all supposed to be "archival".

I use acid free card stock which can be obtained at any large office supply though some colors are no good. A local printery might have a much larger selection for your needs.

I use photgraphic corner mounts made by Lineco. They are difficult to find, but online for years I bought from an online supply in Texas. These came in the retail packaging that one would find in an office supply store. 

Last year I discovered a Photo suppply business in New York who has them in bulk packages and at least half price. I can't find the link, duh!

I use a Mac and obsolete AppleWorks Draw program to layout and print my pages. I prefer the fine outline and dots next to "important" pieces. I have seen many exhibits with colored backing paper but they nearly always look uneven to me. Drawing the rectangles on a computer is much more consistant and precise. Judges prefer colored paper, but it doesn't seem to have affected my scores.

Plus, I would never store any covers on colored paper in case the dye bled to the cover.

A couple of exhibits can be seen here: Refused Mail of Switzerland,

and my single framer: Swiss Made Cancelers Used in Latin America

Illustrated here is a typical page:

[malolo]

When looking at my exhibits, I would like to give credit to an old Stamp Chat member - sveki! - a Danish postal worker who sent me the template for creating the format for my online exhibits. All I need do each time is copy and paste the new folder names and and make necessary code adjustments depending on how many frames I have. Presently I'm developing a web site that will be up-to-date but will have links to these exhibits. Nothing to show yet. LOL

[rfaux]

billsey

I've always enjoyed seeing your online work.  But, I admit it has been several years since I visited your web pages.  Thanks for putting that link back in front of me.

malolo

I remember well when you started the razor cancel exhibit.  It was enjoyable to watch that exhibit grow and take form.  Now, it is a marvel to behold.  If we could transport back in time we'd all be pretty surprised by what we did not know then...

sheryll

I remember helping, I just had no idea it was that useful.  That's really nice to know.  I keep meaning to update my pages, but I never seem to find the time.  Unlike billsey, I prefer to remount the actual items versus online formats.  But, that may be a product to my earlier career as a software engineer.  Maybe...

Love to see more!  Does anyone do things to highlight fancy cancels that is interesting?  I take the scan of the item and move it to Photoshop.  If there are some definite colors that can be filtered out, I do that.  In the end, I spend some time with the 'eraser' cleaning it up.

[malolo]

HI Rob, Thanks for the kind words. I must say that I was lucky starting 10-12 years ago to find really good examples of razor cancels on eBay. Very rarely do I see anything other than a couple of very common cancels used in common ways these days. It seems that in Europe [Switzerland and Germany] they have become much more collectable keeping the good stuff in dealer hands and being offered at significant prices, which is great for me when I sell.

Next year I will be part of a team collaborating on an publicaiton telling the story of razor cancels. Right now a German editor and graphic designer, and three Swiss specialists besides myself. I'm looking forward to the work, since it is so difficult to exhibit over there this is a really good way to get even more informaiton out into the philtelic world.

Since you mention it here are the razors in a 9 frame formatt. In various incarnations I've been awarded 10 Golds across the country over the years and received numerous special awards that seem to be more satisfying.

Here's the second title page incorporating a photograph, scanned and compiled line drawings from differnt sources, scan of photo from the internet, and computer draw program to layout time line. Something to consider when creating exhibit pages.