How to Put Up a Good Thematic Exhibit

For many local stamp lovers who aspire to further their understanding of the art of exhibiting stamps, the special seminar at Singpex ’93 proved to be a most valuable experience.

The two invited speakers were distinguished philatelists in their own right. Mrs Joan Murphy who won a Gold medal for her “Royalty” collection at Indopex ’93 and a seasoned thematic exhibitor for well over 8 years and Mrs Betty van Tenac, a very experienced judge at international stamp shows, particularly on thematics. They shared with local collectors their insights into how to present a good thematic collection.

The one-day seminar on 22 Aug 93 at the Plum Room in Hotel New Otani was made possible because of the untiring efforts of Singapore Post and the Association of Singapore Philatelists. The target group of the seminar was thematic collectors both young and old. The heart-to-heart dialogue local collectors had with the speakers on the commonalities of a universal hobby may be summed up by Murphy’s introduction of thematic philately:

“To me, by far the most interesting is Thematics probably because it does not limit the collector or exhibitor to subject matter such as do other disciplines such as aerophilately, postal history, postal stationery, maximaphily and so on.”

To Mrs Murphy, a good thematic collector has to be an avid reader, research, find links to string up an interesting and thought-provoking story, keep up with revisions in exhibition rules, developments in philately, and select materials very carefully before starting on any theme.

Many collectors were “star struck” during the talk. Slides on drawings of stamps, essays, proofs, trial colours, specimens and other “gems” were shown. These “gems” were cleverly weaved into the exhibit to form a story-line. Mrs Murphy’s “Royalty” exhibit was a regal example of connecting one idea with another. Her sub-theme on Coronation Robes and Regalia showed a good spread of material and thoughtful development of the theme. Judging from her careful arrangement of relevant stamps, including a cover depicting a hand-struck Imperial Crown, the beautiful varieties of Chalon heads, and a marvellous study of the Queen’s diadem, one can conclude there are no limits to the pursuit of thematic philately.

The second speaker, Mrs Betty van Tenac wasted no time in giving exhibition pointers embodied in the FIP exhibition rules and insisted everyone should know the rules before they begin in earnest. She began her talk with a most useful tip - how to present the title and plan of the exhibit so that the exhibit can be understood easily from page headings. Her formula was “simplicity is best” as exemplified in her “Christmas Dimensions” exhibit:

PLAN PAGE

EXHIBIT PAGE

In the example, the numeral 5 represents Section 5 of her exhibit, whereas 5.1 is the page heading for the exhibit. Note there is no necessity to have Section 5 with 2 decimal points for sub-headings as 5.2.1 for The Christmas Tree or 5.2.2 for The Christmas Present. In Mrs Betty van Tenac’s words,

“By keeping my plan simple and loose, I can exchange sheets around. If for instance, I buy a very good item for ‘The Christmas Present’ page, I can swap the page around so that it is displayed in a better area of the frame and drop ‘The Christmas Tree’ to another part of the frame. Always lay your exhibition sheets out on a table to make sure your material is placed to best advantage.”

The audience had their mouths open and eyes glued to the screen as Mrs Betty van Tenac expressively highlighted the various types of material that FIP judges looked for in a good exhibit. Some really beautiful exhibits shown included relevance of the stamp theme on booklets, official postal stationery, franking meters, stamps in singles, pairs, multiples, coils, railway, telegraphic handstamps, souvenir-and-mini-sheets, imprinted cards, registration envelopes, incoming and outgoing multi-rated covers, censored, inland mail. A Christmas entire with a Christmas “star” cachet was a crowd favourite - not just for its intrinsic beauty but its relevance to the whole exhibit. Alan’s thematic collection on transportation combined with a train schedule to help show the idea with a telegram showing the time and date of arrival of the train as evidenced by the telegraphic date stamp were examples of how ancillary items can enhance an exhibit. She proceeded with essays, die-proofs, plate proofs, colour proofs, postmarks and imperf blocks. There was, in short, more than just a flash of colours.

Midway through Mrs Murphy’s talk, everyone was on their feet to browse the colour photocopies of her exhibits. An embossed seal on an Australian advertisement in the newspapers, a train schedule to help show the idea with a telegram showing the time and date of arrival of the train as evidenced by the telegraphic date stamp were examples of how ancillary items can enhance an exhibit.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day. Everyone had something to share and much to learn.

This article is contributed by Alan Au-Yong, postal history exhibit Gold Medal Award winner, Singpex ’92. A school teacher, Alan is a prolific writer whose articles have been featured in several local and overseas philatelic publications eg the Malaya Study Group in London and the FIAP Journal and commemorative literature such as one which marked the staging of the first Singapore Stamp Exhibition in Beijing in 1989. He also speaks regularly at school stamp club seminars.