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55th Annual
American Topical Association
National Topical Stamp Show - 2004
2004 ATA CONVENTION HELD
JUNE 11-13 IN MEMPHIS
The American Topical Association (ATA) held its 2004 annual convention and National Topical Stamp
Show in Memphis, Tennessee, June 11-13, 2004. The ATA convention (the only US all-topical
philatelic exhibition) took place at the Holiday Inn Select - Memphis Airport, located at 2240
Democrat Road.
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To see the complete list of participating dealers and cachet makers, please
click here. |
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To see our NTSS2004 Awards Information,
including the list of NTSS2004 Exhibit Award
Winners, please
click here. |
Following is ATA Executive Director Ray Cartier's
post-convention review and a look at future conventions.
NTSS 2004 - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WRAP-UP
The horns have quit sounding; the confetti has blown away; the wine corks are
rolling lazily on the tables and the NTSS ’04 is over. Aside from low
attendance, there were many successes at the show. We had more dealers than we
had planned to have. There was a three-member Cachet Member bourse that set up
a temporary base outside of the main ballroom. The First Day Ceremony for the
Liberian Teddy Bear Stamps was well attended and with all of the press coverage
of the debate about the legitimacy of stamps from Liberia, we ended up hearing
that the country does indeed have a valid postal agency and that the stamps
were legitimate issues despite Scott’s not listing them. (Stanley Gibbons did,
and perhaps Scott’s will now do so.)
Dalene Thomas brought in an assortment of Teddy Bears to add to the atmosphere
and the First Day programs created by Dave Kent proved to be popular souvenirs.
We sold more of the souvenir sheets, which bore the ATA logo, than expected,
and still have some left for those who forgot to order. These items with prices
are listed at the end of this article.
Following the First Day ceremony, six of our Handbook authors lined up to sign
some of the many books that they had written in the past for the ATA and its
membership. Author Nancy H. Phillips, EdD gave a short presentation on bears and
was the first in line at the author’s tables. Also signing were George
Griffenhagen, Mel Morris, Karen Cartier, Dave Kent and Larry Dodson.
We had a great novice display in the hotel lobby, created especially for our
show by Tennessee resident, E. Clark Buchli. This gave us a philatelic history
of Tennessee with an emphasis on Memphis. On the other side of that A-frame of
stamps, we had a Gubernatorial Proclamation of Stamp Collecting Week in
Tennessee signed by Governor Phil Bredesen and Riley Darnell, the Secretary of
State.
Inside, a Court of Honor display by Michael Schreiber of LINN’s added to the
Tennessee aspect of the show. The oldest known topical exhibit was on loan to us
from the Cardinal Spellman Museum as well.
Management at the Holiday Inn told us that the hotel staff, the caterers and the
security people all commented to them that the attendees at the National Topical
Stamp Show were the nicest and friendliest group that they had ever had the
pleasure to serve. The hotel set up a small sandwich shop right outside the hall
with reasonably priced items for the attendees on all three days.
As usual at the all-topical shows, the exhibits were varied and interesting.
There were no repetitive series of stamps showing microscopic changes. These
types of collections are very interesting to many collectors, but to topicalists,
the displays are story books, not theses, and there were many people who
wandered through the exhibits to see the wide range of interests portrayed.
Award winners are posted elsewhere on this site.
Several people availed themselves of the opportunity to take a paddle wheeled
riverboat ride before the show opened, and several more enjoyed the tour of
Memphis on the Monday following the show, highlighted by a long visit to the
shrine of Graceland, home of the “King of Rock and Roll”.
Plans are now underway for the next show in Milwaukee in June 2005, and the
earliest information is already online under NTSS ’05. There will not be an NTSS
’06 as the ATA will participate with all of the other major philatelic
institutions in the US at Washington 2006. But hotels are already being
solicited for bids for NTSS ’07. It’s a good time to mark your calendar for NTSS
’05 in Milwaukee. Our new President, Bob Mather will be putting together a very
special event for all of us and by penciling us in now, you won’t miss out on
this great philatelic opportunity.
Ray Cartier
ATA Executive Director
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