by Ted Cookson
Our society was active in several ways at World Stamp Show – New York 2016 (WSS-NY 2016). This is the mother of all United States stamp shows which is held in this country only once a decade. Our board of directors convened for an informal business meeting. Two society members delivered talks about Pitcairn Island, and a society dinner was held at a local Manhattan restaurant. PISG also shared a joint table with another philatelic society for the duration of the show.
WSS-NY 2016, held at New York City’s Javits Convention Center May 28-June 4, 2016, was the first international stamp show to be staged in the U. S. since the show held in Washington, DC in the spring of 2006 (Washington 2006).
Four officers and four society members were in attendance at the PISG board of directors business meeting at Javits Center on the afternoon of May 29. While the turnout was not astounding, it was impressive that four attendees had commuted to the meeting and show from the Pacific states of California and Oregon while three others had arrived from Florida and Massachusetts. Only one participant, who hailed from Long Island, was a local. It was noted that the current president, Vernon Kisling, and three past PISG presidents - David Tomeraasen, Mark Butterline and Ted Cookson - were present at the meeting. (Additionally, Past President Peter McCann was at Javits Center at the time but was not able to attend the meeting due to his duties as jury president of WSS-NY 2016.)
Later that afternoon 22 members and guests attended The Pitcairn Lectures, organized by Past President Mark Butterline and also held at Javits Center. PISG President Dr. Vernon Kisling, Jr. presented a fascinating talk and slide show entitled, “Establishing a British Colonial Post Office: Pitcairn Island 1904-1940.” This was followed by a second PowerPoint presentation given by PISG member Donald A. Maxton, a well-known and prolific author on Bounty Saga topics. Maxton’s interesting talk concerned novelist James Norman Hall’s little-known 1933 voyage to Pitcairn Island. Hall, with co-author Charles Nordhoff, penned the Bounty Trilogy, which several attendees commented was responsible for piquing their initial interest in Pitcairn Island.
Following the two lectures a video, You Are There! – Mr. Christian Seizes the Bounty (April 28, 1789), was shown. This episode was first broadcast in 1956 on CBS’s You Are There! television program hosted by Walter Cronkite. Interestingly, Fletcher Christian was played by Russell Johnson, who later played The Professor on the Gilligan’s Island television series.
That evening a dozen PISG members and guests gathered for an informal society dinner organized by Past President Mark Butterline at Death Avenue Restaurant, which offers Greek cruisine in the vicinity of Javits Center. Several PISG members found it a pleasure to sit and converse at the dinner with Russell and Louise Watson of the Pitcairn Islands Philatelic Bureau (PIPB). The PIPB maintained a presence at WSS-NY 2016 for the duration of the show through a counter operated within the large Tahiti/French Polynesia booth. Many collectors were anxious to purchase the Pitcairn Islands albatross souvenir sheet which had been overprinted in the center with the WSS-NY 2016 Statue of Liberty logo and the words, “World Stamp Show New York May 28 – June 4, 2016.”
Following the model developed a decade ago at Washington 2006 and continued over six subsequent years from 2007 through 2012 at the American Philatelic Society’s annual domestic StampShow, PISG shared a joint table with the St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Philatelic Society (SHATPS) during the eight days of WSS-NY 2016. As at Washington 2006, the table adjacent to ours was operated by the Falkland Islands Philatelic Study Group (FIPSG), another small society. This convenient proximity allowed members of all societies to work side-by-side, greeting visitors and cooperating extensively for the benefit of all three societies.
Our joint table provided a place where visitors could be welcomed. Volunteers who staffed the two tables greeted society members such as Past President Peter McCann, George Young and others who passed by to say hello, and prospective non-members alike. The list of members and friends who volunteered to man the table included Mark Bloch, Marianne Butterline, Ted Cookson, Carl Faulkner, Terry Gamble, Stephen Heath, Vernon Kisling, Jr., Ed Madison, Ed Morgan, Wendy Niem and Steve Pendleton.
The $250 required to secure PISG’s share of the joint table was donated by Past President Mark Butterline, President Vernon Kisling, Jr., and Immediate Past President Ted Cookson.
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From top left, clockwise around the outside:
a. Javits Convention Center in NYC, exterior
b. Donald Maxton during his Pitcairn lecture
c. Javits Convention Center, interior
d. Russell & Louise Watson of Pitcairn Islands Philatelic Bureau
e. Vernon Kisling during his Pitcairn lecture
f. Ted Cookson & Ed Morgan at PISG/SHATPS joint table
g. Ed Madison & Vernon Kisling at PISG/SHATPS joint table
h. Top of Empire State Building
i. Mini-collage showing John Lennon's childhood stamp album
j. Some of the 5,100 frames on exhibit
k. Giant United States Postal Service booth
l. Cover of new SHATPS book available at PISG/SHATPS joint table
m. Vernon Kisling & Steve Pendleton at PISG/SHATPS joint table
n. Steve Pendleton & Wendy Niem at PISG/SHATPS joint table
Interior pics from top down:
o. The British Guiana one-cent black on magenta, the world's rarest stamp
p. PISG meeting attendees
q. A few of the many dealers in attendance |
More photos coming soon!
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