Westpex is coming!

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This coming weekend April 27-29 is the biggest show in the San Francisco Bay Area of the year, Westpex. This is always the most exciting philatelic event for me every year, and it has gotten to the point where I wouldn’t miss it for anything. This year, the sponsoring organizations are the United States Philatelic Classics Society and the American Revenue Association. While I don’t belong to either organization (one can only afford so much dues per year), they are still both areas of interest for me, so it should be a great show.

Highlights of the coming show include Bill Gross’ Court of Honor exhibit “United States Classic, 1847 - 1869, and their 1875 Re-issues”, will show some rarities that are almost never seen. If you recall, Bill Gross is the collector who purchased the plate block of the inverted Jenny last year and traded it for the only known copy of the 1-cent Z-Grill in private hands. You can’t get much more exciting than that for a US collector!

If anyone reading this is planning on attending the show, let me know via the e-mail address shown on the About Me page, and we can see if we can meet! It would be nice to meet up with some of the people that read Philatelic Tidbits. Dean and I both plan to be there, so let us know!

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3 Responses to Westpex is coming! »»

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Chris Gilmore

Comment by Chris Gilmore | 2007/04/28 at 12:11:47

I went to WESTPEX Friday. I saw the Gross US Classics exhibit and was totally blown away. I probably spent 2 hours looking at the 7 frame exhibit close up and in detail. And I wasn’t even much aware of the exhibit until I was traveling to the show on the train. I usually go to Westpex every year to seek out printing varieties for my study of the Hong Kong KGvi definitive set which is the only thing I collect in stamps now after various other endeavors in philately since 1957. And I check out the exhibits to see if there is anything of interest to me. So when I read a notice about the Gross exhibit while traveling on the train I figured I would go see it because I really love that era of US stamps. I read that the collection contained many rarities. But I was not prepared for what I saw when I started looking at it. The stamps in this collection are the best quality examples that can be found. They are stunningly beautiful - even ethericly beautiful. I felt a somewhat similar experience to when I am looking at an impressionist painting. Well, maybe that’s going over the top a little, but it is certainly awesome. And the pages of the exhibit are well organized and easy to follow. I feel very fortunate to have been able to see these quality items.
Allen

Comment by Allen | 2007/04/29 at 04:19:56

Chris, I completely understand your feelings about viewing the Gross collection, as I felt exactly the same. I was completely blown away by the quality, quantity, and presentation of the whole thing. It was a nirvana-like experience for a philatelist! I hope that Mr. Gross does the world a favor and gets some photo documentation of that exhibit done and published before the collection gets split up again. Every US philatelist really needs to see this exhibit.

Another truly incredible exhibit that was nearly as nice as the Gross exhibit was The U.S. ‘Pictorial’ Issue of 1869 that was displayed in the hallway just before the exhibit hall. It wan absolutely stunning display of the the most complete examination of the 1869’s I’ve ever seen. I consider myself to be very lucky indeed to have seen these two exhibits, and made the trip to Burlingame well worth it.
Dean

Comment by Dean | 2007/04/30 at 13:55:23

I attended WESTPEX on Friday and have to say that it was perhaps the best all around WESTPEX experience I have ever had. As usual the people were polite and friendly and there were more dealers than a person could possibly enjoy in one afternoon.

But for the first time in my attending WESTPEX, I was in awe of the exhibits. There was a good variety for all types of collectors to enjoy, including a humorous exhibit on scratch-n-sniff stamps by Pepe Le Pew.

While my favorite exhibits included the Gross Collection, I was totally enthralled with the U.S. ‘Pictorial’ Issue of 1869. This exhibit was attractive and laid out perfectly. It was a joy to read through each and every frame. It was also an incredibly complete collection that covered so many areas of this stamp series; including varieties, proofs, and essays. I had no idea the extent to which someone could cover a period of stamps.

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