X. PPCP MEETING

Dear fans of philately and visitors of the Prestige Philately Club Prague website – on 23^rd March 2023 the 10^th, jubilee meeting of the PPCP took place in the Grand Hotel Alchymist. The meeting was opened with an introductory welcome speech by the President of the club, Mr Tomáš Mádl, who acquainted the members with the course of the membership meeting and introduced the distinguished guests, among whom were: PhDr. Ing. Tomáš Hejda, PR and media representative of the PPCP, owner and director of company PR Mollo; Jan Rihak, owner and director of the graphic and design studio Eternia; Radek Novák, collector, writer, philatelist and consultant of Portu Gallery; Dušan Martinček, professional photographer from Prague. The programme of this meeting was very diverse.

The course of the working meeting:

The first important point was the PPCP’s participation in the planned exhibition Bratislavafila 2023, which will take place between 1^st and 4^th June 2023.

Mr Pavol Lazar mentioned, that the exhibition will be held under the auspices of the
Ministry of Construction and Transport of the Slovakia and that it will take place in the Slovak National Museum. One of the main partners, apart from the Slovak Post, is PPCP member Mr Petr Flaška, who will be in charge of organizing a hall auction of 300-400 auction items, which will be held on Saturday, 3^rd June at 1:00 pm at the Carlton Hotel. Mr Lazar informed the members about the Bratislavafila news and pointed out that frame fees for exhibiting members needed to be paid by 31^st March. He also outlined what the non-competitive portion of the show will look like, which will consist of a total of 3 parts:

1. The Vindobona Club, with 20 exhibits on Austrian, Czech and Slovak relations;
2. Significant exhibitors – these exhibitors will have exhibits in the spirit of the First and Second Republic – i.e., the period from 1^st October 1938 to 15 March 1939, respectively
   from the Munich Agreement until the proclamation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and the Slovak
3. PPCP, with 12 exhibits (printed by Mr Filipek’s Europrinty and designed by Mr Rihak’s Eternia).

The installation of the exhibits will take place on 31^st May. Miss Hana Fenclová, Secretary of the Club, will assist in the question of accommodation. The members have agreed to support the exhibition with funds of €2.000,-. The Club has also tentatively agreed that a meeting of the members could be held in Bratislava during the exhibition, as at least 20 members will be coming to the Slovak capital to see this important cultural and social event. In this spirit, an informal meeting of PPCP members is expected, which could be compared to the 7^th meeting in Tabor.

The second expected item of the 10^th meeting was the preparation of the Biennale 2023, which will take place from 27^th October to 5^th November 2023 under the title Treasures of World Philately II. The Biennale 2023 will be held in the Municipal House in Prague under, for the club, very favourable conditions, thanks to the reasonable rental price and, of course, the beautiful exhibition space.
The club plans to open the exhibition in a smaller circle of friends on 27^th October, at the local restaurant Pivnice Obecní dům.

The PPCP expects increased visitor interest in the celebration of the national holiday of the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state on 28^th October (105^th anniversary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia) and the 5^th anniversary of the PPCP, or 30 years since the establishment of the Czech Post. In the context of the above, there is an ongoing discussion about the accompanying programme, certain for the time being is the Filatelie Flaška Auction, which will take place on Saturday,
4^th November. Furthermore, an autograph session by Mr Ondráček or lectures are being considered. Anyone interested in creating a possible accompanying programme (lecture, guided tour…) should contact Ms Fenclova.

The price of admission was set as follows (in CZK):

190 CZK / Full
120 CZK / Reduced (65+, students, members of the Czech Philatelic Association)
390 CZK / Family
390 CZK / Combined (circuits within the Municipal House)

The investment that the club has made in the rental of the Municipal House will be partially recovered from the entrance fee. Additional income would be generated by the sale of merch (the black-print catalogue and custom stamps).

The Czech Pos has promised 200-300 thousand crowns as a contribution to the Biennale. It intends to focus primarily on the promotion of postal transport and its history. In cooperation with the Postal Museum, it will exhibit 3D artefacts (a postal car, signboards, uniforms and a period letterbox) and a commemorative postmark. The CP has also promised to issue a pay stamp, if the Biennale stamp is the “carrier” stamp, and will simultaneously issue a stamp sheet. PPCP has also received permission to use the CP logo on philatelic souvenirs and in publicity, which will certainly have a positive impact on any PR (competitions in the press, online magazines, etc.).

The PPCP has also prepared a new printing plate by the engraver Mr Ondráček, which depicts the Municipal House and which will be depicted on a black print. The design, which will then go on to create the print data for the Hradištko printer, must now be approved by the Czech Post. Stamps for the actual sheet were talked about again – it is necessary to think of 4 stamps in height, where each stamp should be successively from the Czech Republic, Europe, overseas and one rarity stamp + PPCP logo. The designs should be sent as soon as possible to Mr Němeček, who is responsible for the creation of the sheet.

The budget for the exhibition was also mentioned, and it is expected that the amount invested will be returned to the Club from admission fees, sale of the items, advertising and cooperation. Colleagues  Matějovský and Sobotka have offered to let the Club have their advertising spaces for the period before the Biennale, which would significantly help to promote the exhibition, and together with Mr Flaska, they are among the first donors of the Biennale 2023.

As far as the actual exhibits are concerned, the deadline for sending texts and scanned quotations is 30^th June 2023 due to the time reserve before the printing and publication of the catalogue. The text should be continuous and headed, divided into paragraphs with individual subheadings. Suggestions can should be sent to Mr Rihak at jan@eternia.cz.

The last point of the 10^th meeting was the farewell to Mr Peter Severin, who as one of the founding members has a lot of merit in the running and promotion of the PPCP. Mr Severín became an emeritus member who will exhibit his final philatelic exhibit at the Biennale 2023.

The date of the next meeting has not been fixed, but it is very likely that the members of the club will meet on Friday, 2^nd June 2023 in Bratislava. Until then, however, the PPCP members have a lot of  “hard” and flawless” work ahead of them, towards the exhibitions, be it Bratislavafila 2023 or, of course, the Biennale 2023 at the Municipal House. The Biennale 2020 and other successes at philatelic exhibitions – not least the cooperation with domestic and foreign partners such as Vindobona, Club de Monte-Carlo de l’Elite de la Philatélie, the Postal Museum or the Czech Post Office – have set the imaginary bar very high.

 

for the PPCP website Mgr. Petr Jezdinský with notes by Hana Fenclová