6th Meeting of PPCP

Dear visitors of the website of Prestige Philately Club Prague (hereinafter referred to as “PPCP”) and friends of philately, the sixth (one could say traditional) meeting of the Club members and also of very special guests took place in the Crystal Ballroom of the Grand Hotel Alchymist on 23 September 2021 with the participation of most members. The programme of this rather business meeting was very varied indeed. After a short welcome and speech by JUDr. Tomáš Mádl, President of PPCP, the inauguration of three new members took place at the beginning according to the established custom, i.e. with the signing of the Club’s Charter, the presentation of a badge and a certificate, and the taking of a photo.

The first new member is Prof. PhDr. Marcel Arbeit, Dr., with expert philatelic specialization in the Second Czechoslovak Republic and the Czech Republic. The second newly admitted member is Ing. Petr Valošek, whose field of expertise is shipping and air transport as well as postal history of Silesia. The last of the new members is Ing. Radoslav Míšek, Ph.D., who specializes in Australian stamp production between 1913 and 1945.

However, the most important point of the programme was PPCP’s participation in exhibitions, when especially at the World Stamp Exhibition Philanippon 2021, which took place under FIP patronage in Yokohama, Japan, from 25 to 30 August, the Czech Republic achieved an extraordinary cultural success thanks to PRESTIGE PHILATELY CLUB PRAGUE, or the Biennale 2020 collection – a success which, regrettably, was not duly appreciated by the public media in the Czech Republic. In the exhibition class 11 “Philatelic Literature”, 95 competition and reference titles took part (reference titles are smaller in scope and highly specialized), i.e. a total of 95 different professional publications, catalogues and periodicals of world-class quality. PPCP’s publication was first listed in the reference part, namely in the “Catalogues” section, but then, due to its obvious broadly professional and literary content and form, it was moved to the main competition section “Philatelic books and research papers“ by the jury’s decision. In this main category, it was awarded 91 points, i.e. the gold medal of the World Stamp Exhibition Philanippon. Only 3 other works from the whole exhibition class “Literature” were awarded more than 90 points! It is very encouraging and also obliging for our future work that the jury at a world-class competition has so significantly appreciated our research efforts, conception and interpretation of philately, emphasizing the widely developed stories of famous stamps. We have sought to bring something new to the understanding of the contexts of important rarities, and we have shown that they can be grasped and told about in often unexpected and compelling context, found in the exacting study of hundreds of sources. The Biennale 2020 book also accurately reflects the contents of PPCP’s “contextual” exhibits. So our idea of philatelic exhibits presented in a new, attractive, comprehensible and non-philatelic form was bound to catch the eye in Japan. 91 points for the Biennale 2020 publication proves that we are moving in the right direction towards PPCP’s goals – to show philately to the public in an interesting and inspiring way, thus raising awareness of philately.

Another successful representation of our Club was the National Philatelic Exhibition of One Frame Exhibits NITRA 2021 in Nitra in the presence of several important personalities, which was held from 16 to 19 September at the Andrej Bagar Theatre as one of the few and the first in Central Europe this year. PRESTIGE PHILATELY CLUB PRAGUE provided 5 of its exhibits for the exhibition. Pavol Lazar, Tomáš Mádl, Peter Severín and Stanislav Havlíček participated in the exhibition on behalf of PPCP. In addition to philatelic exhibits from the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic, this important exhibition also featured very interesting collections from Serbia.

On the other hand, among the upcoming philatelic exhibitions, it is undoubtedly worth mentioning the Exhibition of Postage Stamps “Liberec 2022”, where an agreement on the Club’s cooperation has already been concluded and especially AEP patronage was granted in a letter from the president of this Academy Jean Voruz. PPCP will also make a financial contribution in the amount of CZK 20,000. However, some members of the Club have also contributed, namely David Kopřiva, Vít Vaníček and Peter Severín. The budget of the exhibition is CZK 4,000,000. Jiří Střecha promised to intermediate contact and negotiations with the Director General of Czech Post about providing support for this exhibition and confirmed the loan of exhibits from the Postal Museum. Currently, 23 exhibiting countries are registered for the exhibition. The FEPA will shortly check whether the premises and other conditions meet the requirements of an international exhibition. The main exhibition and contact area (for the jury, commissioners, etc.) will be located in the hotel “BABYLON”, vendors will be in the “Dům kultury (House of Culture)”, lectures, training and meetings of various organizations will be organized in the regional “Start-Up Centre” and the palmare ceremony for the exhibition will be held in the hotel Zlatý lev. Within the framework of this exhibition, the world exhibition Polar Salon Liberec 2022 will also be held, for which a book in English will be published that should describe all Arctic and Antarctic expeditions from the beginning until 1922. The book should also include blackproof.

PPCP will participate in the Helvetia 2022 exhibition in Lugano next May. At the same time, the Club will again enter the competition with the PPCP Biennale 2020 catalogue. Other exhibitions that PPCP will participate in next year are LONDON 2022 in February, IPEX 2022 in Cape Town in November and finally MONACOPHIL 2022 in Monte Carlo.

Vít Vaníček reported on the seminar “Competition Philately – Exhibitions and Exhibits” which was held on 1 September at the Club’s seat with a large attendance by the Club’s members. The seminar especially focused on how to build a top exhibit and pointed out the differences between a collection and an exhibit which must contain the attributes of a novel or story. Due to the high level of interest from PPCP members, future seminars will be scheduled on a day that coincides with the Club’s membership meeting so that non-Prague members can comfortably participate. David Kopřiva confirmed the positive feedback on the lecture and also expressed his praise and appreciation.

A fundraising project is planned to be held through Burda Auction House in February next year. Each member was asked to select an item from their collection worth between CZK 5,000 and CZK 10,000 to donate to charity. For the time being, the “Šatník Nory Fridrichové (Nora Fridrich’s Wardrobe)” project, which supports single mothers and single fathers, has been suggested as the beneficiary.

Finally, a personnel change in the position of the Club’s secretary was also discussed, where Ing. Andrea Neri, who ended her activity after two years of meritorious work for the Club, was replaced by Hana Fenclová, who is not a completely unknown name within PPCP, as she already helped the Club last year at the Sběratel (Collector) fair and also at the exhibition in the National Museum in Prague.

The next meeting of PPCP members in the form of a Christmas party with partners is scheduled for 9 December 2021. Until then, there is a lot of work ahead of the Club and its members. Both in the preparation of worthy exhibits for the Liberec 2022 and Helvetia 2022 exhibitions, but also in the presentation of the Club in the media and in fundraising activities.

After all, for example the success of PPCP at BIENNALE 2020, which took place despite the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, and the acclaim generated by the publication (catalogue) Biennale at the World Philatelic Exhibition Philanippon 2021 in Yokohama are especially huge commitments for the Club to work very hard and conscientiously in the future.

Last but not least, philately represents a “proven” stability (security) for society in the current geopolitically and post-factually unstable times, not only as an alternative investment, but also as a natural part of culture, international dialogue and educational activity.

for PPCP website Mgr. Petr Jezdinský with comments by Mgr. David Kopřiva