IX PPCP MEETING

Dear visitors of the Prestige Philately Club Prague’s webpage (hereinafter referred to as “PPCP” or “Club” ) and friends of philately, on 15th of December 2022, the ninth “Christmas” meeting of PPCP took place in the Prague Hall of the Grand Hotel Alchymist with the participation of most of the Club members. The meeting took place in the presence of very special guests, including Mr. Ing. Jaroslav Štefek, owner and director of Tiskárna Hradištko, s.r.o., Ing. Petr Fencl, vice chairman of the Union of Czech Philatelists (UCP), Jiří Stošek, owner of the philatelic shop FILATELIE HOBBY PRAHA, Prague auction house FILATELIE PRAHA and member of the Committee of Experts of the (UCP), PhDr. Ing. Tomáš Hejda, PR and media representative of PPCP, owner and director of company PR MOLLO and Jan Rihak, owner and director of graphic and design studio ETERNIA. The program of this meeting was quite diverse.

The course of the working meeting

After a short welcome speech by Mr. JUDr. Tomáš Mádl, the president of the PPCP, the inauguration of a new member took place according to established customs, i.e. signing of the Deed of Foundation of the association, pinning of the PPCP badge, a certificate and a photo shoot. Mr. Ing. Roman Šorejs, whose philatelic passion became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Sudetenland, the Slovak State, German colonies, the field post, post-war Germany (Trizone and the Soviet occupation zone of Saxony), is the 36th member of the Club.

Next important item on the agenda was the financial management of the Club, which was handled by Mr. Ing. Martin Němeček with his short but very eloquent financial overview of the club’s financial flows, which were not very diverse this year. PPCP spent the most on its traditional activities, i.e. on Public Relations and design. More transactions on the income and expenditure side of the PPCP budget can of course only be logically expected next year in connection with the preparation of the 2023 Biennale.

Another important matter was the participation of the PPCP in the planned exhibitions. The nearest world philatelic exhibition will be held in Essen, Germany (IBRA 2023), from 25th to 28th May 2023. The Bratislava national philatelic exhibition (BRATISLAVAFILA 2023) will start right after it, on 1st of June 2023, which will also be attended by the PPCP with its frames and exhibits. The next and most important exhibition for the Club is undoubtedly the Biennale 2023 (see below).

After numerous negotiations, it was decided that the Biennale 2023 will be held in the Municipal House in Prague, from 28th October to 5th of November 2023. PPCP plans to solemnly open the exhibition in a circle of friends on 27th of October, and for visitors will be the exhibition opened the day after – on 28th of October. Club would like to include foreign rarities in the exhibition that were not present or were missing due to the Covid 19 pandemic at the Biennale 2020. These would be possibly the rarities from the United States of America or from the British Royal Collection.

The price of the entrance fee has not yet been determined, but it is certain that a substantial part of the investment in renting the premises will be returned from the collection of entrance fees and from the merch sold, since the Club will publish a black-print, stamps and a catalog.

As part of the Biennale 2023, the 5th anniversary of the foundation of the PPCP, the 105th anniversary of the foundation of the Czechoslovakia and the 30th anniversary of the Czech Post foundation will be celebrated. The Czech Post would therefore like to present itself with its artefacts (postman’s car, uniforms, etc.) and with the possible issue of its own sheet of stamps. This co operation will bring benefits to both PPCP and Postal Museum in Prague (PR, media,…). For this reason, it is important to establish a marketing strategy and finish the details of this co-operation as soon as possible.

Social interests of PPCP

In October 2022, the European postage stamp exhibition “LIBEREC 2022” and the associated exhibition “Polar salon LIBEREC 2022” took place under the patronage of FEPA with the recognition of FIP. It was on this topic that Jiří Kraus, the chairman of the organizing committee, prepared a few summarizing words, which briefly said: “Everything went well!”. Ten members of the PPCP had their exhibits at this exhibition in the court of honor, so Jiří Kraus presented them with a medal and a “Thank you for the exhibited non-competitive exhibit” certificate.

The media recapitulation was traditionally handled by Tomáš Hejda, who mapped out the Club’s media activity over the last year – there were more than 20 entries of various nature in the prestigious Czech media.

The date of the next meeting is set for 16th of March 2023, which is also the deadline for the selection of single-frame exhibits for the Biennale 2023. The members of the Club therefore have a lot of work to do, as the BratislavaPhila is “just around the corner”, and of course the Biennale 2023 will take place soon enough too. The hard work of the PPCP’ members should capture the attention of laics, therefore it is important to present itself as visible and dignified philatelic movement, which is cooperating with foreign partners and philatelists, as well as with the Czech Post.

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