The Cape Town International Stamp Exhibition takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre 2. Entry is free.
This event will feature 1600 frames of stamps from all over the world, but also a significant amount of frames from South Africa. Each frame comprises 16 A4 pages mounted with stamps and are exhibited in different categories such as aero philately, picture postcards, postal history and social philately that bring along stamps and history.
Visitors should note that the exhibits will be rotated by class on the afternoon of Wednesday 9 November 2022. From Monday to Wednesday exhibits in the following classes will be exhibited: Postal History, Aerophilately, Thematics, and Picture Postcards.
On rotation: these will be replaced with exhibit Classes Traditional, Modern, Revenues, Postal Stationery and the Open Class. Exhibits that receive Large Gold in the first rotation will stay on display, as will the Championship Class.
An important highlight at the International Philatelic Exhibition will be an exhibit by Gerhard Kamffer entitled The Road to Democracy, in which philatelic artefacts tell the tale of South Africa’s road to democracy.
Jan Hofmeyr, a spokesperson for the Philatelic Federation of South Africa says, “South Africa is a society that needs to reinforce the proud things about the history of its march to democracy – for everybody. The exhibit will help to create a shared sense of history. Everything related to colonisation and struggle, speaks to the theme. From the Africans who were already here when colonists took their territory, to the Boer War which was about the Afrikaner attempt to oppose British rule, stamps carried messages of the struggle. This is a rare opportunity to see the documents that testify to their need to communicate and affect change.” Hofmeyr added.
This event will also feature a rarities auction that will offer collectors a chance to buy items related to stamps that are extremely hard to get and very sought after. Usually at prices that ‘non-philatelists fathom to understand.
There will also be an award granted to the best in show, announced on 12 November.
International Philatelic Exhibition highlights
An international affair
More than 25 600 pages of philatelic artefacts will be exhibited by collectors from more than 40 countries. Click here for a full list of exhibitions going on show.
Road to Democracy Exhibition by Gerhard Kamffer
Built up over the past 30 years, the exhibition will illustrate the road of South Africa towards democracy. This award-winning exhibit includes amongst other things, items speaking of the early border wars between the colonists and the Xhosa with a letter that refers to the 8th war in 1851. Also on show will be a letter written by Nelson Mandela from Pollsmoor Prison to Kaiser Matanzima regarding the homelands policy.
A Chronology of events relating to the Cape of Good Hope
The exhibit contains philatelic and non-philatelic material relating to the development of the Cape. The main theme is correspondence to and from Governors of the Cape during different colonial periods.
Post Office Museum Exhibition
On show will be a history of stamps in South Africa with many fine examples from the archives of the South African Post Office.
A Tale of South Africa
This exhibit will tell the story of South Africa from the first documented European rounding of the Cape by Bartolomeu Diaz, slavery, the Anglo Boer wars, and the years of Union. It includes a VOC letter to Jan Van Riebeeck commending him on the beer being brewed in the Cape. Who knew that we made good beer long before we became known for our wines?
South African Post office (SAPO)
SAPO in conjunction with Iziko will show a rare and valuable collection of philatelic artefacts including a ‘post office stone.’ The stone tells the story of early Cape history in which letters addressed to, or to be conveyed by, passing ships were placed under rocks.
To complement the theme of the Cape Town International Stamp Exhibition, the Philatelic Federation of South Africa announced that the SAPO will be issuing a limited-edition stamp that will be for sale at the event. SAPO have created 5 unique date stamps that will be used each day of the event to celebrate Nobel Peace Prize laureates: Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Nadine Gordimer, Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk.
Visitors can create their own memorabilia by purchasing a special Exhibition envelope with the stamp and having it stamped with the unique date stamp available each day – 8 to 12 November – from the Post Office in honour of these outstanding South Africans.
The public are encouraged to bring along their stamp collections to be evaluated during the event by experts in the field. Read more here about what makes a stamp valuable and what the experts may be looking for.
What: Cape Town International Stamp Exhibition
Where: CTICC Cape Town
When: 8 – 12 November 2022
Philatelic Federation of South Africa: https://www.stampssa.africa/
Web: https://capetown2022.org/
WS
