Jubilee philatelic exhibition SHUMEN 2024 - Overview of the event

Misc25 June 2024

Jubilee philatelic exhibition SHUMEN 2024 - Overview of the event

Posted by Administrator Tuesday 25 June 2024 - 15:00:36

As I promised, today I will write my impressions of the Jubilee Philatelic Exhibition Shumen 2024, dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the society in the city.

As you know, the preparation for the exhibition started the day before with arranging the boards and arranging the exhibits. Teams from Bulgarian Post, SBF and, of course, the presidents of the three companies in north-eastern Bulgaria - Lubomir Iliev, Eng. Dimitar Chernev and Nikolay Penev - took part in the activities.

Shortly before the opening of the exhibition, a committee evaluated the participants in the children's contest for drawing a postage stamp project, which is part of the initiative for the exhibition. About 80 children participated in the competition. A proposal was made that the best drawings form the basis of a future postal project.

On June 21, at 11:00 a.m., Vladimir Kurtev solemnly opened the exhibition with an emotional introduction. This was followed by speeches by Prof. Dobromir Dobrev - regional governor of the Shumen region, Mrs. Dimitrina Nedelcheva - acting head of the Regional Post Office - Shumen and Mrs. Desislava Petrova - the Deputy Mayor for "Budget and Finance". To my great regret, for objective reasons, the mayor of Shumen, Prof. Hristo Hristov, could not attend.

Around 11:15 a.m., the validation of the first edition, namely "Roman Emperors connected with the Bulgarian lands", was started. Prof. Dobromir Dobrev, Mrs. Dimitrina Nedelcheva and Mrs. Desislava Petrova performed the ceremonial installation of the seal. The issue consists of 2 postage stamps. One depicts Emperor Constantine I the Great and his mother Helena, and the second depicts Emperor Gaius Galerii and his mother Romula. The edition was also printed on jubilee sheets containing 4 series of each of the two stamps. Bulgarian Post also issued a first-day postal envelope.

After validation, it was time to view the exhibition. Exhibits of Nikolay Penev, Vladimir Kurtev, Nikola Nikolov, Stefan Stefanov, engineer Dimitar Chernev, Krastyo Krastev, Tsvetelina Kostadinova and others were presented. Topics ranged from sports, flora and fauna, art to the Red Cross and airmail.

In the interim until the next validation, the philatelists present at the event made several philatelic products of their own. I had prepared in advance with themed illustrated envelopes and maximum cards, which I distributed to fellow philatelists. Unfortunately for me, there was a small remark from the Bulgarian Post regarding the illustrated envelopes, which of course I will comply with in the future. Mr. Lyubomir Iliev had also prepared anniversary envelopes on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the Shumen philatelic society "Madarski Konnik".

At 2:00 p.m., Mrs. Bilana Toshkova, Mrs. Dimitrina Nedelcheva and Mr. Vladimir Kurtev validated the second edition of the day - "Natural Phenomena in Bulgaria". The issue consists of two postage stamps. On the first, the "Lion's Head" rock formation located in the Ropotamo reserve is carved, and on the second, the "Three Brothers" rock phenomenon located 1 km north of the town of Aytos, in the area of Kazanite. The issue is also printed on small sheets with 5 stamps and a vignette from each stamp. The validated envelope was solemnly handed over to Mr. Lyubomir Iliev - chairman of the Shumen Philatelic Society. Bulgarian Post also issued a first-day postal envelope.

Of course, we must also mention the work of the "Bulgarian Post" team. In addition to the organization and arrangement of the exhibition, the BP team organizes the sale of the postal issues and the stamping of the philatelic products. As expected, we didn't leave them idle, which I attribute to the small but fixable mistakes. Let them accept our thanks!

The unclean date stamp used for the exhibition made a bad impression. For those who do not know, it is a stamp of the specific post office, which contains certain components in itself - city, postal code, the current date, etc. It is placed on traveling letters and is different from the special postmark for the issue. For philatelists, a clearly legible post date stamp is extremely important and it is a mark of respect for us that the postal institution maintains it. Unfortunately, both at the previous exhibition in Dobrich and now, this was not done. Whether this is intentional or careless, we can only guess.

As for the lady with the rude attitude, I think she deserves a separate post that you will see soon.

Well, that's it, fellow philatelists and friends. I think the colleagues organized a wonderful event, which I hope will help to organize other philatelic initiatives in the city.