Three days of philately

The Three Days of Philately staged at the Garrison Library last week were a resounding success.

Philatelists from the UK, France, Germany and Spain joined Gibraltarian collectors for the event.

Exhibitions were held over three days. Tuesday the Gibraltar Study Circle (GSC) day, saw the official opening of the triduum in the morning in the presence of the Minister for Culture, Christian Santos, and the Director of Postal Services, Peter Linares, among other dignitaries and officials.

It was a special occasion for the GSC as the society is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The exhibition was opened by Stan Lawrence, the Chairman of the GSC. In the evening, an anniversary dinner was held at the Yacht Club.

The principal guests were Nigel Feetham, Minister for Postal Services, and Dr John Cortes, the Minister for Heritage and Education, and their partners.

A presentation was made at the dinner to Richard Garcia who had co-ordinated and planned the events in Gibraltar.

Wednesday was an overseas meeting of the Royal Philatelic Society, which was attended by seven Fellows and Members of the society and numerous guests.

Thursday was Morocco Day, which was staged by the GB Overprints Society. The GBOS, like the GSC, is based in the UK and has international outreach. The material on display in the frames reflected the breadth of Morocco philately, which included not only the stamps and postal history of the British, French, Spanish and German post offices but even a short lived Italian postal service just prior to World War II.

Some of the material on display over the three days came from collections that have been exhibited internationally and won the top award of a Large Gold medal. A number of displays were staged by Gibraltarian members Stephen Viñales, Ian Ramognin, Michael Celecia and Richard Garcia.

The whole event was only possible because of the help given by a number of partners.

They included Dr Jennifer Ballantine-Perera, the Director of the Gibraltar Garrison Library, and her team. They bent over backwards to ensure that the library would be able to display to advantage the varied displays of stamps, postcards, postal history and postal stationery.

There was understandably a clear bias towards exhibiting Gibraltar and Morocco material, but there were also other fascinating collections on show.

The Gibraltar Museum made available display cabinets for the exhibits. They were transported to the library thanks to the help afforded by Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau Ltd. The Ministry for Culture sponsored the finger lunches that were offered to the visitors at the library. Saccone & Speed supplied wines and refreshments to accompany the buffet lunches.

“I am delighted that the event has gone so well,” said Stan Lawrence, the Chairman of the GSC. “The members of the Study Circle, which includes a number of Gibraltarians, will long remember these Three Days of Philately.”

A special presentation was made by Stan Lawrence to Gibraltar-based member Michael Celecia of a GSC challenge trophy, for his work for the society. Mike is now a committee member of the GSC.

In addition to the philatelic displays, there were a number of cultural events for the visitors to enjoy. They included a tour highlighting aspects of Gibraltar’s history and a reception in honour of the visitors given by the Deputy Mayor, Nicky Guerrero. The visitors were also given a guided tour of The Convent, by kind permission of His Excellency the Governor.

“The Three Days of Philately is the first major philatelic exhibition in Gibraltar since 2019,” Richard Garcia said.

“I hope that we shall not have to wait six years for the next show.”