Author Archives: Jesse

While making philatelic history as the world’s first One-Frame International Stamp Championship, CAPEX 22 reunited collectors from around the world after several years of sometimes-isolating pandemic shutdowns. Camaraderie remained high throughout the four-day show, which ran from June 9-12 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto. Interests were particularly piqued by the show’s first-of-its-kind format, approved and supported by the international governing body for exhibiting plus its continental counterpart for the Americas. Exhibitors and show-goers came from across Canada – “from Victoria to Yellowknife to St. John’s and many points between,” according to CAPEX 22 chair David McLaughlin – plus from the United States, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Europe, Asia and Australia. “First, I hope that members of the philatelic communities in Canada and our international guests take away fond memories of the exhibition and their visit to Toronto,” said McLaughlin, of Pickering, Ont., who led the show’s 15-person organizing committee through more than three years of planning and pandemic uncertainty. “Our challenge was to create an exhibition that was smaller in scope than previous CAPEX exhibitions yet as memorable for both local attendees and for international visitors.” Continue reading →

With the help of a Toronto man, two Ukrainian philatelic authors have smuggled their books from the war-torn country and shipped them to Canada just in time for CAPEX 22. In addition to more than 400 single-frame exhibits, the June 9-12 international show in Toronto will feature a literature competition with 100-plus entries across seven print and digital categories. Until recently, none of the exhibits were slated to come from Ukraine, where a renewed Russian invasion has killed several thousand civilians and forced millions of refugees to flee the country since late February. In a conversation this spring with Oleksandr Zharivskyi, one of the Ukrainian authors he has known for a decade, Toronto collector Jerry Kalyn “was lamenting the fact that there were no entries from Ukraine because of the war.” Continue reading →