By Mike Walsh
Canada’s Sam Chiu is only the second exhibition judge in the world to earn the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) cross-accreditation in the newly created postcard class.
Chiu, who was already an FIP-accredited postal history, postal stationery and traditional international juror, received his new class after serving as a cross-accreditation candidate at November’s Thailand 2023 World Exhibition.
“To me, it’s a big deal … I’m only the second person in the world to get accreditation to judge the picture postcard class in FIP shows,” he tells CSN. “More importantly, I am now able to help other exhibitors in this class and offer my services to future shows to judge in this class.”
But what’s even more exciting, Chiu adds, is the future of exhibiting picture postcards.
With another new class, Open Philately – which in Canada and the United States is known as Display Class – that includes non-philatelic material in exhibiting, “I strongly feel these two new classes will be the key to the future in exhibiting.”
Chiu says he believes picture postcards will draw more collectors to venture into exhibiting.
With four classes to his title, Chiu has reached the FIP’s maximum of four that a juror can judge. Getting to the new class was not without a lot of work and dedication.
“First, I had to exhibit the new class in my national country, of course, Canada, and my exhibit in that class must reach at least a large vermeil.” The next step took him to exhibiting internationally and finishing, at least, with a larger vermeil.
The journey for Chiu was long, as it was difficult to get a judging assignment at an FIP show, with so many accredited jurors worldwide competing for the few spots on the jury in the few FIP shows every year. It took nine years for Chiu to get cross-accreditation in a second class, which was in postal stationery, and then another nine years to get cross-accreditation in a third class, which was in traditional exhibits.
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