Trajan’s ‘National Show’ latest COVID-19 victim

The Spring 2021 National Postage Stamp & Coin Show hosted by Trajan Media, the publisher of CSN and Canadian Coin News, has been cancelled due to COVID-19.

Held each spring and fall, the two-day show in Mississauga, Ont., typically includes a 50-dealer combined stamp and coin bourse, a two-session “Premier Auction,” several seminars plus thousands of collectors coming through the door throughout the weekend. This spring marks the third time Trajan’s “National Show” has been cancelled because of the pandemic, which began about a month before last year’s spring show was slated to begin.

“Current conditions, and short-term forecasts, make it impossible for the show to proceed in a healthy and safe environment for all,” said Trajan managing partner Mike Walsh on Feb. 2. “We are hopeful with the vaccinations’ rollout to the general public later this spring to proceed with our fall show on Sept. 11-12.”

While Trajan’s April 10-11 National Show is cancelled, the Premier Auction will still be held by Kitchener, Ont.’s Colonial Acres. The firm will host the live sale online via iCollector on April 9-10. Live bidding will begin both days at 5:30 p.m. (ET). In addition to bidding through iCollector, bidders can enter bids via email or telephone. Beginning on March 19, lot viewing also will be available from Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

CANCELLATIONS CONTINUE …

The show is the latest of a series of cancellations stretching back to March 2020.

As the pandemic continues to progress, stamp shows have been cancelled into summer as organizers watch the vaccine rollout in this country and abroad.

Other recent show cancellations include:

  • the Mississauga Coin & Stamp Show in Mississauga, Ont., on March 7;
  • Winpex in Windsor, Ont., on March 13;
  • the Edmonton Spring National in Edmonton, Alta., on March 27-28;
  • Kapex in Peterborough, Ont., on April 17;
  • Orapex in Ottawa on May 2-3;
  • the in-person Postal History Society of Canada (PHSC) Symposium in Hamilton, Ont., on July 16-18; and
  • the in-person Royal Philatelic Society of Canada (RPSC) Convention in Peterborough on June 25-27.

Four of those events – the Edmonton Spring National, Orapex, the PHSC Symposium and Royal Convention – were also slated to feature national-level exhibitions.

As of mid-February, the only remaining 2021 national show in Canada is October’s Canpex in London, Ont.

CANPEX & CAPEX

All five of Canada’s 2020 national shows were also cancelled due to COVID-19, which has limited some exhibitors’ chances to qualify for CAPEX 22.

With an unprecedented 400 single frames plus a literature class, CAPEX 22 will be the world’s first World One-Frame Stamp Championship. It’s slated to take place in Toronto on June 9-12, 2022. Single-frame exhibits only qualify to compete at CAPEX if they have earned a vermeil medal – 75 points – at a national-level exhibition since Jan 1, 2015. The application deadline is Nov. 1, 2021.

Late last year, to give exhibitors another opportunity to qualify for CAPEX, the RPSC approved a national-level virtual exhibition with both single-frame and literature classes. Managed by Canpex organizers via canpex.ca, the National Virtual One-Frame Philatelic Exhibition is slated for April 7-30.

The virtual exhibition’s prospectus and entry forms have been available via the Canpex website since December. The deadline for entry forms is March 8, and accepted exhibits must be scanned and submitted to organizers by March 20. Exhibits will be uploaded as they are received beginning March 29, and all exhibits will be displayed from at least April 6 until April 30.

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