London 2022 International Stamp Exhibition, Feb 19-26. BDC, London.

Enjoy your visit. Watch out for sticky fingers on stamps though. Free sweets. Stand 64 I think.

Got my bags packed for London , but with England suffering the effects of a terrible gale force February , three named storms inside a week , Dudley , Eunice and now Franklin, train delays and disruptions are to be expected. Here in the north we have escaped the worst, a moderate snowfall on Friday and Saturday largely gone today.

London had damage with Dudley and Eunice, and the north of England has flooding with Franklin. That has upset train schedules as they lie in the path of my journey.

Packing for London

Well, I have completed my workdays for this week, and tomorrow morning, I head into London for the big show.  Best of all, I feel sure, will be meeting up with Michael (Londonbus1), Alex (vikingeck), michael, and any other members who may join us.... perhaps Kevin (wakeybluenose)?

We are getting a relatively early train, so hoping to be there around 10:30 or so.  Hopefully, everything will be running on time.  Alex and LB1 should both already be in town by now.  Alex had tipped me off that Richard Debney, noted Cape Triangle expert, was supposed to have an exhibit at the show, but I learned today that neither he nor his exhibit will be there.  Apparently, there is another Cape Triangle exhibit that should still be there for viewing, and I am hoping to see it.

I will try to post periodically in this thread over the next few days to keep everyone informed about our activities.  Really looking forward to it! 

Enjoy! I'd give anything to be in London (or the UK for that matter) right now. 

Have a good time at the exhibition.  

Great stuff, Alex (vikingeck), so glad to hear that you and LB1 (Londonbus1) were able to meet up!  Amy and I will be arriving at the hotel this morning around 10:15 or so, all being well.  We will drop off our bags there, and then I will head over to the show to find you guys.

michael: Looking forward to seeing you on Friday!

wakeybluenose: Kevin, are you still thinking of meeting up on one of the days?

daniel:  It would be great to meet you on Saturday morning if you are game!  LB1, Alex, and I are planning to go to the Charing Cross Market that morning, rather than the BDC show.  If that would interest you, we could meet at the CC Market and perhaps have lunch or a drink together afterwards.  LB1, Amy, and I are planning to go to the Postal Museum at 14:00 that day, and Alex will go off to do other things in the afternoon, but we will all be getting together again for dinner that evening, too.

So, please let us know what sounds good to you.  I will send you a PM with my mobile contact details.

Really looking forward to seeing everyone!

A group pic of you who can get together would be great

Had a great day at the show on Friday meeting up with Beryllium Guy , Londonbus1 and vikingeck . Some interesting buying experiences and a great chat over coffee. Sorry I couldn't make lunch.

Sadly the Chile proof block I saw before coffee was actually a Hahn reprint, so badly described by the dealer and his other offerings that would have interested me were well overpriced. Elsewhere however, I got some Colombia die proofs, a few India State revenues and a penny red block.

Thanks guys, that was a bit different to my normally quiet Stampex show.

On the move right now, Xavier (hrdoktorx), but I was told by others that there were both fewer dealers and fewer attendees than previously.

I think that Michael (Londonbus1) or Alex (vikingeck) or michael might be in better position to comment.

I met up with Chris Beryllium Guy, Michael Londonbus1 and Alex vikingeck at the Charing Cross Market which is located in an underground car park near Embankment station. It was really nice to meet them, have a good chat and put faces to the forum names. We all made purchases and then Chris, Michael and I went back to London 2022 for a second visit where we also had lunch together with Chris's charming wife Amy. Kevin, wakeybluenose met us there, more stamp chat then Chris, Amy and Michael went off to the Postal Museum. Kevin and I had another look around the stamp show.

Some very nice exhibits but generally, it must didn't feel like an International. The Business Design Centre is, really, too small for such an event. There was nothing special and there didn't seem to be a huge number of sellers.

That said I had no trouble spending lots of money, again (this was my second visit)! Afterwards, I even bought two volumes of books on Queen Victoria illustrated with many beautiful engravings from the local Oxfam shop.

A hugely enjoyable day.

Daniel

In his PS, Alex (kindly) neglected to mention that in addition to three dealers empyting his wallet, one claiming to be a friend was reponsible for one of those ATM trips, too!

But I think that may be a story for another day, as perhaps LB1 (Londonbus1) will recount it in his upcoming TSF Newsletter article.

Yes indeed, Jeff, we did get a couple of group photos, and they will be appearing sometime soon.  I am working with LB1 (Londonbus1) to confirm which material he wants for his article, and what it would be OK for me to post.

As it worked out and to the best of my knowledge, there were a total of 6 TSF members who attended the show, but due to a diversity of schedules, we never had more than 4 together at any one time.  So, the most you will be able to see in a single photo will be four.

• Thursday: this was the "core" group: LB1, Alex (vikingeck), and me
  
• Friday: the core group plus michael
  
• Saturday morning at Charing Cross: the core group plus daniel
  
• Saturday afternoon back at the show: LB1, Daniel, Kevin (wakeybluenose) and me (Alex was away)
  

Once I get the scoop from LB1 on what he wants to include in the TSF Newsletter article, I will post some of the other photos here.  There are some good, fun stories to tell, but I don't want to preempt what will appear in the Newsletter in a couple of weeks.

For my part, I had an excellent time.  It was my first London show in the 2½ years we have been here, and from that point of view, I was delighted.  But I understand from those who had experienced international shows here before that it was smaller and quieter than those that have gone before.  Still, I got some nice stamps with some interesting stories behind them, and I got to meet some dealers whom I had not previously met thanks to Alex and LB1.  I ended up following one of my tried-and-true stamp show strategies, which is to spend money on any expensive items up front, but holding back a little money to spend on inexpensive material, like that which I can buy from a huge bargain bin at 10p each or 12x for £1.00.

Those bargain bins are often reserved for kids, who can have stamps for free, but as I am actually not much more than an oversized kid myself, I am happy to pay for the privilege of digging through the bin and finding a few inexpensive treasures.  Some dealers have told me that this sort of philatelic treasure hunting is a waste of my time, but I don't feel that way.  LB1 told me that he saw a particular gleam in my eye while I was rummaging through the kids' bin that he hadn't noticed any of the rest of the time.

Please stay tuned for more posts.