By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The Cobourg Stamp Club held its 50th annual COPEX stamp show in 2019 and, while those shows continue, the club has begun hosting another annual event – the Multi-Club Sales Bourse.
The second annual one was held on March 28, and all agree it will be back each year going forward.
Along with Cobourg, the roster included clubs from Trenton, Oshawa, Ajax, Peterborough and Fenelon Falls. It is estimated perhaps 80 or more collectors came to the Salvation Army citadel to meet and mingle, browse and buy.
All involved thoroughly enjoyed what some are calling the Circuit Circus, especially since there is nothing like it in the immediate area.
“A group called the Greater Toronto Area Philatelic Association (GTPA) ran something similar to this at least five to 10 years ago,” Cobourg Stamp Club’s secretary-treasurer said.
There was some hope the event might be revived, but the Association folded.
“We got talking with the other clubs, and we decided, ‘Let’s give this a try.’
“It was a great success last year, even though we had bad weather. This year, the weather was a little more agreeable, and over 75 people came through the doors,” the spokesman reported.
“Every club had a sales table, and each of the groups reported that they did very well and were very happy with it.”
The event is sort of a flea market for stamp collectors, he explained, with each club having a table (as opposed to bringing in dealers).
“The material that was offered was excess and surplus material from regular stamp collectors from these different clubs,” he said, adding that the Cobourg club had 12 people contribute to their table. Similarly, the majority of the Trenton club’s 15 active members contributed material to be sold.
This might consist of duplicates a collector has, but it might also be stamps that don’t fit into a collector’s thematics.
Often a collector will specialize – only collecting stamps from certain countries, for example, or stamps with a Disney theme. If a stamp doesn’t fit into someone’s collection, it becomes excess – which is how the Multi-Club Sales Bourse has so much to offer.
Looking ahead, the annual COPEX show is slated for Sept. 26, and look for the next Multi-Club Sales Bourse on the last Saturday in March 2027.
All take place at the Cobourg Salvation Army Citadel at 59 Ballantine St.
And the Cobourg Stamp Club meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month (except July) at 5:30 p.m. (except January and February, when meetings begin at 1:30 p.m.).
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