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Pillar Of The Community
United States
4296 Posts |
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What I would like to see as a fix is that all, every one of the exhibitor frame fees be refunded due to the mishandling of the exhibit competition. That alone will prevent this from ever happening again especially if the APS must advance the money to refund frame fees. If the APS can't recover financially, so be it. Perhaps then the APS can sue the judges personally for compensation.
Edit: added two missing "h"-s. |
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| Edited by Parcelpostguy - 06/13/2026 9:21 pm |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
4091 Posts |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
6433 Posts |
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Ehh? This has nothing to do with the APS. Why should they bear any financial burden having to do with this? This is in the FIP, specifically one person. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
4296 Posts |
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Quote:
Was it the APS or the FIP that was guilty of this poor judgement? It was the judges who are accredited by one or both organization. If it was the FIP competitors, just refund their frame fees from the Boston Expo 2026 moneys. If Boston Expo 2026 can't cover it, the is what bankruptcy court is for. Such a filing will force the reporting of what individuals, if any, and organization or organizations are on the hook for the show expenses. The frame money was collected under fraudulent circumstances, a promise of a competition which was falsified. And then never invite the FIP back to any US show and expel Dr. McCann from organized US philately. |
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Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10617 Posts |
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I doubt that refunding the frame fees to the people who were passed over would matter. That would not institute the changes necessary in exhibiting. That has to come from refusing to deal with FIP. As for Dr. McCann, as I said before, I have heard rumors to that effect. |
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Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10617 Posts |
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BTW, it wasn't only the top exhibits that had problems. There were two 9X1 exhibits, one was Very Very Good, and the other was Very Very Very Good. But the Very Very Good exhibit won the higher award. I was told that even the exhibitor was shocked by it. And I saw both (I am fond of this stamp), and the result should certainly have been reversed. But……. |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
1062 Posts |
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It sounds like both were great 9X1 exhibits. One will never know, but I am less inclined to think that award were as a result of any behind-the-scenes shenanigans.
More likely one exhibit lost points for some technical faults that an ordinary viewer wouldn't notice. Things like a poor choice of fonts, inconsistent font size, wrong paper size, wrong paper color, etc. could be a factor for a nit-picky judge. I haven't read the FIP rule book but there may be specific gotchas in there that most exhibitors wouldn't think of.
Also it is not just the quality and scarcity of the material that matters, the better scoring exhibit may have told a better story, or taught the judges something new, while the losing exhibit did not.
I'm not criticizing your expertise, just that surprises like this happen in judging all the time. In some ways I wish the judges notes and score sheets were published so we could all understand the reasoning and do better next time. |
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Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10617 Posts |
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The person who lost also had an exhibit in the Court of Honor, he is a long time exhibitor with many medals. This was not due to points lost because of fonts or other exhibit issues. Either the judges were ignorant or someone was not liked. |
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Pillar Of The Community
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4091 Posts |
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Zebra - you don't get to this level and suddenly make some gotcha mistake. These are seasoned exhibitors. No zebra stripes on a donkey. |
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Pillar Of The Community
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1062 Posts |
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Understood. Point taken.
My theory was that the FIP scoring at this show had stricter rules about presentation versus his previous awards, and the exhibitor didn't feel like reworking his entire exhibit just to meet a technicality in a different rulebook, so he got dinged for it. You're right, at this level, that should not happen. |
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Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10617 Posts |
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Having spoken at some length with the exhibitor in question, I don't think that was the case. |
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Pillar Of The Community
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1271 Posts |
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There is some interesting posts on Frajola's board today about this issue. |
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Pillar Of The Community
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4296 Posts |
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Quote:
This has nothing to do with the APS. You do realize that the current APS President, Mark Banchik, was one of the judges in this fiasco. Here is Ken's open and public letter on the subject: Quote:
My letter to Mark Banchik, copied to the APS Board of Directors
Subject: The Boston 2026 judging calamity
Dear Mark,
The judging violation that snubbed worthy candidates for the Grand Prix National at Boston 2026 will significantly harm respect for APS, both nationally and internationally, particularly among major donors, for the foreseeable future.
This is not really a new development. For decades a cabal of senior APS/FIP judges has been credibly accused of tilting top awards toward favored friends and colleagues, as long ago as when I was an active national and international judge. (I retired from judging in 2007.) But arrogance breeds contempt, so the offenders became more flagrantly disrespectful of outsiders' criticisms that might have constrained them, finally delivering the current crisis.
To the extent possible, this needs to be fully investigated, fully reported, and repaired. The offenders must be reprimanded publicly, at a minimum, if not expelled, and their judging privileges must be suspended pending whatever it might take to re-educate them in philatelic ethics and jury responsibilities.
Considering your own alleged involvement in the scandalous behavior of the Boston jury, no investigating committee you might appoint would merit credibility or trust among the APS membership and larger collecting community. I recommend that you step aside and allow Kirk Gillis to lead the investigation.
The most important duty of the executive director is to protect the integrity of the American Philatelic Society in all of its relations both internally and with others. He should appoint and lead a committee of carefully chosen FIP-certified judges (past and present) who were not involved in choosing the Grand Prix National winner at Boston, and former Grand Prix candidates and winners who were not among the Boston competitors.
Sincerely,
Ken Lawrence |
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| Edited by Parcelpostguy - Today 7 Hrs 14 Min ago |
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
4423 Posts |
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I doubt anything will be done and not sure other active FIP judges would be chime in because of being black balled. If there is an FIP judge that was not on the jury and believes this was a mistake they should speak up without being asked. The only likely action is that the rules are emphasized. Of course, APS could carry on without FIP but exhibitors seeking awards would want continued FIP presence at US shows. It is all about them. |
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Al |
| Edited by angore - Today 2 Hrs 7 Min ago |
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Bedrock Of The Community
United States
10617 Posts |
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I doubt that anyone involved with FIP will say anything. The show is over, and they are not about to admit anything related to it. I am not at all sure that we will ever know exactly what transpired. |
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Replies: 45 / Views: 2,407 |
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Posted 06/13/2026 9:16 pm
