Boston Stamp Expo 2026 - Wrap Up Numbers?

Anyone who thinks that seeing an exhibit on line is the same as seeing it in person needs to go see some one of a kind exhibits in person ASAP. It's not close to being the same thing. It's the difference between being at a party, and talking to someone who is at a party on zoom. No amount of sitting in front of a PC looking would come remotely close to actually being in the Court of Honor. Or seeing several other exhibits.

Sure RevCollector - depending on your height and health, in person viewing means you either can't see the top pages or you sit on the floor to see the bottom pages. Online, you have comfort, an ability to zoom in, take screen shots and return whenever you want.

Never been to Boston or to an International. Got to meet many people in the hobby that were very gracious and several from places that I would have never imagined. Probably won't have an opportunity to ever attend another so it was quite the philatelic trip for me. I'm happy and thankful that I found a way to be there for a few days.

There are always some people who have genuine physical issues who would find going in person difficult or impossible. Most collectors probably don't fall into that category. And no matter how many times you look at an exhibit online, it pales in comparison to actually seeing it. And you might not be the only one at the time, giving you an opportunity to discuss it.

Let's remember Boston 2026 seemed almost ready to collapse when Trump's bizarre and unpopular tariff schemes exploded on the scene, raising real questions about whether some firms would even come to the show. No doubt high hotel costs played a major role in discouraging some people from coming (that included me) but before the show there was a great deal of concern over whether or not the show would be partially gutted of stamp dealers. And in fact I think fewer international dealers did show up. So the Trump Factor accidentally appears to have done what it so often does by wounding the show even before it opened.

As soon as I learned about the whole tariff scheme, I started to mentally cross the show off my list as much too expensive for its value. One reason I go to international shows is all the international dealers and foreign stamp agencies I normally have no contact with.

Those who ran the show even had to send out a calming letter assuring everyone that the tariffs likely had a work-around and not to worry about it. Which proves people were worrying about it, or why do that?

As a nearly 50-year teacher of history, the Boston vs. Philadelphia debate here is interesting, but I'm afraid Boston wins pretty clearly in a celebration of 250 years since 1776.

Nearly every major event and most major developments leading to the American Revolution occurred in the Boston area -- except the Second Continental Congress which drafted the Declaration of Independence. That document was not at all the beginning but the culmination of the drive for American independence much of which happened in Boston. Boston began the Revolution with its street mobs, burning effigies, attacks on the stamp tax men, protest marches and protest meetings and its firing the first shots in both the Boston Massacre (1770) and at Lexington and Concord (1775) where professional British troops from Boston were battled to a standstill by ordinary American farmers. It's pretty much all Boston up the that point.

The meeting in Philadelphia had little to do with pre-revolutionary events there since there had been few, if any, and was far more due to its central location so delegates from all the colonies could get there -- and the fact that, at that time, Philadelphia was the largest city in the colonies. And maybe also to avoid Boston mobs and patriot troublemakers!

The Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876 was because the Declaration and the U.S. Constitution were both written there, but oddly it chose 1776 as the founding date of the country -- which it wasn't. This is a popular historical confusion most people seem to suffer from. Just to be clear, the 1776 Declaration of Independence did not set up any government. It simply declared our independence and listed a lot of reasons why we deserved it (taxation, troops, home invasions, and so on). We still needed to create a government -- which we did later. So it's a question or whether or not you are celebrating the Revolution and independence or the legal foundations of the American Republic, and I think the show was to honor the former, not the latter.

If USA 250 were about the legal foundations of this country that were written down in Philadelphia you'd expect it to be held in 2037 (the Constitution was written in 1787) or in 2038 (1788 was the year nine states finally ratified it, the number required) or in 2039 (1789 was the year it went into effect). But it wasn't because none of these events align with the popular imagination about the earlier Revolution and independence. History proves that if the people believe something, even if it's not true, you are stuck with it!

It's crap like these comments that a few cannot stop from posting here that has almost killed this forum. If you have been here many years you can see the difference in participation. It makes me interact less and I know others that simply stopped. The poster arrogantly assumes that they have some great wisdom and moral high ground on issues and is going to vomit their nonsense on the forum and it's members whether you like it or not. Never mind that statistically probably 50% of the forum do not share the posters views, in fact feel quite the opposite.

Have some respect for others and this place.

The tariffs had a very real destabilizing effect on the show planning; I know this for a fact, having spoken with some of the organizers.

It's not a forum crime to point that out here.

250 years since what DrewM? What happen of note in 1776, specifically on July 4th? The Declaration of Independence was ratified by the colonies via the Second Continental Congress, in Philadelphia convened at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. I am NOT stuck with Boston and the 250th anniversary of the start of this country was not about Boston.

rogdcam: It's crap like these comments that a few cannot stop from posting here

Look. I live in Europe. I had been to several Stamp exhibits (mostly in Germany) before Boston 2026. I'm watching/participating in several European stamp forums.

I had many, many, many, many talks with collectors and stamp firms at those shows in the months before Boston 2026. Particularly all the dealers (intended to participate at Boston) were extremely worried about the tax situation. Some simply canceled their participation, some prayed for incoming wisdom into the White House. You have no idea how those dealers were left in the dark about the whole tax thing (which seemed to change by the hour)..

Talking with many, many, many, many collectors, the hotel costs played almost no role. (I paid less than had I stayed in an equivalent hotel in Europe for holidays. Also reduced air rates were a welcomed bonus. The food prices in Boston were extreme, though).

The main reason for collectors not to go to Boston was the behavior of DT, plain and simple. And this is a fact. And those people were not an tiny group of collectors, they were everywhere.

So to sum up: rogdcam is dead wrong and the poster he quoted as crap was dead right.

Let's not be obtuse. There are a small number of members that have to always call out the current POTUS by name in a negative way. I don't like the tariffs. So talk about the tariffs rather than expressing your political disdain for a personality. You're lying if you think it will end well. Look at the endless locked topics. Exercise a bit of restraint and you won't get locked topics which benefit no one.

And let us not kid ourselves that this isn't a one way street. You can find a hundred examples in the forum search of negative Trump commentary. Try finding one about the "other side". You won't. That is all I am saying. The previous POTUS had plenty to talk about in unflattering ways but you didn't see posters endlessly posting negative comments. You can't have it both ways and it never, ever ends well.

I do not think having it in Philadelphia would have dramatically changed the numbers if staged in the same way under the same economic and political climate. But even if there was no the political effect, it would have not been that much better and makes the number worse.

And there's a very genuine reason why you won't find any the other way. It's not the fault of the posters that some here cannot see reality. The previous administration had nothing to do with when the Boston show took place. The current one did. And time will tell whether it is a small number or not.

I happen to agree the Tariff situation was a factor, but the way in which it was brought up was unnecessarily political.

While hotel costs might not have been a problem for Europeans, it was a factor for many Americans.

What I know is that there were long lines of people coming in every morning. More on the weekends as might be expected, but plenty nonetheless. And despite the problems previously discussed, people were pretty happy to be there.