United Nations & Show Covers

                An interesting area to collect and appreciate are covers which are produced at Stamp Shows or Exhibitions where the United Nations has a actual presence. This would mean that they have a booth and sell UN Stamps and provide information about them.  In some cases, there may also be a meeting of the UN Specialty Societies held during the show. 

                   Two of the most well known and popular shows are ones held in the larger cities. Compex and Interpex are among these. Interpex was held in the New York City area and always had a presence of the UNPA because it was located there. At every show of this size, there is usually a First Day Cover Society and a special envelope with cachet are used for the show only.  Shown here is an early Interpex cover. This Interpex cover also has a red cancel placed on the cover at the show. 

                  Shown below are two covers from Compex which was held in Chicago, Illinois. These covers show that the location was the Lasalle Hotel located in downtown Chicago. These covers are from the years 1962 and 1964 respectively. The location and venue for Compex was later changed to a location more closely located to the O'Hare Airport. Circumstances have changed and the Compex show is not longer being held. It was held I believe until the mid 2000's . 

                These covers make a nice specialty area for collection and you can pick your favorite city. They are available most of the time on Ebay and are very reasonable in price. Be sure to sort through the large boxes of covers at your next stamp show and you may find a couple of them probably for "a buck a cover".

Good Collecting

United Nations & South Moluccas

Sometimes you may find a stamp that relates to the United Nations and is from a country which you have not heard about or don't know where it exists. The stamps shown below show the U.N. emblem and the New York office building and appear to be from the Rupublik Maluku Selatan.  They are in the archipelago of Indonesia and did not produce any valid postage stamps.  Shown below is a set of stamp which were produced by a New York  stamp dealer, Henry Stolow (1901-1971). They were also produced in an imperforate format. These issues have never been listed in any catalogs.

 

You may find these stamps in “junk” boxes or in 1950’s collections. They make a nice addition to a collection but don’t spend too much to obtain them.

        Good Collecting

 

 

 

 United Nations Topical Issues

      One area that can be forgotten as a U.N. collector is the very interesting and extensive area of U.N. topicals that can be found in most all of the countries in the world. Any country that has become a member of the United Nations has issued stamps related to the United Nations. These issues were issued to identify the following:

• U.N. Anniversary Dates
• United Nations Day
• World Health Organization
• UNESCO
• And other special causes identified by the U.N.

You can collect individual stamps and also First Day and Event Covers. An example of a cover from Korea that recognizes the 10th Anniversary of Joining the U.N. is shown here. 

Shown above the cover is the insert that was enclosed in the cover.  The insert has an image of the stamp and some information about the issue. 

I purchased a large lot of this type of cover from an auction recently and will be sharing some of the additional "finds" in future blogs. 

Good Collecting