Early New Hebrides stamps and postal history exhibits shown at:
In November 1997 after spending two years on collecting New Hebrides, I threw together in haste my partially complete early collection of stamps, together with a couple of covers, to make a 30-odd page display on Hagner sheets with historical text as a filler for the French Challenge preview held by the Philatelic Society of Canberra.
After this effort, I reviewed it with a colleague with the intention of entering it in Natstamp 98, but we realised that my 30-odd pages weren't enough for a National exhibition, which required a 48-page minimum. So it languished on its home-made frames for 18 months, the occasional addition thrown absent-mindedly into a box as I pursued other collecting interests.
Inevitably, pressure to exhibit was brought to bear by society members as Canberra Stampshow 2000 approached. I committed to this goal, and thus began my roller-coaster exhibiting journey! In November 1999, panic-stricken, I put out the call for any information on New Hebrides postal rates. This was answered from many quarters, including the Internet, and when I was welcomed as a contributor of the Virtual Stamp Album New Hebrides website by Christmas of that year, I found myself developing a network of like-minded collectors.
In March 2000, as a state level first-time exhibitor, I showed 32 pages (or two frames, as it is called in exhibiting circles) and was presented with a Large Silver medal (65 points) for my efforts. The state judges were kind to first-timers.
Frame 1: 1892 - 1913
Frame 2: 1920 - 1941
Canberra 2000 - unplugged!
A large amount of panic, time, money and research was then thrown at the exhibit to expand it into 3 frames (48 pages) and turn it into a respectable national exhibit for Canpex 2000 in Christchurch, New Zealand that October, where it was entered in the Great Pacific Challenge. My New Hebrides colleagues were almost driven mad by my newly-found purchasing drive and my incessant questions on esoteric aspects of postal history.
I was lucky to be able to attend, tacking it onto the end of the family's "Olympic Escape" holiday to New Zealand. The exhibit was awarded another Large Silver medal, gaining 74 points. Again the judges were kind!
Frame 1: 1892 - 1910
Frame 2: 1911 - 1925 British
Frame 3: 1925 French - 1941
Canpex 2000 - the glory
I resolved to exhibit in Australia next time, to prove that the exhibit was worthy of its medal. I stood by my promise to the family not to exhibit in 2001, and this also gave me the opportunity to acquire material at a reasonable pace whilst expanding the exhibit to 64 pages.
Meanwhile, the new "As You Like It" competition offered at Canberra Stampshow 2002 was too good to miss out on. My colleague Hubert Goron and I had often talked of what we could do should we be able to combine material, so we took advantage of it to prepare two one-frame joint exhibits:
Fantasies of the New Hebrides - some of the early philatelic oddities of the New Hebrides: Roast Missionary stamp, 1893 Military Franchise essays, Australasian New Hebrides Company local issue, Syndicat Français des Nouvelles-Hébrides local issue
Snapshots from the Pandemonium - the story of the New Hebrides told through snapshots of the correspondence and postal history of its inhabitants (missionaries, traders, plantation owners, businessmen and government officials)
I found the dual role of exhibitor and secretary for the show a stressful combination. Nevertheless, by Friday 15 March I had something to throw into the frames. The public must have liked what they saw, as the "Fantasies" exhibit received the Runner Up prize! The good oil on this show can be found on my informal Canberra Stampshow 2002 pages.
My goal of entering 4 frames (yes, 64 pages!) at a national exhibition in Australia was made that much harder by my propensity to take off along the byways of philately during the breaks from exhibiting.
After 15 months of fighting fraud on eBay, I was mentally nowhere near the New Hebrides when July 1 came, and I was in no position to knuckle under on the write-up. So many formative events in the eBay stamps community at the time - censorship by eBay, my 30-day board sanction, the axing of the Stamps Discussion board, the establishment of a formal SCADS website, the steps taken to gain media coverage - meant that I didn't put fingers to keyboard till 27 July. And it was the SCADS team which held me together and spurred me on to complete the exhibit. They, the eBay Stamps chat board and my college tutor provided helpful feedback when I prepared the pages and showed them online. A painful transition to reading glasses at this time was something I did not need to happen!
The exhibit was to suffer even greater scrutiny, as it was competing against a formidable 5-frame exhibit of material ranging from 1839-1908. How could mine compare? However, I was in for a rare treat, as the owner of all that material arranged to attend, and we spent precious hours together amongst the bustle of meetings, the Palmares and the critique sessions.
Against the odds, there was something vaguely decent in those 4 frames. And against the odds, I achieved a goal I had not dared admit even to myself back when I first decided to take the exhibiting plunge. A Vermeil. 75 points. The ticket to international exhibiting!!
Frame 1: NSW Postal Agency (1892) - British Provisional Overprints (1908)
Frame 2: French Provisional Overprints (1907) - First Dual Definitives (1911-13)
Frame 3: Provisional Overprints (1920-24) - Dual Currency Definitives (1925)
Frame 4: Gold Currency Definitives (1938) - French "France Libre" Overprints (1941)
Melbourne '02 - the glory
The achievement of a Vermeil in the Traditional Philately class in less than 3 years of exhibiting proved to me that anything is possible. After all, if I can do it, anyone can. So think about it. Choose your goals and keep aiming for them. And you too can achieve your dreams.
The following people and organisations helped make my dream a reality:
Derek Pocock
Philatelic Society of Canberra (PSC)
Tom Frommer
Ed Druce
John Gibson
Hubert Goron
Graeme Broxam
Paul Barsdell
Darryl Fuller
David Collyer
Hans Karman
Roland Klinger
Martin Treadwell
David Smitham
Jim Crompton
John Vassallo
David Benson
Stamp Collectors Against Dodgy Sellers (SCADS)
After Melbourne '02, family tragedy and the January 2003 bushfires led me to reconsider my life and where I was going. I chose to leave Canberra, where I had spent half a lifetime, and the first step was to move to the warmer climes of Hervey Bay and family close by.
I touched up my 4 frames for state level at Canberra Stampshow 2004 in March. No aiming for higher medals this time. Instead, just taking this last opportunity to show my New Hebrides in my old home town, to my long-time philatelic friends.
Frame 1: NSW Postal Agency (1892) - British Provisional Overprints (1908)
Frame 2: French Provisional Overprints (1907) - First Dual Definitives (1911-13)
Frame 3: Provisional Overprints (1920-24) - Dual Currency Definitives (1925)
Frame 4: Gold Currency Definitives (1938) - French "France Libre" Overprints (1941)
Canberra Stampshow 2004 - the glory
My baby exhibit of 2000 has grown up and was about to leave home!
In April 2005, I attended Pacific Explorer '05 in Sydney on my way out of Australia.
Destination: USA, Oregon, Hillsboro, where a new life waited for me. And a new name: Sheryll Ruecker
Exhibiting and philately were put on the back burner whilst I grappled with novelties such as driving on the "right" side of the road, the difference between cheques and checks, coupons, US immigration paperwork, and day-to-day life "up over" (visit my Ozzie in Oregon webpages for some insights into this not-so-trivial experience). My What's Sheryll up to now? pages describe some of the things I have seen and done since I've been here, and include many photos.
My eBay chat board friend Bill made sure I didn't drop out of philately completely during my transition by encouraging me to join the Oregon Stamp Society (OSS) and come along to stamp meetings. I enjoyed attending the APS national show PIPEX 2005 a month after Pacific Explorer '05 (and Oregon put on some fierce Aussie heat for the occasion!). The people were welcoming and friendly, the exhibits and meetings were interesting, and I joined the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors (AAPE), the antipodean counterpart of Australia's own NAPE (interNational Association for Philatelic Exhibitors) - see links below.
The Metro 2006 stamp show was almost not to be, but several dedicated OSS members were determined that this local show would happen again this year. Thanks to Bill's arm twisting and general encouragement, I chose to enter this as a stress-free opportunity to break the exhibiting "ice" in a new country.
I decided not to make any changes at all to the 4-frame Canberra 2004 version as it would entail redoing the whole thing from scratch, something I was not up to doing just now. I felt that my exhibit in its current format was likely to break many accepted US conventions, and it made sense to wait till after the critique session before making any major changes.
Frame 1: NSW Postal
Agency (1892) - British Provisional Overprints (1908)
Frame 2: French Provisional
Overprints (1907) - First Dual Definitives (1911-13)
Frame 3: Provisional Overprints
(1920-24) - Dual Currency Definitives (1925)
Frame 4: Gold Currency Definitives
(1938) - French "France Libre" Overprints (1941)
Metro Stamp Show 2006 - the glory
What a surprise to find that I had received the Grand award! Certainly an encouragement for me to try again in a national show, such as the APS Stampshow being held here in Portland next year.
I had received invitations to enter an online one-frame exhibit in the Quezonpex 3 Virtual Philatelic Exhibition held in November 2006. Inevitably, these emails would arrive right when I was at my busiest. Eventually I decided to give it a go and spent an evening working on a one-frame New Hebrides exhibit - the stamps used before the Condominium issues. I soon realised, however, that it was too much for me at that time, so put it to one side.
In December, when volunteers were called for one-frame exhibits at the next year's OSS meetings, I put my name down for February, knowing that this would be one way to get me started on my 5-frame exhibit for the APS Stampshow. I ended up using the write-up from my Quezonpex 3 stand-alone frame.
New Hebrides/Nouvelles-Hébrides - before the Condominium (1892-1907)
APS StampShow was coming here to Portland in 2007, so I sent in my entry form and committed myself to exhibit in the biggest national show in the USA. It's been 5 years since my New Hebrides has appeared at a national show, but, hey, I haven't been buying anything much in those 5 years either. In fact, I dropped right out of the New Hebrides scene for a while there!
But the judges at Metro 2006 had encouraged me to expand it to 5 frames, so here I was, doing it, and without buying anything! Well, not much, as Sydney Stamp Expo 2007 in June was too good an opportunity to pass up. I even had to leave out the last 4 pages, on the 1941 issue, to make it fit nicely! So can I hang onto my national vermeil medal in the USA? I am hoping so......
Frame 1: NSW Postal
Agency (1892) - Syndicat Français des Nouvelles-Hébrides local issue (1903)
Frame 2 : British Provisional Overprints (1908) - First British Definitives (1911)
Frame 3 : First Definitives (1911-13) - Provisional Surcharges (1920-24)
Frame 4 : Dual Currency Definitives (1925)
Frame 5 : Gold Currency Definitives (1938)
APS StampShow 2007 - the glory
New Hebrides philately
Virtual Stamp Album New Hebrides
The Military Postal History of the New Hebrides During the Second World War
Pacific Islands Study Circle
Society of Australasian Specialists/OceaniaExhibiting
American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors (AAPE)
interNational Association for Philatelic Exhibitors (NAPE)
Any questions? Please drop me a line at 
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