Hong Kong Philatelic Society

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is orphaned as few or no other articles link to it.
Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. (October 2006)

Established in 1921, the Hong Kong Philatelic Society is the oldest philatelic organisation in Hong Kong. Members were mainly Europeans before the war and after 1946, more and more Chinese became members and the Society has grown in stature. Currently, the Society has over 350 local and overseas members.

Formed to promote philatelic activities in Hong Kong, the Society once contributed a column in the South China Morning Post in the 1930s reporting on both local and foreign philatelic activities and developments. In the 1960s, it began holding open competitive exhibitions locally and published a monthly newsletter. The first annual journal of the Hong Kong Philatelic Society was inaugurated in 1997 and it is now into the 10th issue. The Society meets every month on a Thursday and holds postal auctions regularly.

The HKPS website was inaugurated in August 2000 providing a quicker means of philatelic information exchange between members.

The Society was one of the founder member of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately and a member of the Federation Internationale de Philatelie (F.I.P.) since the 80s.

Over the years, the Society has promoted philately vigorously in Hong Kong and organised the first national stamp exhibition in 1994, the first international stamp exhibition in February 1997 and the 15th FIAP Asian International in February 2001. In addition, the Hong Kong Philatelic Society has also organised national exhibitions such as Hongpex'96, Hongpex'98, Hongpex'00, Hong Kong Stampex 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 so that new exhibits formed by local collectors can qualify for future FIAP & FIP exhibitions. The Christopher D'Almada trophy is to be awarded as the grand prize for the Hongpex exhibitions. In December 2002, our Society together with the Hong Kong Study Circle (UK) organised the 140th Anniversary of Hong Kong Stamps Exhibition at the City Hall. In addition, the HKPS also participated in joint stamp exhibitions such as in Guangzhou, Macau and the most recent Hong Kong-Macau Joint Stamp Expo in October 2005. In January 2004, the Society co-organised the Hong Kong 2004 Stamp Expo - 17th Asian International Philatelic Exhibition which was another success. HKPS looks forward to the next international show in 2009.

Today, the Society is actively involved in raising local standard of exhibiting among adult and youth alike and members of the Society have achieved several Large Gold and Gold medals as well as Grand Prix Awards at stamp exhibitions.