According to the Federation of International Philately (F.I.P.) a postal history exhibit contain materials carried by, related to, official, local or private mails. Such exhibits emphasise routes, rates, markings, usages and other postal aspects, services, functions and activities related to the history of the development of postal services. 

A postal history exhibit consists of used covers and letters, used postal stationery, used stamps and other postal documents so arranged as to illustrate a balance plan as a whole or to develop any aspect of postal history.

This collection is actually the last part of an exhibit that cover Philippine postal history from 1898 to 1946. The collection, shown to the public for the first time by Gene M. Labiuk,  was awarded a Vermeil Award  at the Ottawa 2005 show. I took the liberty of purposely omitting the USPI section because I have not added a good Japanese Occupation collection to the site for quite some time now. 

This collection on the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines meet all the requirements on what a postal history should be and must be. The sections that make up this collection clearly define the scope of  coverage. Like a novel, it has a beginning, a story and most important, a clear and logical conclusion.

For those who visit this site regularly you will note that some materials herein have been featured as single items in the Must Look and Auction Watch sections. Now they are strung together with other materials, making each one related and important to the other. It is not the price tag that determine the importance of a cover to a collection or exhibit. Foremost, it must have the proper association with the other materials. It must merge and flow with the others in one direction. As the saying goes, ONE COVER DOES NOT MAKE A COLLECTION. 

Many will add an exclamation point to the above statement but I always add this: .....BUT ONE WRONG COVER CAN BREAK A COLLECTION. If you are already an exhibitor, give this a deep thought.

Postal history always stir my senses. I hope this does the same to you. 

As always, ENJOY!

Abe Luspo, Jr.
July 31, 2005