Saint Louis Stamp Expo – Event Covers
Each year of the St Louis Stamp Expo (EXPO) there has been a special event cover and cancel created. Since 1993, there have only been three artists to have created the cachet for EXPO. The first cover in 1993 was created by Mark Muhleson who was a co-worker of Larry Weisz at the Defense Mapping Agency in St. Louis. In 1994, the cover was created by Penney Kols, the wife of the Executive Director, David Kols. There was no EXPO in 1995 as St. Louis was hosting the APS National Convention.
Since 1995, each EXPO Event cover has been created by Architect and Graphic Artist, Thomas (Tom) A. Minor. Minor is an active member and former President of both the Greater St. Louis Stamp Club and Greater Mound City Stamp Clubs. Minor is also an active member and officer of the Webster Groves Stamp Club and Poster Stamp Collectors Club, While Minor shows up on the show program only as the cachet and cancel artist, deserves a bit more credit than that. As the show wraps up each year, the committee holds a recap meeting and talks over the pros and cons of the show and decides on a couple of themes for the next year. At this point, Tom is off to the races to come up with the cachet, mostly, and the cancel for the next show. Until 2018, Tom would provide the design to Penney Kols, who would use the cachet to design the show program, banquet invitations, buttons, and some special awards to be presented at the banquet (see photo). Tom has attended every show and has signed the cachets since 1996. The Expo cover in 2000 commemorating the bicentennial of Henry Shaw was also sold in the gift shop of the Missouri Botanical Gardens (locally known as Shaw’s Garden). Some of Penney Kols favorite covers are the 2002 art deco Lindbergh, 2005 Soulard Market, 2006 Latin Dancing, and the 2011 Alan Shepard. As for the 2001 Route 66 3D cover, Penney has said it was “a nightmare” due to the fact that it was very hard to get the cover printed correctly. Tom’s contribution and talents to the show have been outstanding. Penney Kols called him “incredible and spectacular.”
Event Covers by Year
Interesting fact from the 2023 STL Stamp Expo: Skateboards and Steamboats???
On March 24, 2023, the first day of the 2023 STL Stamp Expo, the USPS issued the Art of the Skateboard stamps (Scott #5763-5766). A couple of astute philatelists, realizing the overlap, got their hands on the skateboard stamps and had them postmarked using the show’s event cancel on the covers designed by Tom Minor. Only a handful of these covers were made, and only one set was canceled using the red ink.
Are you one of the few that has these? If so, congrats on your rare cover.
