The creativity of Penney Kols was clear and evident the moment your St Louis Stamp Expo (EXPO) Show Program showed up in the mailbox or you picked up at the registration desk. Penney was responsible for the program from 1993 through 2016 at which time Thomas Minor took over the creation of the show program. I think that it is safe to say that the impression of EXPO being a “premier” show was in the hands of Penney Kols and she made sure that the EXPO achieved that goal.

Penney Kols, is a St Louis native, started her professional career in the theatre as an actress.  After marrying David Kols, she became his partner in all his endeavors.  While most of the establishment and vision of the STL Stamp Expo goes to David, without Penney the execution and image of the show would not have been what it is.  Penney put the first-class stamp on this show.  She was the conductor of the orchestra to David’s compositions.  She brought the vision to life and the creativity that attracted attendees to the show. 

In 2010, after USPS stopped designing the show buttons, the button creation came back to Penney until her retirement from the show in 2018.  She also created the 1994 show cachet (right) of Union Station, which this author thinks is highly creative, while she was humble to even admit she had created it.  You can look at any of the show programs from 1993-2017 and see the creativity and attention to detail that Penney brought to Expo.  She still lives in the area and remembers very fondly all the folks who worked with her and David on the shows, saying that “stamp collectors are all so friendly.”  I think it’s safe to say that Penney Kols was the backbone of the establishment of the STL Stamp Expo.

Penney was presented the Elizabeth C. Pope Award in 2017.

St Louis Stamp Expo (EXPO) Show has been the host of several of the USPS’s Official First Day of Issue Ceremonies over the years of the show. Hosting one of these ceremonies is an honor and is a special event where the USPS, the stamps designers, philatelists, and special philatelic organizations are gathered to introduce a new stamp to the country.

If you are interested in more information about First Day of Issue Ceremonies check out:

American Ceremony Program Society (ACPS)

Links to:
Virtual Ceremonies

2006

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2019

5363-5366 w/USPS cancelation

5367-5370 w/2019 Expo cancelation

2024

Nathan Esbeck
Master of Ceremonies

Babatunde Deinbo
Mayor, Berkeley, MO

Diana Nygaard
Acting Postmaster of St. Louis, U.S.P.S

Unveiling of the
Wedding Blloms Stamp

Presentation of both the
Wedding & Celebration Blloms Stamp

Estelle Bell
Customer Relations Coordinator, U.S.P.S.

St Louis Stamp Expo (EXPO) Show was the host for Regency-Superior Stamp Auctions from 1993 – 2016.

In 1990, David Kols started Regency Stamps, then in 1992 he purchased Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills established in 1929 to form Regency-Superior Auctions. Regency-Superior was one of the nation’s leading Auctioneers specializing in the sale of classic postage Stamps, Coins, Sports and Space Memorabilia. Regency-Superior operated out of two locations, Beverly Hills and the Central West End of St. Louis.

Regency-Superior held some 125 auctions, selling almost $150 million worth of material during its time in business from 1990-2017.

Wayne L. Youngblood was the VP Consignor Relations for Regency-Superior wrote many excellent introductions in the Auction Catalogs about the Saint Louis Expo highlighting the theme and related information about Saint Louis. Wayne remains an active philatelist, author, editor, and owner of WY Stamps.

Attendance Buttons at Expo was the solution in 1997 when the Henry VIII hotel required a means to identify paid attendees at the show so that the parking lot attendant would allow them out of the parking lot without paying. While they are no longer required to get out of the parking lot at the Renaissance, the buttons are still used to verify that attendees have paid when entering the show floor.

The USPS logo was on all buttons as they had been paying the cost of the buttons under their advertising budget but that ended in 2019. The buttons were designed by a mail carrier named Scottie. while we don’t know Scottie’s last name, he was a key contributor who deserves note in the history of Expo.  Scottie was a mail carrier out of one of the post offices in north St. Louis.  The USPS found that he had some artistic talent and gave him an unofficial job of designing special postal cancels for events and shows in St. Louis, like Expo.  Scottie would take Tom Minor’s cachet design, develop the USPS cancel and show buttons, then have them created.  Scottie was said to have used only MS Word in his design of the cancels, which anyone who has used MS Word would know could not have been easy.  Scottie created all the cancels for the show until 2010, when he retired from the USPS.  Thanks for your contributions to the show, Scottie!

Penney Kols and Tom Minor have created them since 2010.

St Louis Stamp Expo (EXPO) Show Programs have been a true highlight of the show each year. The creativity of Penney Kols was clear and evident the moment your show program showed up in the mailbox or you picked up at the registration desk. Penney was responsible for the program from 1993 through 2016 at which time Thomas Minor took over the creation of the show program. I think that it is safe to say that the impression of EXPO being a “premier” show was in the hands of Penney Kols and she made sure that the EXPO achieved that goal.

Penney Kols, is a St Louis native, started her professional career in the theatre as an actress.  After marrying David Kols, she became his partner in all his endeavors.  While most of the establishment and vision of the STL Stamp Expo goes to David, without Penney the execution and image of the show would not have been what it is.  Penney put the first-class stamp on this show.  She was the conductor of the orchestra to David’s compositions.  She brought the vision to life and the creativity that attracted attendees to the show. 

In 2010, after USPS stopped designing the show buttons, the button creation came back to Penney until her retirement from the show in 2018.  She also created the 1994 show cachet (right) of Union Station, which this author thinks is highly creative, while she was humble to even admit she had created it.  You can look at any of the show programs from 1993-2017 and see the creativity and attention to detail that Penney brought to Expo.  She still lives in the area and remembers very fondly all the folks who worked with her and David on the shows, saying that “stamp collectors are all so friendly.”  I think it’s safe to say that Penney Kols was the backbone of the establishment of the STL Stamp Expo.

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.