Welcome to Boston 2026 and the 14th German American Salon! I have been really looking forward to this show, as this will be my first international show in the US since Interphil 76 in my home town of Philadelphia. For the second time running, the German-American Salon will take place at a full international show, the last being at IBRA 23. The first German-American Salon took place in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in 1990, and has been repeated every 2-4 years, alternating between the US and Germany. The last one in the US was in St. Louis in 2019.
This year, the Salon will take place from Tuesday, May 26th, through Friday, May 29th. A tentative schedule appears elsewhere in this journal. We’ll start with a reception Tuesday evening, at Alma Gaucha Prime Brazilian Steakhouse, across from the Convention Center. Registration is required for this event.
Wednesday morning, May 27, as is traditional for the Salon, we’ll have an excursion, a bus tour of Boston. Cost is $40, and registration is required.
There will be number of interesting talks and seminars. Some of the topics include KgU Propaganda Forgeries of the DDR by Oliver Wyrtki, The Complete Story of the 1934-1939 Deutsche Lufthansa Route between Germany and South America by Gary Loew, Allied Occupation of German East Africa 1914-1920 by Regis Hoffman, and Soccer Made in Germany: Germany and the World Cup by Ken Gilbert. There will be a General Meeting of the Society (on Thursday, May 28th), and the Third Reich Study Group and German Colonies Collectors Group will also hold meetings. One of the highlights will be a talk by Jan Berg, noted Samoa expert.
Exhibiting has always been a part of the Salon. In the past few years, we’ve settled on an interesting format: “Klein aber Fein” (“small but quality”), where smaller exhibits (mostly one or two frames) were shown. They haven’t been solely German exhibits. In fact, we’ve also had some topical and display exhibits as well as a number of US and Canadian ones. While the exhibits are non-competitive, exhibitors will be given show medals, one per exhibitor. We’ll have a tour of the exhibits on Friday morning, May 29, with an awards celebration afterward (registration required), to conclude the Salon.
The dealer bourse also promises some excellent opportunities to obtain that missing piece for your collection, and a number of postal agencies will also be making an appearance. The Germany Philatelic Society will also have a table at the show, shared with the Third Reich Study Group and German Colonies Collectors Group. Please stop by and say hello. We look forward to seeing as many members as possible.
Please keep your eyes on our webpage, www.germanyphilatelicsocietyusa.org, where we will post any updates and schedule changes after this issue is printed and mailed. The current tentative schedule as well as the salon registration form has been posted to our Conventions page on our website.
Thanks are given to Günther Korn, who has helped organize previous Salons, for his book Die IBRA 2023: Ein Rückblick (IBRA 2023: A Look Back) from which some of the history of the Salon was obtained.