PRAGA 98 is now only pleasant memories. Since this was the first time our Society participated in an exhibition outside the United States, the question "was it worth the effort" constantly hovering in the background.

The main Society event was the dinner held on the eve of the opening of PRAGA 98. Earlier in the day, a short Board of Directors meeting was held which focused on the Society's planned activities in Prague. When all preparations had been approved, the Board adjourned to assist in the mounting of exhibits of Society and other American exhibitors. This became a major effort which ended just in time for the hard working American crews (by the end of the day we had also drafted a number of exhibitors who had innocently wandered by to see what was going on) to get to their hotels, shower, change and get to the Society dinner in time to greet arriving members and guests.

The Society dinner was held at the attractive Prague restaurant Na Po i i andattended by 80 members and guests. The restaurant was chosen because its decorations largely consist of engravings by the famous engraver of Czechoslovak stamps, Jind ich Schmidt. The reason? His nephew is the owner of the restaurant and, along with his staff, did everything possible to create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere for our event. Social interaction between friends old and new was the purpose of the evening and was interrupted only briefly by a short welcome by the Society president, the presentation by the President of the Union of Czech Philatelists Lumÿr Brendl's presentation of a Certificate for Service to Czechoslovak Philately to Jaroslav Verner, and Eckhart Dissen of his new book on New York World's Fair sheetlets to Mirko Vondra and . It was especially satisfying that so many of our overseas members, including the presidents of our German and British sister societies, were able to join us. We were especially pleased to have Ing. Miroslav Špa ek, Deputy General Director of the Czech Post and co-Chairman of PRAGA 98; Lumÿr Brendl, President of the Union of Czech Philatelists and Co-Chairman of PRAGA 98; Jarmila Mykytynovõ, Head of the Philatelic Department of the Czech Post; and Miroslav Langhammer, member of the PRAGA 98 Organizing Committee as our guests of honor.

PRAGA 98 opened to long lines of visitors on a beautiful sunny morning on September 10. The opening ceremony was by invitation only and consisted, as such events usually do, of speeches by government and postal officials as well as representatives of the Union of Czech Philatelists and the PRAGA 98 Organizing Committee. A short period of viewing of the exhibits was also available to the invited guests before the crowds of interested visitors entered the Trade Fair Center exhibition hall. One of the most impressive things about PRAGA 98 was the large number of visitors who came to the exhibit throughout the four days of the show. American exhibitors were especially struck by this phenomenon, often commenting to me how impressed they were that the visitors were "actually studying the exhibits" and not only lining up at the dealers and postal administrations to add to their collections. Some of us who have attended earlier PRAGA exhibitions, or who are familiar with the philatelic passions of Czech collectors, were perhaps not as surprised as first time visitors, but nonetheless were much impressed with crowds around many of the exhibit frames. Total attendance for the exhibition was 42,000, 6,500 of whom were young people 15 years old of younger.

The Society for Chechoslovak Philately, the Bundesarbeirtsgemeindschaft Tschechoslowakei, our German counterpart, and the Union of Czech Philatelists were the only philatelic organizations that had booths at the exhibition. Our stand was organized by Mirko Vondra and staffed by many of our members from the United States and the Czech Republic. Our purpose was to publicize the Society and to that purpose we prepared Czech/English information sheets (Lou Svoboda), displayed Society publications, medal, copies of the Czechoslovak Specialist, and sold cachet covers which we prepared (Mirko Vondra) for the occasion. With regard to the cachet envelopes, I must confess, we made a major mistake. We greatly underestimated the interest visitors would have in them. All 500 were sold out by early afternoon of the first day of the show!

Many events of interest to philatelists were prepared by the Exhibition organizers. These ranged from experts assessing the genuineness and value of stamps for visitors, to meeting with designers and engravers of Czech stamps, to mail carrying balloon flights, to 18th century mail coach runs, to autograph signing session with Czech Olympians, to a series of meetings of philatelic societies, and a Congress of Czechoslovak Collectors. The program of the Congress was a full one, but unfortunately the planned simultaneous interpretations of the papers did not materialize and they all ran over terribly (especially mine). The organizers have promised that participants will receive printed copies of the presentations, including those cut due to time constraints. We look forward to receiving this material.

Especially impressive among the special events were the arrangements for young people. A large area was designated for young collectors where they could “design” stamps, process mail, develop album pages, and play mail-related computer games. With efforts to interest young people in collecting such as we saw at PRAGA 98, the Czechs will have little to fear that there will not be a next generation to support Czech philately.

There were plenty of events for collectors who wished to add to their collections. In addition to the dealers and postal administrations located in the Trade Fair Palace, there was a bourse several blocks from the exhibition site with approximately 60 Czech and Slovak dealers. This bourse ran through the entire length of the show. In addition, two major auctions were held. The first by Majer and Traumb on Friday afternoon and the second by Profil on Saturday morning. It is unfortunate that this second auction conflicted with the Congress.

An international show is a good time to introduce not only new stamps, but also new publications. PRAGA was no exception. After 30 years a new edition of Pad lky eskoslensk›ch znõmek has been published. This update of the 1972 classic is in three languages, Czech, English, and German, and thus should be much more useful to all our members then was the original version. A new volume of Monografie has been published, this one dealing with the SO series. The first volume of a two volume catalog of Czechoslovak Postal Stationary has been issued, with the second volume expected next year. Finally, a new printing of the Specialized Czechoslovakia 1945-1992 catalog has also appeared. All of these new books will be available through the Society book sales program.

The Palmares on Saturday night was a grand affair. It was held in the elegant Majakovsk› Hall in the Vinohrady National House. The Hall was a grand ball room in the 19th Century Central European tradition and had the interesting distinction of also hosting the Palmares of the first PRAGA in 1938. The organization of the affair was very good. The evening began with a cocktail hour outside the hall itself. The award ceremonies preceded the dinner and began with very short welcomes by the hosts and chairman of the jury. The actual presentation of the awards was well organized and very efficient. Quite an accomplishment, given the number of awards that were handed out to the participants.

Of course there were some difficulties that on could criticize at PRAGA 98, but most of these were known only to those working behind the scenes. Few visitors would have been aware of them. One problem of which visitors were aware, was the large crowds, especially during the first two days. We should have such problems at stamp exhibitions in the United States! My own main complaint about PRAGA 98 is that it was much too short. There was so much to do and so many philatelists from so many different countries with whom to discuss mutual areas of interest that I did not have time to study all the exhibits I had marked in my catalog before the show opened.

Our Czech hosts were gracious and helpful throughout. Even though they had more than their fair share of problems and complications to solve, they always made time to address any difficulties or misunderstandings which we brought to their attention. Lumÿr Brendl, from the initial invitation to American exhibitors to participate to the very end of PRAGA was ever supportive and willing to make sure things got done. He could not do it alone and his colleagues worked with us on many of the details of our participation and activities in Prague.

In closing I would like to thank all those who helped make our participation in PRAGA a success. This begins with Alan Hoover who assisted, inter alia, in getting the American exhibits to and from Prague; Annette Hoover for her yeoman service in helping visitors with their travel and hotel arrangements; Mirko Vondra for organizing our stand; Lou Svoboda for preparing publicity material on the Society; and Savoy Horvath, Tom Coosaboom, Rich Palaschak, Bob Koschalk (and all those I have surely missed) who helped man the Society stand.

"Was it worth the effort?" Absolutely! Will we want to do it again? I suspect we will -- and we will have the chance when the next international stamp exhibition in the Czech Republic takes place at Brno 2000.