19th Estonian Philatelic Exhibition in Tartu

Hi,
I wanted to share experiences from Philatelic Exhibition which took place in Estonia, pn 9th and 10th of July.
I had never visited one as I started with philately a bit less than three years ago and other exhibitions seemed too far from where I live, considering I do not own a car. Still, Tartu was a busride away so I visited exhibition on second day as there was also collectors fair.
Exhibition was nice, although I'm sure it was smaller than in the past and can't be compared to big countries and big shows.

There were various proofs and essays, exhibitied by Estonian Postal Museum, Estonian stamps ofcourse. Some very nice and unique, large size. I had not seen many of proofs either until now.
A friend of mine exhibited his collection of certains essays plus Estonian shipmail (he even managed to lure me to collect it not long time ago!).
Also interesting was censorship in Estonia 1914-21 by Mr.Roots from Norway. German Occupation in Estonia 1918 by Mr.Lindeblad, Postal cancellations of Finland 1889-1901 by Mr.Saarinen and several other collections were all nice to look and examine.

At collectors fair I was asked to join International Estonian Philatelic Society which I agreed. They are situated in capital Tallinn while I'm on the oposite side of the country but I really must start visiting their fairs and meetings so maybe joining them will give me this needed push.
I was able to purchase several numbers of annual Estonian Philatelist, journal full with wealth of knowledge.
I think room was too small as it was hard to sit down and enjoy discussing philatelic aspects, gossip or to browse stamp albums. I did manage to snatch some deals for old and new themes of collecting such as Estonia 1991-93 period covers and postage due markings, also some British Commonwealth.

But my main goal was just a enjoy a day away from routine and meet some new stamp enthusiasts. I did manage to shake a hand with a few but for me the show ended too soon. I guess considering I was probably the youngest there (I'm 27) older collectors had other idea.
To sum this up it was a nice experience and I wish there were more exhibitions like this.

Toivo