On November 11-12, 1961, the third PENPEX and second annual show was held at the Palo Alto Community Center, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, California. Show hours continued to be Saturday 10:00 am to 10:00 pm and Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
1961 PENPEX Cachet
The show was chaired by Cy Thompson and supported by four local clubs: Palo Alto Philatelic Society, Palo-Menlo Philatelic Society, Peninsula Stamp Club, and Sequoia Stamp Club.
The show theme was The Land of the Courtly Dons – El Camino Real “The King’s Highway” and special show cachet could be purchased for 15¢ each or seven for $1.00. At the time, first-class mail rate was only 4¢. For the first time, a special PENPEX Station cancel was created by the USPS for use during the show.
The local newspaper reported that 1,500 or more visitors attended PENPEX. The show had nine dealers, the furthest being Album Service, that were supplied by Soledad and Marden Ross who came from Oakdale. Both had traveled 110 miles. The USPS was also present.
Possibly the exhibits brought people to the show. There were 180 frames of 4 pages each. In the November 11, 1961 San Mateo Times, they encouraged people if “you are able to visit the exhibit this weekend at the Community Center in Palo Alto, by ail means seek out the owners of several of the displayed collections, and ask them just what they found the most fascinating part of assembling the collection. They will be glad to explain their activity in the hobby to you, and you will understand far more than you might guess.” There were special displays sent by the government of Switzerland and KLM (Royal Dutch Air.)
Special cacheted souvenir envelopes had been specially prepared for the show and could be mailed right from the exhibit hall at the special branch post office operated by the U. S. Postal department. Any personal letter could be sent ‘On it’s the exhibit post office station, with a post mark cancellation applied that reads “PENPEX STATION / Palo Alto” having been provided by the U.S.P.O.D. Washington D.C., through the courtesy of Mr. Ralph Evans, Palo Alto postmaster. All current U.S. commemorative stamps will be on sale at the branch post office.
Nine dealers from the Northern California area operated bourse tables during the show hours and had complete stocks of stamps and accessories from which to choose. As an added attraction, there were slide shows at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday, with recorded commentary, giving “stories behind the stamps” in travelogue form. These came from the library of Le Cup: cake and myself, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we did in preparing them. The stamp “journeys” will be visiting the chateaux of France, and a tour of Tuscany province in Italy with accent on renaissance personalities and places.
A complete History of PENPEX exhibit will be on display at PENPEX 2011 on December 3 and 4 at the Community Activity Building, 1400 Roosevelt Avenue, Redwood City. The stamp show is free and open to the public.