South Dakota Coins and Stamp Association, Incorporated
Exhibiting Rules and Guidelines
Eligible Exhibits
All Association members are eligible to exhibit at the convention. Exhibits must contain items that are the exclusive property of the exhibitor. Any material in the display which is not genuine must be identified as such. Any exhibitor taking 1st Price in a specific class in the current competition may not exhibit in the next convention unless the exhibit is revised at least 25%. No single exhibit may be entered into more than one class. An exhibitor may exhibit in multiple classes, but, may enter only ONE exhibit in each class. The judges reserve the right to move an exhibit to a class they feel is more appropriate. Junior Members may choose to enter each of their exhibits into either the appropriate junior class or one of the regular classes, but not both.
Registration
The exhibitor will bring the display to the convention on Saturday morning and register it with the Exhibit Chairman. The chairman will give the exhibit a number, record the exhibit's title and desired class, and instruct the exhibitor where to set the display. The exhibitor's name should not be on the display and will not be made available to the judges. Judging will take place on Saturday afternoon and the results will be reported at the banquet. The exhibit should remain in place until Sunday afternoon.
Exhibit Classes
| Coins Class I | United States Coins | May include any US copper, nickel, or silver coins of regular issue, proof, pattern, or errors. This class may also contain some gold coins, but only to complete a type set or carry out a theme. |
| Coins Class II | World Coins | May include any foreign coins of any composition. This class may also contain some gold coins or US coins, but only to complete a type set or carry out a theme. |
| Coins Class III | Gold Coins | Exclusively for gold coins from any country or countries. |
| Coins Class IV | Currency | Exclusively for paper money from any country or countries. |
| Coins Class V | Medals, Tokens, & Exonumia | For merchant tokens, game medals, Civil War and Hard Times tokens, love tokens, elongated and encased coins, and other exonumia. Items may be from any country our countries. |
| Coins Class VI | Coins for Junior Exhibitors | This is an open class exclusively for Junior Members that will contain any numismatic items that the exhibitor wishes to display. |
| Stamps Class I | United States Postage | Exclusively for postage stamps and stamped envelopes, and meter impressions of the United States, their possessions, and the Confederate States of America. |
| Stamps Class II | Special Purpose Stamps | This class is for American stamps that pay for special services, whether produced by the United States government or private parties. Included in this category are postage dues, revenues, hunting stamps, private express, and the like. |
| Stamps Class III | Covers and Postal History | This class is for mailed items, whether stamped covers, stampless covers, canceled individual stamps, or artifacts that relate to the the study of the history of American mail. Eligible entries could consist of a collection of postmarks, canceling devices, usages of particular stamps, or items relating to postage rates. |
| Stamps Class IV | Topicals | This class is for an exhibit that follows a particular collecting theme. Traditionally this is for stamps that have similar items or animals in their designs. This class may include stamps from any country or countries. |
| Stamps Class V | Stamps for Junior Exhibitors | This is an open class exclusively for Junior Members that will contain any philatelic items that the exhibitor wishes to display. |
| Stamps Class VI | Foreign Philatelics | May include any foreign philatelic items. This class may also contain some American items, but only to carry out a theme. The theme of the exhibit should not be a topical collection, as these belong in Class IV. |
| Open Class | Miscellaneous | This special class is for any exhibit that contains items not conforming to the classes above, yet pertain to numismatics or philatelics. This class is also for those exhibits that contain a combination of coins, stamps, exonumia, postal history, etc. This class will not be eligible for any Best of Show awards. |
Special trophies may be given for Overall Best of Show, Best of Show Coins, Best of Show Stamps, Best Junior Exhibit, etc. These trophies have been donated by the public, most often in memory of a loved one. The have varying rules associated with them, dependant upon the wishes of the donor. Many of these have been traveling trophies that retire after three consecutive wins by the same person. These awards are only granted as they become available through donation. |
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Judging Exhibits
Information: Assess the quality and originality of the information presented within the exhibit. You should evaluate the effort taken in doing the research, the number of sources, the amount of original information from the exhibitor’s own experience, and whether the exhibitor has plagiarized any sources. Any information that is in the form of a displayed reference book or a copy thereof should not be included in the scoring. If the judge feels that the exhibitor is attempting to claim any such information as his own, the score for this section should be zero points. This element is awarded from 0 to 35 points.
Arrangement: Assess the layout of the exhibit for artistic merit and efficient layout. Decorations can be appreciated, but should not overwhelm the information and material. This score is strictly a measure of how well the exhibiter has mad all elements meld together. This element is awarded from 0 to 35 points.
Condition of Material: The judge should evaluate how much effort was put into finding the nicest items to display. This assessment is relative to the topic of coins or stamp being displayed. For example, it is much easier to find Lincoln Memorial Cents in AU condition than it is to find Bust Halves in Very Good condition. This element is awarded from 0 to 15 points.
Rarity of Material: Evaluate the difficulty the exhibitor faced to locate the material. Is this something that can be found on any bourse floor, or did the collector need to search for many years? Be aware that this score IS NOT DEPENDANT UPON CASH VALUE OF ITEMS DISPLAYED; just because an item is expensive to acquire does not mean it is difficult to locate. This element is awarded from 0 to 10 points.
Degree of Completeness: Determine the level to which the number of items displayed relates to the title of the Exhibit. If the title is “UNITED STATES STAMPS” and only a few hundred loose stamps from the 1940s are shown, the exhibitor has not done well in the completeness category. However, an exhibit that shows one coin with a very concise title and thorough documentation could be considered complete. This element is awarded from 0 to 5 points.