Exhibition overview 

The PRAGA 1998 International Stamp Exhibition was held from 10 to 13 September 1998. It was organised under the patronage of FEPA and recognised by FIP. Within the Czech Republic, the exhibition was held under the auspices of the Office of the President of the Republic. It took place in the renovated Trade Fair Palace and Postal Museum. The exhibition was opened by A. Peltrám, the Minister of Transport and Communications. FEPA was represented at the opening ceremony by A. K. Huggins, FEPA's Honorary President. 

Exhibits

At the PRAGA 1998 exhibition, a total of 369 exhibits were evaluated in the competition classes. The most occupied exhibition class was literature, where there were 98 exhibits. Of the others - the national class 34, the traditional class 42, postal history 68 and thematic philately 37 exhibits. Although it was a European exhibition, exhibits from 30 countries were represented. From non-European Canada and the United States.

The Grand International Prize was awarded to the exhibit “Copenhagen” by Knud Mohr from Denmark; the Grand National Prize was awarded to Johan L. Klein from the Netherlands for the exhibit Czechoslovakia 1918-38. The third of the main prizes was the “youth prize”, which again went to Denmark (Lisbeth Frandsen - King Frederik IX 1947 - 1972). 8 exhibits were exhibited in the Honorary Court, 3 of which dealt with the issue of Czechoslovak stamps.

The exhibits were evaluated by an international jury consisting of 24 members and 4 observers. The honorary chairman was Ladislav Dvořáček, and the chairman of the jury was Alan K. Huggins.

Evaluation of the exhibition

The exhibition took place in a completely different socio-economic environment than the PRAGA 1988 exhibition. This had an impact on its scope, financial budget, duration and it was also only a European exhibition. Despite this, the exhibition was visited by 45,000 visitors in just four days.

The exhibition was very well received by the philatelic public, because it was not expected for a long time that the exhibition would actually take place (the building had just been reconstructed). The exhibition catalogue was also very well received, where in addition to basic information about the exhibition (venue, organizing committee and jury) interesting articles on rare Czechoslovak stamps were also included, as well as contacts for individual philatelic clubs and a commission of experts.

Photo gallery