NAPEX 2026: The Washington Stamp Show Returns, This Time in August

Every summer, one of the most established events in the American philatelic calendar takes place a short drive from the centre of Washington, D.C. NAPEX, the National Philatelic Exhibition of Washington, runs this year from Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia.

It is a three-day combination of competitive exhibition, dealer bourse and society meetings, and it has been part of the American stamp scene for more than seventy-five years.

For collectors in the UK, a show in Virginia may seem a long way from home. But NAPEX is worth paying attention to, partly because it is one of the events where the American market shows its hand, and partly because the way it operates says something useful about how stamp auctions, stamp dealers and collectors interact on both sides of the Atlantic.

Where NAPEX came from

The origins of the show go back to the late 1940s. Washington, D.C. was chosen as the venue for the 1950 American Philatelic Society convention, and the name NAPEX first appears in 1949 as preparations got under way. Among the founders and trustees was Judge David D. Caldwell, a figure well known in the capital's collecting circles, who had previously organised the National Stamp Conference in 1937 and chaired the 1940 convention marking the centenary of the Penny Black.

The first NAPEX, held at the Shoreham Hotel in 1950, ran to 354 exhibit frames and a bourse of just ten dealers. It was chaired by Svend Yort, a specialist in Scandinavian material who was later elected to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame and who went on to chair SIPEX, the international exhibition held in Washington in 1966.

From there the show grew. By 1964 it had reached 408 frames and thirty dealers. Through the 1970s it moved to the Twin Bridges hotel in Virginia and peaked at 460 frames in 1973. The 1980s saw further moves, first to Bethesda in Maryland and then to the Sheraton National in Virginia, with the bourse expanding towards fifty tables. In 1995 the show settled at the Hilton McLean, where it has stayed ever since, opening that year with 360 frames and 62 dealers. The largest bourse in its history came in 2013, when 86 dealers took tables.

Like almost every event of its kind, NAPEX lost a year to the pandemic. Its own records simply note that there was no show in 2020. It returned in 2021 with 208 frames and 60 dealers, and has since settled into a steady pattern of roughly 200 to 230 frames and around fifty dealers each year. The organising body remains National Philatelic Exhibitions of Washington, D.C., Inc., a volunteer-run non-profit, with John F. Schorn as recent show chairman.

Why the show carries weight

NAPEX is one of the American Philatelic Society's World Series of Philately shows. That designation matters more than it might first appear. Exhibits are judged against the APS manual of philatelic judging, which is closely aligned with international standards, and two things follow from a strong result.

First, the winner of the multiframe Grand Award is invited to compete in the APS Champion of Champions competition, which is the most prestigious national exhibiting prize in the United States and is contested each year at the Great American Stamp Show. The single-frame Grand Award winner is similarly invited to the single-frame equivalent held at Chicagopex. Second, any multiframe exhibit awarded a vermeil medal or better becomes eligible to be shown at international exhibitions under FIP rules, which is the route British exhibitors will recognise from their own national and international circuit.

The standard of material on the walls reflects this. At NAPEX 2025 the Grand Award went to Louis Caprario for an exhibit on pre-Prohibition United States beer stamps covering 1866 to 1919, with the Reserve Grand awarded to Vernon Morris for a study of Blood's Local Post between 1842 and 1862. These are research-led exhibits of the kind that take years to assemble, and they offer a useful reminder that condition, provenance and scholarship, rather than sheer quantity, are what distinguish a serious collection. It is a point we make often when carrying out a stamp collection valuation, and it is set out in more detail on our frequently asked questions page.

Why this year's dates are unusual

NAPEX normally takes place in early June. The move to late August in 2026 is a one-off, made to avoid a clash with Boston 2026, the once-in-a-decade international exhibition held in the United States, which ran for eight days in late May. With several thousand frames and dealers and postal administrations attending from around the world, Boston dominated the American spring calendar, and NAPEX shifted rather than compete with it. The organisers have already confirmed a return to the usual slot, with the 2027 show set for 4 to 6 June and the 2028 show for 2 to 4 June.

What to expect at NAPEX 2026

The bourse is the centre of the event. The organisers describe it as one of the strongest in organised philately and report a dealer return rate of around 95 per cent, which is a reasonable indicator of how well the show trades. More than fifty firms are expected. The published list includes major American names such as Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions, David Feldman, Eric Jackson Revenue Stamps, Trish Kaufmann, Colonial Stamp Company, Henry Gitner, Richard Friedberg and Labron Harris. British collectors may recognise Stephen T. Taylor of Claygate, a UK-based dealer specialising in United States material, whose presence is a reminder that the transatlantic trade runs in both directions.

The competitive exhibition will occupy the usual couple of hundred frames, with general, single-frame and youth classes, and an option for exhibitors preparing material for the international circuit. Exhibits are mounted on the Thursday afternoon before the show opens and come down after two o'clock on the Sunday. Frame fees are modest, and first-time World Series of Philately exhibitors have their frame fees waived, which is a sensible piece of encouragement for anyone taking the step up from local society competition.

Awards are presented at a banquet on the Saturday evening. The 2026 trophies continue the show's habit of choosing objects tied to the capital, with a porcelain bowl depicting the four stages of the United States Capitol going to the multiframe Grand Award winner, and Great Seal charger plates for the Reserve Grand and the single-frame Grand.

One feature likely to interest anyone who has inherited a collection is the show's free appraisal table, run under the heading of stamps in the attic. Visitors can bring along an album or an accumulation and have someone knowledgeable look at it and advise on what to do next. It is a service with an obvious parallel to our own approach to a free stamp valuation, and it exists for the same reason: most people who come into a collection have no idea whether they are holding something of consequence or a few pounds' worth of common material.

Society activity is also part of the weekend. The Civil War Philatelic Society will hold its annual convention at the show, with a society dinner on the Friday evening and a general membership meeting on the Saturday morning. In a typical year NAPEX also hosts seminars, first-day ceremonies for new United States issues, and stands from the United States Postal Service and the United Nations Postal Administration, along with a pictorial cancel for each day of the show. At the time of writing, the full seminar timetable, the list of convening societies and details of any special cancels or souvenir covers had not yet been published, so anyone planning to attend should check napex.org nearer the date.

Practical details

The venue is the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, 7920 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Virginia, which is reachable by Washington Metro and lies within easy reach of the area's airports. The show opens at ten in the morning on all three days, closing at six on the Friday and Saturday and at four on the Sunday. Admission and parking are both free. The organisers ask that anyone booking the discounted hotel room block does so through the show's own hotel page rather than directly with the chain.

What UK collectors can take from it

A show of this kind is more than a place to buy. It is one of the few occasions where prices, condition standards and demand become visible all in one room, and where a collector can compare what several specialist stamp dealers are asking for the same sort of material. That is valuable intelligence whether you are buying, selling or simply trying to work out what your own holdings are worth.

The same logic applies closer to home. Whether you intend to sell stamps or expand a collection, the useful information tends to come from watching what actually changes hands. Our previous auction realisations are published for exactly that reason, and our current catalogue gives a sense of the range and estimates involved in our own sales. If you are new to buying this way, our guide to stamps for sale at auction explains how bidding, reserves and estimates work, and our online bidding page covers the practicalities.

For anyone considering selling a stamp collection, the questions raised at a show such as NAPEX are the same ones we deal with every week. Value depends far more on what was spent on a collection, and on the condition of the individual items, than on age or bulk. We provide a free stamp appraisal on collections of every size, and when we carry out a stamp valuation we will usually give two figures: an auction estimate for sale through one of our stamp auctions, and an offer to purchase outright as stamp buyers. Which route suits you best depends on the material and on your own circumstances, and we are happy to talk it through.

If you would like advice on selling a stamp collection, or simply want an informed opinion on what you have, please get in touch or read more about our approach to valuations. You can also follow further philatelic news and event coverage on our news pages.