Beatrice BACHMANN
Chairman of the FIP Section for Astrophilately since 1985 till 2000.
Chairman of the FIP Section for Astrophilately since 1985 till 2000.
Beatrice Bachmann started collecting space related philatelic material in 1961. "Astrophilately” was not born yet. She is a founding member of the Society of Space Philatelists in Zürich, Switzerland in 1969.
In 1970 she started exhibiting. In 1978 her exhibit "From the Beginning of Space Exploration up to Space Flight” was qualified for international exhibitions and obtained the first Gold Award at the "ITALIA’85” FIP World Exhibition.
Between 1985 and 1994 the exhibit was displayed several times in the Invited Class and Class of Honour at International Aero and Astrophilately exhibitions.
After several times on the level of Gold she reached the giant step to Large Gold at PHILAKOREA’94, for the first time awarded to Astrophilately, followed by a Large Gold + Special Prize at ISTANBUL’95 as well as Large Gold Awards at the "AVIACION Y ESPACIO’96” FIP Aero- and Astrophilately Specialized exhibition in Sevilla and at the "ISRAEL’98” FIP World Exhibition.
In 1997 she was invited by the Organizing Committee of MONACO’97 International exhibition of the Rarest Philatelic Documents of the World to participate with an astrophilatelic document.
At the "ITALIA’98” FIP World Exhibition her exhibit was shown in the Invited Class and at ESPANA’2000 it was invited to the Class of Honour. At BELGICA’2001 it was accepted in the Championship Class.
In 1985 she was elected as Leader of the FIP Section for Astrophilately, when the motion of the FIP Board to create a Section for Astrophilately within the Commission for Aerophilately was approved by the FIP Congress at ITALIA’85 in Rome and began to make the philatelic family of the FIP acquainted with Astrophilately and to invite Delegates of the National Philatelic Federations to promote this field in their countries.
She was responsible for the development of the FIP special regulations and Guidelines for Astrophilately and in 1990 produced a handbook for jurors with illustrations and information on appropriate and non-appropriate astrophilatelic material at disposal to the Philatelic Federations of the FIP.
She developed the FIP Seminar paper "Advice on Judging and Exhibiting Astrophilatelic Exhibits” and held Seminars on Astrophilately at several FIP World Exhibitions and specialized International Aero- and Astrophilately exhibitions.
She was invited at EUR APEX”93 FEPA Aero- and Astrophilately exhibition in London and in 1995 by the German Philatelic Federation to hold Qualifying Seminars for national and international jurors.
She held Seminar on Astrophilately at the "MOSCOW’1997” FIP World Exhibition. Russian cosmonauts Viktor Afanasjev, Aleksander Poleschuk and Georgiy Grechko took part at the seminar.
Invitations received as Jury member at Aero- and Astrophilately exhibitions: COSMOPHIL’91 in Gent, Belgium; EUR APEX”93 in London, AVIACION Y ESPACIO’93 in Alicante, Spain and AEROPEX’94 in Adelaide, Australia.
Publications on Astrophilately: She wrote various articles on "What is Astrophilately” for the FIP Flash magazine and National Federations and Societies.
In 1998 she was requested by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to write an information on Astrophilately for the new regular column Philatelic Forum in the quarterly published "Union Postal” Journal.
In 1999 she was invited by the Royal Philatelic Society London to give a paper on Astrophilately.
She created a Web site for the FIP Section for Astrophilately with information about the activities and the peculiarities of this special field.
Honours received for her promotion of Astrophilately:
1989 appointed as Honorary member of the Society of Space Philatelists in Zürich.
1995 as Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London
2000 as Honorary Life Member of the Space Unit society in USA
In 1995 she was inducted to the Aerophilatelic Hall of Fame approved by the Board of the American Air Mail Society (for the first time for Astrophilately).
At the FIP Congress at ESPANA’2000 in Madrid she was honoured with the FIP Medal for Service – the most prestigious recognition awarded by the FIP for exceptional continuing long-term service to organized philately at the international level.
