Following the great Australia 2013 World Stamp Expo, Melbourne hosted another major international philatelic exhibition, in 2017. Melbourne 2017 FIAP International Stamp Exhibition was held from March 30th to April 2nd 2017, in the multipurpose rooms of the Caulfield Racecourse. This important event was organized by the Australian Philatelic Federation, with the patronage of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (FIAP) and with the indispensable collaboration of Australia Post. The exhibition brought together collections from over 20 countries in Asia and Australia, as well as a non-competitive exhibition (ROYALPEX 125) of collections presented by members of the Royal Philatelic Society of Victoria, which marks its 125th anniversary in 2017.
	In the commercial area, Melbourne 2017 boasted some 60 booths, occupied by international dealers, auction houses, postal administrations and various companies related to the world of philately; among them, Cartor Security Printing.

Already directly related and relevant to our field of study, Cartor installed its own 'Post & Go' philatelic kiosk on its stand with code CSP1, presented for the first time during the PHILATAIPEI 2016 exhibition (see article, also published in VARIABLE 43).

Cartor used the kiosk to print special sample labels and during the four days of the event the machine was available to visitors for the purchase of 'Post & Go' Jersey and Guernsey Post variable value stamps.

Faced with the costly decision at the World Stamp Show NY2016 (article and VARIABLE 41), where each philatelic administration shipped its own philatelic kiosk to the United States, this option tested in Melbourne significantly reduced operational costs and could be repeated at future philatelic events.

It was not the first time 'Post & Go' stamps had been issued in Australia. Four years earlier, at the World Stamp Exhibition Australia 2013, also in Melbourne, Royal Mail installed two earlier version kiosks of the current 'Post & Go' machines, which issued UK stamps (see article, VARIABLE 29). Nor was it the first time that a single 'Post & Go' machine had issued stamps from two different postal administrations. But it was the first time that a private philatelic kiosk, not belonging or owned by any postal administration or philatelic service, was used in public to issue stamps from two different countries.

During the four days of Melbourne 2017, the CSP1 kiosk issued Jersey Post stamps with the thematic series 'The Crest of Jersey' (in matt finish) from one of the reels, and Guernsey Post stamps with the 'Guernsey flag' definitive design from the other reel. Each postal administration had its own programmed face value indicators, but all the stamps included the special imprint Melbourne 2017 Int. Stamp Expo The first block of the code at the bottom of all the stamps issued by the kiosk at this philatelic event is B3AU17 CSP1-, followed by the session and stamp number. As usual, in addition to the stamps issued at the Melbourne exhibition, Jersey and Guernsey Post put on sale sets or 'Collectors strips' with the same designs and the same special imprint, but printed by the back office printer B002.

Receipts of both sets, or 'Collectors Strips', with the six programmed postage rates, issued by the CSP1 kiosk. All the stamps bought in Melbourne had a 10% surcharge on the face value, due to the GST or tax on sales made by both postal administrations in Australia.

Before the opening of the exhibition, Cartor also used the machine to print promotional sample or exhibition labels, offered to visitors to the stand. For Melbourne 2017, Cartor prepared two types of rolls with motifs related to the country where the exhibition was held; a nice series of six designs showing Australian animals, and two designs featuring the map and flag of the country. Being just samples and not stamps, these labels do not include any face value, but do include the same special imprint as the Jersey and Guernsey Post stamps  Melbourne 2017 Int. Stamp Expo as well as the same code at the bottom starting with the block B3AU17 CSP1-.
Following Taipei 2015 (article and VARIABLE 37), Singapore 2015 (article and VARIABLE 38) and Philataipei 2016 (article and VARIABLE 43), Melbourne 2017 was the fourth philatelic event in which Cartor Security Printing produced special sample labels.