Monday, June 18, 2007 Stamps and more stamps By Jenara Regis Newman
FOR Paulina “Baby” Reynes Calinawan, stamp collecting is one way to relax. It has been her hobby since high school days when she had pen pals and would use her allowance to buy stamps. She would also often go to Colon to see the collection of her grandfather, the late Victorino Reynes. He had such a wide collection of stamps that in those days before museums, the Taoist Temple, malls and resorts, his collection was considered among Cebu’s tourist attractions—after the Sto. Niño image, Magellan’s Cross, and Fort San Pedro.
Her grandfather’s collection went to her aunt Adelina after his death and, after her death, was distributed among her nephews and nieces. Of them, only Baby has continued to collect stamps with a passion that matches that of her grandfather.
For a good number of years, Baby was based in Manila and there, she joined the APO Philatelic Society and was president of the club from 1998 to 2002; and the Filipinas Stamp Club, of which she served as secretary from 2000 to 2001. APO has its meetings and auction every first Sunday of the month while the Philippines Philatelic Society has its meeting and auction every third Sunday. Now that she’s based in Cebu, she has become a member of Cebu Philatelic Society, which meets every first Sunday of the month but has auctions only twice a year.
Baby has grouped her collections according to theme and has exhibited them abroad. In India in 2000, and in Thailand and Hong Kong in 2001, she exhibited a collection featuring birds. In 2005 in Taipei, she exhibited stamps illustrating 160 philatelic terms, which she also exhibited at the Cebu Post Office in 2006 (former President Fidel V. Ramos designated November as Stamp Month and post offices usually hold stamp exhibits in that month).
Among the many philatelic terms used by stamp collectors is “personalized stamp.” Begun in Australia some years back, it is basically an ordinary stamp at the side of which is another no-denomination stamp featuring the face of the person who asked to have it made. In 2005, during the Asian Games, the Philippine Post Office allowed this to be done and Baby is one who can boast that she has some personalized stamps.
Is there a market for stamps here in the Philippines? Definitely, says Baby, especially in Manila where the clubs hold regular auctions. Baby says she’s a poor seller of stamps because she does not note down the prices she paid for them. She once sold a stamp here in Cebu to a fellow-collector who kept seeing her for a particular stamp. She gave in and sold it for P500. He, in turn, sold it on eBay for P100,000! Of course, he cannot buy anything from her again, especially as Baby usually parts with her stamps on condition that the buyer would not resell them.
For the serious collector, Baby explains, stamp collecting entails research, and hours of sorting the stamps. It is not just a matter of getting stamps and putting them in envelopes. It is also cataloguing them. Which is why Baby finds the hobby relaxing: it diversts her mind from other problems while she focuses on the task at hand, while problems (often) resolve themselves. And “it brings satisfaction when your work is appreciated by other people.”
