PANO – Tran Han Van, aged 80, of Cam Mau city, Ca Mau province, considers his nearly 13,000 stamps and stamped envelopes a colossal fortune.

Especially, his thousands of stamps feature the life and revolutionary career of late President Ho Chi Minh – the founder and first president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

He selected and arranged his stamps in different themes, such as “Hanoi's Liberation”, “Vietnam’s landscapes”, “Dien Bien Phu Victory”, “Uncle Ho’s birth anniversaries” and “National construction cause”.

Stamp collector Tran Han Van (right) and part of the collection

Each stamp and envelope collection of the old man has their own significance for the country’s history and cultural identities.

Van shared that he started collecting stamps and envelopes when his family received a letter from a relative. The stamp depicted the Dien Bien Phu Victory Statue highlighting the triumph. Since then, he kept the letter and bought other stamps. Working as a clerk at the provincial post office after the restoration of peace, he could enrich his stamp collection.

He also connected with other stamp collectors across the country and went to localities to find and purchase stamps to add to his collections.

Van has wholeheartedly taken care of the stamps and envelopes as his priceless works.

Because of old age, he hopes to find other stamp collectors to continue preserving his collections.

Translated by Pham Huy