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Can A Baha'i Be A Philatelist?

© Lloyd Madansky

That is a question that now confronts me. As most of you know, I am a Baha'i. But until recently, none knew that I have what can only be called "latent philatelist tendencies". Yes, it is true. In reflecting on this I have discovered that these tendencies were probably brought on at about the age of 12 by my paternal grandmother. These tendencies did not really come out into the open until a few weeks ago when my wife and I were doing some cleaning and, to both our surprise, we found items associated with philatelism in my drawer. Imagine our shock. This revelation had such an impact on me that I decided to investigate the phenomenon. Caryn (my wife) and I felt that it would be important to understand it so we could deal with it in an adult manner.

Oh, for those that don't know, a philatelist is a person that practices philately. And what, you might ask is philately? It is the collection and study of postage and imprinted stamps.

When I was 12, my grandmother gave me the "Wildlife Stamp Album" put out by the National Wildlife Federation. This album contain pages with descriptions of birds, animals, fish, trees and flowers and camp with sheets of stamps with pictures of these various plants and animals.

It was not until decades later that I saw my first postage stamp with Mt. Carmel and the Shrine of the Bab on it. I realize that the Shrine is not very visible, but it is there nonetheless. From that moment on I wondered if any other stamp contained any Baha'i subject matter.

The years passed, and the question took up residence in a remote portion of my mind. Oh! It would pop up on occasion, but it was not until a few months ago that I discovered the web site Baha'I Philately . It contains quite a bit of information and images of various stamps related to the Baha'I Faith from around the world. The most recent stamp I know of is put out by Israel commemorating the opening of the Terraces of the Shrine of the Bab .

In adding to my, now growing, collection of Baha'I related stamps I have found Ebay a great resource.

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