It is an opportunity, as the president of the Association of Philatelists and Numismatists KS Bernard Pavlinović said, for collectors to complete their collections through exchange or purchase, but also an opportunity to socialize and exchange experiences.
Pavlinović added that by organizing the Winter Collecting Fair, they are trying to affirm their members, but also open space for new members, more serious collectors who may not currently see interest in public gatherings. The idea is massification, not only at the level of Sarajevo Canton, but also in BiH and internationally. Pavlinović stated that in the surrounding countries there are permanent fairs in Zagreb, Belgrade, as well as in Ljubljana and Maribor, with the fact that also in smaller cities in Serbia and Croatia, meetings are traditionally held, some even two or three times a year.
– At the Winter Collecting Fair, most of the exhibitors are from KS and Zenica. Our collectors are mostly philatelists, but we also have numismatists, people who collect coins and notaphilists who collect banknotes. There are also fragments of some other hobbies such as militaria, then fans of comic books or collectors of LP records that have returned to the big door and there the massification is very noticeable. The comics scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina is perhaps a little weaker in terms of authorship, but the collecting scene is very strong – Pavlinović pointed out.
Philately, according to him, is generally experiencing significant changes in the world at this moment because a generation of collectors who have been collecting collections for many years is leaving, and the digital age has come too quickly into our lives and caused the younger generations to have little inclination to collect anything. . Collecting is now done in a consumerist way, it is some sports cards or memorabilia related to famous people, but philately in its classic form is much less represented.
– Collecting is at the crossroads of civilizations, where great lovers and traditionalists remain, or collecting increasingly leans towards institutions that should inherit our heritage and culture – added Pavlinović.
The association in Sarajevo, he added, is celebrating 75 years of active activity and is one of the first associations of collectors founded after the Second World War in the former state.
– The association was founded in May 1949 and it was reported by all the media in the region. This is fascinating and shows that Sarajevo had a strong team of enthusiasts and people who inherited the tradition of collecting, which is no small thing, when we know that one of the best philately ever created was the occupation philately under Austria-Hungary. Some of the best stamps that everyone collects in the world today are Bosnian stamps under the Austro-Hungarian administration 1878-1918. One of the world’s most sought-after series from 1906 is called Landscapes, and it is actually a series that talks about the beauty of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the postal service in general, and the greatest artists worked on it – said Pavlinović.
Among the exhibited exhibits at the Winter Collecting Fair was the UNESCO book on the crafts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was authored by Norbert Heyl and Cristina Gregorin and shows the skills of our craftsmen. Senad Hodović, who was part of the team that worked on that valuable edition, says that this book is almost unknown in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it covered all the craft topics related to leather, wood, bellows, then chibučari, opančari, stonemasons… .
(Vijesti.ba/FENA)
