The change from traditional mail to electronic mail did not hurt the philatelists. On the contrary, thanks to the Web, the activity has become global and many more labels are accessed.
In 1911, in India, a biplane aircraft transported a sack of letters and thus became the first to carry air mail. Later the Italians, in 1917, were the ones who created stamps to frank the letters and from Turin to Milan they made the first flight with the “air mail”. More than a hundred years have passed since those epic days and today everything travels through the Internet at the speed of light. The mail expedited everything. And what are stamp collectors doing in Argentina now? They enjoy technology that brings them closer to unexpected places and labels.
Jorge Alcañiz is the president of the Rosario Philatelic Association and is excited to say that both he and his colleagues are fond of new technologies at the service of stamps. “Thanks to the Internet there was an unusual growth. It multiplied the chances of meeting and triggered the correspondence ”, the collector told Clarín. Now, reaching a stamp that is on the other side of the world is much easier. It is tracked in the browser and when it is found the order is placed. Then it will arrive in a package. Twenty years ago, they probably would never have known of the existence of that seal.
Alejandro Argüello has a place in the heart of Buenos Aires and says that “the Internet opened philately to the world, it made it universal. You can sell 24 hours a day all year round ”. Anyway today they find a counter; in Argentina it is difficult to obtain stamps that come from abroad. “If you buy something from France you have to pay a plus with your credit card and if you go to Customs they charge you 50% of the shipment and everything becomes more expensive. If you buy the ones from here, you have no problems ”, says Argüello.
Of course there are also those who collect stamps in an artisanal way. After the new millennium, El Ombú del Parque Rivadavia continues to be the meeting point since 1943 for those who want to buy, sell or exchange stamps on Sundays between 9:30 and 14:30. There are stalls that also offer very useful catalogs and classifiers. Those who collect or accumulate stamps also go there. They are the fans who do not take into account several important points such as the weight of the paper, the watermark, the year. Collectors, yes. Argüello explains that in Argentina now there are about 10,000 collectors and that he lowered the number of “accumulators”, that is, those who collect stamps in an almost amateur way.
Miguel Casielles is from the south, lives in Tierra del Fuego and says that “in our country there are about 200 exhibitors.” In our country there are many collectors who received medals in various exhibitions worldwide. Daiana Caiselles, 18, his daughter, is one of the most awarded youth at such national and international events (see “Without the Internet I would not get …”).
The Argentine Mail, for its part, did lower the number of stamp issues. In 2006 there were 40 and this year, 25. The last one was on national actors and the Mar del Plata International Film Festival. In any case, three other emissions remain to be seen. Last year, 24 were issued and in 2012, 27. But it also got bigger and, since November 19, it launched the Philately E-Store, through which all philatelic products can be purchased. This service prioritizes the secure purchase through electronic payment, and the delivery time of the products. Since its launch, nearly 300 trades have been traded, for an average value of $ 300. Modern times.
At the same time, Argentina is the country in South America with the highest philatelic activity when it comes to national and international exhibitions. In recent years there have been them at the local level both in Córdoba and Tierra del Fuego and they were organized by the FIAF (Inter-American Federation of Philately). For March, the End of the World Expo will take place in Rio Grande, in which 14 countries will participate, among which will be, among others, Cuba and Spain.
How is the celestial and white level in this type of samples? Very good since it has exhibitors with Large Gold Medals, the most important in this class of exhibitions. And both Argentina and Cuba are the American countries with the greatest youth presence in exhibitions.
Source: Marcelo Maller – Clarín
