Hi! I'm Anthony Sales,
I Am Passionate About My Stamp Collection
My childhood passion for stamp collecting has become a “Philatelic Tribute to Pope John Paul II” that tells an astonishing story of the “pilgrim pope” in stamps from nations around the world.
“He was really loved,” said Sales, who lives in Richmond, B.C. “He was a man people were just attracted to.” Sales described the late pope as “a man from Galilee” because when he spoke, Sales was reminded of accounts of St. Paul in Acts speaking to the people. “John Paul is somebody who has to be known,” he said. “We have to be reminded of what he did.” The stamps tell the story of John Paul II’s life, his travels to so many countries around the globe, as well as important anniversaries and commemorations of his life, papacy and death. The tribute is the crowning of a life-long passion. Sales began collecting stamps off the Christmas cards his family received back in Karachi, Pakistan, where he grew up. His mother couldn’t open his closet without a box full of stamps falling out. From nativity scenes, he began collecting other Christmas themes such as bells, churches and mistletoe. Sales began his John Paul collection in 1979 after a cardinal in Pakistan gave him two “covers” of the Pope. A cover is an envelope or postcard with stamps sent through the mail for collecting purposes. Planning an exhibit is similar to planning a book, he said. “You’ve got to have an index, contents, to build a story,” he said. “It was very easy to build a story on John Paul, I knew the story very well.” |