Hanoi Stamp Market Attracts Non Collectors

Vietnam's Thanh Nien News website reports, "Every Sunday at 10 a.m. the market is set up at a corner of Trieu Viet Vuong Street with a couple of plastic stools, one or two small tables made of bamboo and several cups of tea. The market does not have shops or sellers, because the market goers, mainly senior citizens, office goers and university students, don’t go there to buy and sell, but to exchange stamps, in a barter system of sorts."

According to the piece, "Pham Hao, one of the market’s founders, said it started out with a few collectors gathering for talks and showing their collections. But, gradually the gathering became well known, attracting collectors from other localities to come here to exchange stamps, and then without anybody’s notice, it has become a market. In fact, it has attracted many collectors from provinces like Hung Yen, some 64 kilometers from the capital."

It goes on to say, "Meanwhile, the market also attracts people who are not collectors. They visit it just to listen to stories about the stamps that carry lots of cultural, historical and artistic information."

Shown above, collectors at the Hanoi stamp market.

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