60-year legacy: A chronicle of Salam Stamp Centre

One afternoon in 1997, a Japanese gentleman came to the Salam Stamp Centre. He approached the shopkeeper, saying, "I need a stamp of the Hadudu game published on the occasion of the Asian Games." 

Shopkeeper Tuhin Bin Salam said in response, "There are four sets of stamps. We won't sell them separately."

The man introduced himself to Tuhin, "I am Yataka Sukawa. I was the coach of the Bangladeshi Hadudu team in 1986. I will take 100 stamps."

Tuhin was happy to be introduced to the coach and welcomed him by bringing some fried food. After talking to him briefly, Tuhin asked, "Could you send me some telephone cards from your country?"

During that period, telephone cards were in vogue, also called calling cards. One could talk at home and abroad by inserting the card in the phone booth. Japan was quite advanced in this regard. Every week, they launched new attractive phone cards in the market. Sukawa replied, "Well, I'll try."

Fifteen days later, Tuhin got a call from the Post Office (GPO) that a box had arrived for him from Japan. He went and saw that the box would weigh 7-8 kg. A fee of Tk700 was charged for the release of the box.

Tuhin realised Sukawa sent four and a half thousand calling cards. Another surprise was awaiting him. After fifteen days, there was a call from GPO again, and another parcel arrived. Tuhin saw that the Japanese friend had sent a lot of stamps, worth at least Tk10-12 thousand.

A very happy incident also happened with his father, M A Salam. It was the year 1964-65. The grandson of a Zamindar of old Dhaka informed that there was a wooden chest full of stamps in their house. 

Company-era stamps, stationery, first-day covers and envelopes of 1947 were inside the chest. Salam humbly said, "I cannot afford to buy them myself, but I can arrange to sell them."

Salam sent word to his German friend, William Drake. Drake brought two other friends with him. Salam told them about the Zamindar's chest. Then everyone decided to visit one day. Drake asked Salam on their way, "How much commission do you want?" Salam said, "You're my friend. I'll not take any commission."

Photo: Nayem Ali

Drake and his friends bought stamps and envelopes worth Tk15,000 that day and requested the Zamindar's grandson to gift the rest to Salam. A large number of stamps and envelopes were presented to Salam. Some of them were very valuable. Salam earned about Tk20,000 from the Zamindar's treasure.

1962: The beginning

MA Salam got married in 1961. He was then in his early twenties. His father said, "How will you manage the family now that you're married?"

In 1961, Salam opened a small bookshop near the Biman Office at Farmgate. He named the shop Books and Books. Along with books, he kept view cards, stamps, envelopes, etc.

He met Drake through volunteering. He was introduced to a few more foreign friends through Drake. They suggested Salam open a shop dedicated to stamps. 

In 1962, Salam Stamp Centre was born. There was no such shop in East Pakistan back then.

Many of the school and college children had a hobby of collecting stamps. Those who lived abroad also collected stamps. 

It was announced three months in advance during the Pakistan era when a stamp would be published. M A Salam used to go to GPO and collect them on the first day of release. Foreign friends used to bring foreign stamps. His business was going well.

Soon after the country's independence, there was a stamp crisis, which also happened during the partition. But the postal service could not stop. The government of Bangladesh decided that correspondence would continue using Pakistan-era postage stamps. The post offices would make rubber stamps and seal the letters.

This system remained in force until Bangladesh made its own postage stamps, issued on 30 April 1973.

A few years later, collectors scrambled to collect these provisional issues. An evil gang took the opportunity to exploit people. Tuhin said a person named Sukumar Mondal made his own rubber stamp. He used to send many letters and postcards to his address by going to different post offices and selling them to collectors at high prices.

Then, an expert committee was constituted by the Bangladesh Philatelic Society. Salam and his friend Abdus Salam alias B.Com Salam were on that committee.

Salam had a motorcycle, on which the two went to around 100 post offices across the country to collect rubber stamp impressions. They would certify the authenticity by signing the prints that matched them, making counterfeits easy to spot and collectors turning away from them.

Salam built a mini museum at his house in Badda. In 1982 and 2005, the country's first and second single stamp exhibitions were organised from his collection. The first was supported by BNPA, and the second by PAB. In 1991, he was a guest at the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Postal Organisation in Pennsylvania.

Photo: Nayem Ali

Bangladesh National Philatelic Association (BNPA) was established in 1978 as the first collectors association in Bangladesh. S M Salam was its founding president.

Tuhin said, "At that time the organisation's members were around 50 to 60. They used to gather at the GPO or a collector's house." The second organisation formed was the Philatelists' Association of Bangladesh (PAB). S M Salam was its president.

Now, there are 8-9 organisations in total in the country. All of them together formed the Bangladesh Philatelic Federation (BPF). BPF, in association with Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP), has organised the first International Stamp Exhibition in the country titled "Bangladesh 2023". The four-day exhibition was held at Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka from September 29 to October 2. 

Tuhin demonstrated the aerogramme in it. His exhibition was titled "Aerogrammes of Bangladesh". Tuhin's aerogramme won the Large Silver Award.

Each of Tuhin's four siblings had a hobby of collecting. In 1987-1990, his elder brother Shamim Bin Salam helped their father in the shop. After he left for America, another sibling, Shaheen Bin Salam, took his place till 1993. 

In 1994, S M Salam and his wife went to America to visit their son with their daughter-in-law. Tuhin had just completed his graduation. One day, his father called from America, saying, "You should open the shop sometimes. It doesn't look good to keep a business closed for so long."

Tuhin then started opening the shop for two to four hours every day. One day, a foreign gentleman visited the shop and said, "I am from the KGB." Tuhin was startled, a little scared even. The man later said in Bengali, "Bhoy nai, no bhoy."

After a lengthy conversation, Tuhin learned he was the Russian ambassador in Bangladesh. Their relationship became so intimate that every time a new Chinese restaurant opened in Dhaka, the Russian ambassador would take Tuhin to dine there. 

He presented Tuhin with several Soviet-era coins as a gift. Day by day, they became popular and coin collectors did not hesitate to collect them for thousands of taka.

Tuhin considers the period from the early 1990s to 2010 the golden age of stamp collecting.

Since 2010, the situation has changed. The exchange of news by letter declined, but the interest of collectors increased. So other countries like Austria, France, Finland, and Germany kept releasing new impressive stamps, thinking about the collectors.

Almost all postal departments of the world currently treat postage stamps as commercial, though, in the 1970s and 1980s, the Universal Postal Union blacklisted Bhutan, Hungary and Sierra Leone for such attitudes. But today, everyone has followed that path except Bangladesh.

In 2008-09, Salam Stamp Centre regularly supplied stamps to dealers in England, America and India. Those dealers then spread Bangladeshi stamps worldwide. But, due to a lack of timely and sufficient quantity of newly issued stamps, the process had to stop. 

Photo: Nayem Ali

When asked, despite the increase in the number of collectors, why is the postal department of Bangladesh lagging? Tuhin said, "The officials are not interested. Their indifference is the cause of our suffering. A machine for making personal stamps was introduced about 10 years ago. The inauguration was also done with the then-minister, but neither the collectors nor the dealers knew about it. Now, it's about to fall apart. Then odd-shaped stamp-making dies were introduced, which could make at least 6-8 shaped stamps. But after a few uses, it was no longer useful. The philatelic bureau has limited space and has no choice but to stack the inaugural envelopes on the floor. Still, to collectors, such an envelope is a priceless jewel."

"People rarely hesitate to spend on hobbies, but for that you've to ensure qualities. Many of the new tickets issued by Bangladesh Post office since 2018 are substandard. As a result, foreigners are not interested in buying them anymore," Tuhin added. 

Tuhin's father, M A Salam alias Haji Salam, supported the family by running a stamp business. He also built a house and educated and established his children. Haji Salam died in 2017. Tuhin had been helping his father since 1994. He has been handling everything since his father died. How is Salam Stamp Centre doing in the changing times?

Tuhin said, "The volume of business was supposed to increase as the number of collectors increased, but the overall scenario is against shop-based dealers. New collectors have indeed increased, but serious and dedicated collectors have not. Many older collectors are selling their collections. The resellers are selling them at contract price or separately. There are many seller pages and groups on Facebook, so the business is now scattered. We can now raise the rent of the shop and manage the salary of the employees, and sometimes the travel expenses by running the shop."

Tuhin is still happy because he can continue the family tradition. On top of that, due to the stamp business, relations have been formed with people of various professions, ranging from madrasa teachers to lawyers, members of the military, doctors, engineers, etc. Salam Stamp Centre is the name of a big family formed by many people