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After years of gathering stamps from around the world, philatelist Abid Mohsin Qurban is putting his precious collection on the market and hopes to bag a pretty penny for his family amidst these difficult times.
The father-of-five, who owns a textile shop in Manama, has albums boasting more than 1,500 stamps from the UK, the UAE, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain to name a few, with some being more than a hundred years old.
“My rarest stamp is 125 years old and I must say, I was quite lucky with my finds,” said the 64-year-old naturalised Bahraini from Sanad.
“I never had the chance to evaluate my stamps as I dedicated all my time to my children and pushed my passion for philately, the study of stamps, aside.
“But I always dreamt that I would showcase my collection one day and, perhaps, auction off a few.”
Sadly, Abid and his wife Rashida, a part-time teacher, had experienced several tragic losses over the years.
In 1995, the couple lost their daughter Khadija, a premature baby who died six hours after birth.
In 1997, their eldest son Qusai lost his life to muscular dystrophy – a disease which causes progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass – at the age of 13.
In 2019, they were struck with another blow as their 24-year-old daughter Fatema – known for her inspirational coffee book My Understanding Of Life As I Know It – died from the same disease.
“We endured difficult times but got through them in the end,” said Abid.
“It’s no wonder then that I had forgotten all about my stamp collection. Thanks go out to my daughters Sakina, 33, who is a baker in India, and Mariam, 21, who is doing her Masters in psychology in Wales. They brought my albums back from Bombay and insisted that I feature my collection for all to see.
“I am glad they did. I missed my hobby.”
Abid has been accumulating stamps since the age of nine and credits his late father Mohsin, who passed away last year, for playing a role in his collection.
“He used to get me stamps from the different countries he did business in,” explained Abid. “Also, since I studied in Bombay, I would regularly visit scrap dealers and sift through tonnes of papers searching for envelopes with stamps.
“Whenever I had holidays, I would spend the whole day searching for some real good stamps. I am confident that some of my possessions are worth a fortune which I will use for my family.”
For details, follow @abidmohsinbahrainwala on Instagram.
