So in those years, one day she came along:
-Nursun, look what I brought you
-Oh, gorgeous stamps, where did you get them?
-My fathergave, take and put them in your stamp book
As you can see in the picture, the stamps were both unique in shape and beauty. I would open my stamp book often as a child and watch them with admiration, moreover, they were both mint stamps.
We had a dreamed with Ayşegül:
-Can you imagine? Maybe these stamps are valuable, their value will increase over time, so we will sell them years later and become millionaires.
Those 50 years passed quickly, I had almost forgotten my stamp book. During the endless library arrangement (that I will never be able to complete, like Gaudi's Sagrada Familia) (*) the other day, I came across the old stamp book, those beautiful stamps were in front of me again years later:
-Oh, how beautiful they are, but why didn’t I ever wonder about the story of these stamps for all these years?
I got mad at myself, so I started researching…
It turned out that the stamps belonged to the “Tannu Tuva” Autonomous Republic in Siberia, whose life span was only 23 years, (**) then this small Republic was taken under the umbrella of the USSR. Maybe the similar fate Ukrainians are currently experiencing like Tuvan people.
Then I wanted to write to a philately association and ask about my stamps, if they had any value, here is the answer:
-Do you only have 2 stamps? Even if the Tuvan stamps in your hand were "full series", you could only drink a cup of coffee with the money you’d get...
Unfortunately, the “millionaires dream” we had with my dear friend came to an end.
No matter… I spent such good hours researching the history of my stamps, I had so much fun that most millionaires can't even come close.
Such unique patterns were used on Tuvan stamps that I wondered, "who did those fantastic drawings belong to?" I couldn't help but think.
For example, on one of the stamps there is a camel, running “ as a galloper” right next to the railway, almost racing with the train. However, there was neither a train track in Tuva in those years, nor could that camel live there in the freezing cold of Siberia…
What a stupid reality… Can an artist's dream ever be blocked?
On another stamp, the same artist depicted a giant zeppelin in low flight above the endless snowy plains of Siberia (on the top of a strange horse rider.) However, no zeppelin ever visited Tuva in those years. I'm afraid, even if he did, the hydrogen gas inside the airship would freeze, and maybe it would drop the giant balloon...
And I listened to the strange metallic voice coming out of the throat of the Tuvanians, who knows what those ancient folk songs from the last century were telling… (***)
Before I wrote this article, I wanted to share the “story of our stamps” with Ayşegül, we phoned, and last minute information came from my dear friend, who left Ankara to Paris long time ago, but she never left her journalism spirit:
-So, those stamps were Tannu Tuva stamps? Aaaaa, it reminded me now, I don't know if you noticed, but Putin made a new appointment to replace the minister of defense, the new minister Shoygun is ethnically Tuvanian...
I was very surprised, of course, and I couldn't help but think:
-What, the citizen of a country whose ancestors once in a desire for freedom-autonomy will now drop a bomb on another Republic, which is in a desire for freedom-autonomy?
If this is the case, isn't it a pity for Ukraine?
(*) https://tr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia
(**) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvan_People%27s_Republic
(***) https://youtu.be/v35tddnhufs
(****) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Shoygu
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