Step into the world of stamps
In today's digital age, where writing involves typing and clicking send, the art of letter writing could be seen as a dying art.
Sending and receiving handwritten letters may seem to be a thing of the past and in the eyes of some people, this death of snail mail may well mean the end of stamp collecting as well.
Except, this isn't true.
According to the 2015 Alternative Investment Report from Intelligent Partnership, there are an estimated 60 million stamp collectors worldwide. Asia alone accounts for around two-thirds of this figure.
Mr Dennis Chua, 75, owner of philatelic shop Tian Stamps & Postcards, said: "There are a lot of collectors in Singapore, but they are very quiet."
To a non-collector, stamps may just be mere necessities of postage. However, they can be worth quite a fortune, especially when the stamps are old, rare or contain printing errors.
In 2014, for instance, a crimson-coloured stamp called the British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta, the only one of its kind known to exist, was auctioned off for close to US$9.5 million. Its steep price earned the stamp the title of being the world's most expensive stamp as well as the most valuable article by size and weight.
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