For several years, the Penticton and District Stamp Club has been encouraging donations of inactive postage stamp collections.
Speaking at a club meeting, Gus Boersma, chair of the club, told members people often have old stamp collections in their homes, left to them by relatives or friends.
Some of these albums may have been stored for many years.
When albums are donated to the club, the most valuable stamps are removed and sold to members as premium lots.
The album itself, containing the more common stamps, is sold as a separate item.
The new owner often removes the balance of the stamps with a view to upgrading his or her own collection before disposing of the old book.
However, once in a while an album is received which has been its owner’s pride and joy. One such album of Canadian stamps showing signs of much tender loving care was donated to the club recently.
The owner was not identified.
Harvey Baessler, president of the stamp club, was amazed at the high quality of freehand illustrations accompanying the various pages — artwork which must have taken many hours to complete.
With the approval of the membership, Baessler decided to donate it as an exhibit to the Summerland Museum.
In order to make it as complete a record as possible, Baessler searched his own collection, supplying many of the missing stamps from his duplicates.
He then turned the volume to fellow club member Blaine Martinac of Summerland, who filled in more blanks before presenting the album to the museum in early February.
The money raised from the sale of stamps and albums is donated to the club’s three charities.
The club provides funds for the Penticton Regional Hospital’s patient care tower, the Canadian Cancer Society and Moog Hospice House.
Since the inception of the campaign in 2006, the club has raised $7,861.15 for these charities.