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Red Deer stamp-collecting event a hit, local club expected to start in fall

Postage stamp-loving Red Deerians can expect to have a place to gather come this fall.
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Peter Fleck looks at a stamp during a gathering of stamp collectors at Liberty Christian Assembly in Red Deer Saturday. Photo by SEAN MCINTOSH/Advocate staff

Postage stamp-loving Red Deerians can expect to have a place to gather come this fall.

At least 55 people, from central Alberta, Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge, gathered for a stamp-collecting event at Liberty Christian Assembly in Red Deer Saturday.

Peter Fleck, an avid stamp collector, said he was very satisfied with the turnout.

“I don’t know really what I was expecting, but it’s definitely beyond my expectations,” said Fleck.

“The interest locally has been especially strong, so we’ve had a number of people come out of the woodworks. There’s one guy who bought from me at an Edmonton stamp show 10 years ago and I had lost contact with him. I had tried to get a hold of him over the years – low and behold he shows up here today.”

At least a dozen people expressed interest in joining a Red Deer stamp-collecting club, said Fleck, a Red Deer-based commercial photographer.

“The Calgary club, the Edmonton club and the Lethbridge club all did presentations and afterwards I got up and said what was happening with Red Deer and asked if anyone was interested and there was quite a few people. People have signed sheets expressing their interest and I’ve had a few phone calls.”

There hasn’t been a club in the city for about 20 years, he added.

“We’re looking at starting it up in the fall. Normally all the clubs have their year run like a school year … because people will be gone during the summer time.”

Stamps are like “little works of art,” said Fleck.

“I collected stamps as a kid and when I was in my 40s I got back into it,” he said.

“There are a lot of people who collect stamps that are not involved in activities like this (Saturday’s gathering in Red Deer). This is what you call organized stamp collecting.”

Fleck said there was a wide variety of stamps at the event. He owns several 1840 Penny Black stamps from Great Britain, which are the first postage stamps ever created.

Anyone interested in being part of a future stamp-collecting club in Red Deer is asked to contact Fleck at 403-348-9916.



sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com

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Sean McIntosh

About the Author: Sean McIntosh

Sean joined the Red Deer Advocate team in the summer of 2017. Originally from Ontario, he worked in a small town of 2,000 in Saskatchewan for seven months before coming to Central Alberta.
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