Spotlight: Gal Rotem -- interview with a stamp collector

Hardly a day goes by when one of the two main Israeli stamp collecting groups on Facebook does not see a message posted by a new member asking what to do with a deceased relative's stamp collection or sharing photos of a collection to solicit assessments of its worth. The responses to these messages typically range from silent disregard to curt replies a-la "worthless" and "garbage" to scornful rebukes.

When Gal Rotem decided to sell his grandfather's collection, one look at the reality on Facebook was enough to convince him he needed to approach the situation differently if he were to have any hope of his collection getting noticed and being taken seriously. The end result was Ruvikrotem.com, a website registered with the goal of showcasing Grandpa Ruvik's 40-album collection and maximizing its value to potential buyers. But as Gal's involvement in digitizing his grandfather's collection grew, so did his fascination with it. The website turned out to be not an end result but the beginning of a journey.

גל רותם
Gal Rotem

Ruvik, short for Reuven, was born in 1926 in what is today Gesher, a kibbutz in northern Israel. When and under what circumstances he started collecting stamps is unclear but, in keeping with kibbutz values, it was at least partly a collective effort early on. "Legend has it the mailman of the kibbutz knew that stamps on incoming international mail had to be cut out and deposited with young Ruvik," Gal says. Gal also has memories starting from around age 10 of visiting his grandparents' home and of Grandpa Ruvik excusing himself to leave for important meetings. "Those meetings," Gal recalls, "were stamp meetings," and they are the earliest memories Gal has of his grandfather as a stamp collector.

The years passed, and with them Grandpa Ruvik. The Rotem family was left with Ruvik's extensive stamp collection but no one with an interest in keeping Ruvik's philatelic torch burning. Reluctantly, a decision was made to part with the collection, i.e. to sell it; and seeing as the internet offered the shortest path to potential buyers, it was only natural that the task of marketing the collection online would fall to Gal. "My father worked for Rafael -- in other words, a very tech-oriented guy," Gal explains. "I emerged as the entrepreneur in the family. I was always drawn to creating, be it through music, photography, web product development, or the occasional patent."

Sorting stamps with Dad: Gal Rotem's son

It was at this point that the story took an unexpected turn, with a number of factors combining to steer Gal in a direction that even he could not have foreseen. The first of these factors was joining the Israeli stamp collecting groups on Facebook, which led Gal to recognize that the philatelic market was a far cry from the NYSE trading floor that he and his family had initially envisioned it to be.

Lots of people who collected stamps have been dying all at once around the world and leaving behind their stamp collections. Facebook is full of people asking the question, "I received a stamp collection. Can someone help me determine what it's worth?" And then automatically all the veteran collectors respond, "Basically nothing," "You're better off donating the stamps to someone who collects," and so on. In essence, I realized I wouldn't be buying a Ferrari after selling the collection -- at best a small plastic model of one.

The second factor was digitizing Ruvik's collection and creating a website for it. A professionally-designed website with high-quality photos, Gal hoped, would "show off the bride as attractively as possible" and help his grandfather's collection stand out amid the endless stream of foggy and sloppily aligned photos being uploaded to Facebook by all the other users trying to sell their stamps. Little did Gal know that in navigating Grandpa Ruvik's collection he would start to develop a profound appreciation for its contents.

I started bringing order to chaos. One has to understand that a stamp album looks neat and organized, but the collector has a lot more stamps outside the albums -- duplicates, sequences, unsorted packs. My feeling was like discovering an ancient treasure, not in a financial sense but historically. To hold a stamp that was printed in Berlin in 1945, when you know what happened in Berlin that year, is amazing. To hold a stamp that survived a fire, or an air mail stamp from a war -- it's a historical treasure on a vast scale.

If the second factor was intellectual in nature, the third was spiritual. The more involved Gal became with his grandfather's stamps, the more they morphed from static squares of paper into dynamic miniature worlds; and the collection, far from being lifeless and inanimate, sucked Gal into an experience whirling with emotion and mystique.

I fell in love. There's something mesmerizing and addictive about engaging with stamps. I'm not even sure how to describe it in words. Two hours can go by like two minutes while trying to figure something out, and every stamp collector out there knows exactly what I mean. It's something that doesn't exist in any other hobby -- only with stamps.

"Bringing order to chaos"

Every stamp collector has his or her favorites -- her favorite stamp, his favorite designer, his favorite country, her favorite topic. For Gal, the years 1948-1952 represent the pinnacle of Israel's philatelic output, when the postal authority issued "stunning stamps bursting with Zionism and pride." Roughly a hundred stamps were released in thirty-four issues over this period, and they are distinct in style and symbolism from those that came later. "These were the stamps we issued after the birth of the state. You can see in them the molding of an identity and the effort to become a respectable republic among the nations."

Gal's dedication to the digitization project and his newfound enthusiasm for stamps have earned him praise from family and friends and have also begun to catch the attention of other collectors. "The family applauded the initiative, and a lot of them were astounded at the collection's scope. Understand, not everyone knew there even was a collection." Among veteran philatelists, reactions have extended beyond expressions of support, with some who are getting up in years requesting to have their collections digitized for posterity like Ruvik's. "I honestly don't know if I'll ever have the time and energy to digitize every collection I get asked to, but if it's a truly special one then it might be hard for me to refuse."

בולים של קרן קיימת לישראל
Jewish National Fund stamps

What's next for Grandpa Ruvik's stamp collection? For one thing, it is now the Rotem family collection. A clue to this change in status is at the website where the stockbook page images are hosted. While some parts still refer to the collection as Ruvik's, the title on the main page has been updated to read, "The Rotem Family Stamp Collection." Additionally, Gal is undertaking to expand the collection and as of July has already added seventeen albums to it. "The funny thing is all I wanted to do in the beginning was sell the collection," Gal recalls; now, he has to struggle to keep his philatelic appetite in check.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated philately's transition to the digital age. Stamp collecting Facebook groups are seeing their memberships surge, and interactions between collectors that used to take place around a table are now happening on social media and via video conference. But the pandemic is also targeting the hobby's principal age demographic, and it may be the case that stamp collections are changing generational hands faster than ever before. Gal says he doesn't hold it against anyone if they decide to sell their family stamp collection; however, he cautions, in all but a few rare cases the money they make from the sale won't meaningfully impact their lives. On the other hand, there is a high probability that holding on to the collection will meaningfully change one's life. "Try to get into it," Gal advises. "You just might fall in love like I did."

All images courtesy of Gal Rotem (גל רותם).
Visit the website at http://www.ruvikrotem.com.