MOUNT GILEAD — Stamp collecting has been a life-long interest for retired Mount Gilead dentist Dr. Allen Stojkovic.

Philately, the study, research and appreciation of stamp collecting has continued since his retirement and in these weeks after Gov. DeWine’s stay-at-home order.

Stojkovic enjoyed setting up a display of his postage stamp collection at Mount Gilead Public Library the first week of March. The library display is a small part of his total collection.

It will be there when the library re-opens.

Some of the stamps were inherited from his Uncle Edward Pojatina, who was killed in the Korean War in 1951. That was the basis of the collection with many of the older stamps from 1900 to 1951.

The cover of his uncle’s album said that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a philatelist.

“That seemed like a good hobby to continue to expand,” said Stojkovic when he heard that FDR collected stamps.

He has added to the original collection of 1,000 for the past 60 years. He recently received a box full of envelopes and stamps from a friend who got them at a garage or second hand sale. One of the oldest stamps was from 1901.

Stojkovic said the first postage stamps appeared in England in 1840 and in the United States in 1847. They were popular for business and collecting by 1850.

There is an annual Postage Stamp Day every year on July 1. It’s a day to attract attention to the postal service and to expand the use of postal stamps.

Some of Stojkovic’s favorite stamps are devoted to history. Sports, art, flora and fauna, fish, aviation, and space are a few of the other categories he collects.

Allen Stojkovic with his stamp collection at the Mount Gilead Library. Besides history, some categories of the collection are sports, fish, arts, 1996 Atlanta Olympics, birds, flowers, space and aviation.
https://www.morrowcountysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2020/04/web1_IMG_20200311_161420-2.jpgAllen Stojkovic with his stamp collection at the Mount Gilead Library. Besides history, some categories of the collection are sports, fish, arts, 1996 Atlanta Olympics, birds, flowers, space and aviation. Courtesy Photos

Allen Stojkovic with his stamp collection at the Mount Gilead Library. Besides history, some categories of the collection are sports, fish, arts, 1996 Atlanta Olympics, birds, flowers, space and aviation.
https://www.morrowcountysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2020/04/web1_IMG_20200311_161508-2.jpgAllen Stojkovic with his stamp collection at the Mount Gilead Library. Besides history, some categories of the collection are sports, fish, arts, 1996 Atlanta Olympics, birds, flowers, space and aviation. Courtesy Photos

Staff Report