By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When exclusive sets of stamps marking the start of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy went on sale, two lines of collectors, armed with protective portfolios, snaked underneath the colonnade heading for the two tiny Vatican post offices on either side of St. Peter’s Square.
Some confused tourists thought the lines were for the Sistine Chapel or the public restrooms, but collectors eagerly directed the sightseers to the right lines to weed them out and shorten their own wait.
“The line on this side is shorter. I waited a whole hour on the other side,” said Pasquale Ventini, who was in line for the second time. Ventini and his wife, Anna, hoped to secure an extra set of the papal stamps.
“Someone told me these ones are going to be worth something because it’s the first pope of the (new) millennium,” he said, fishing in his pockets to make sure he had enough money left to make his prized purchases.
The exclusive set of three different stamps shows the pope in red, gold or white vestments.
The .45-euro stamp bears the words “Habemus Papam,” Latin for “We Have a Pope.” The .62-euro stamp says “Tu es Petrus,” or “You are Peter.” And the .80-euro stamp says “Episcopus Romae,” or “The Bishop of Rome.”
Buyers could get one set – three sheets of six stamps each – for $13.
But since a set of three sheets was limited to one per person, to get more than one complete set, hardcore enthusiasts either brought their spouses or friends to make the additional purchase or got right back in line for another set.
One man had traversed the line three times before the bells tolled noon June 2.
“This is the last time, though. It costs money, and I’m just doing it for myself and some friends,” said Vincenzo Mescone.
But while the hobbyists were sweating it out, standing in line in the square, high-stakes dealings were under way inside the Governor’s Palace, where the Vatican’s Philatelic and Numismatic Office – for stamps and coins – is located.
About a dozen men were comfortably seated in the waiting room chatting about stamp collection prices and riffling through Vatican color brochures of recent releases.
With special permission from the Vatican, “only certified (stamp and coin) sellers can come up here because we are buying in bulk,” said Bill, who asked that his full name not be used.
“There are no restrictions on how many stamps we can buy; it can be 1,000 or 10,000, but nothing like 100,000, since that could be seen as speculation,” he told Catholic News Service.
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