Imagine my surprise when I discovered this letter Uncle Watty had written a man in Bangkok, Thailand - Pradit Rattanapone - requesting that they exchange stamps. The third attachment is the reply the Thai gentleman sent to Watty. This area in Bangkok is one I know very well. I was hoping a couple of friends of mine in Bangkok could use the mailing address to track down the man or one of his relatives, and perhaps create one of those " Can you believe this?" moments. Unfortunately, they had no luck. Just imagine what Watty would have done in the Internet age!!!!!
I don't know what became of Uncle Watty's stamp collection. I'm guessing he sold it at some point, the way he did with his autographs. Many years ago he did give a box shoebox filled with used and old stamps to my brother, but they would have been a miniscule amount of what he had.
I think the best way to easily view these letters, if you opt not to save them to your laptop, would be to use the zoom feature in Windows to simply magnify this whole page. E-mail me if you have questions.
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In the area where Mr. Pradit Rattanapone lived in 1960s stands the Democracy Monument. It was built in 1940. When I was living in Bangkok, Kade and I visited that area very often due to its proximity to Khao San Road and the Chao Phraya River. One evening, likely in 2003, I walked out to the monument with Kade and took these images with my brand new camera. Maybe you can tell I was a novice! In the end, though, they look pretty cool.
Kade
from mid-1960s, Source
These days the Democracy Monument is the scene of big anti-government protests. Source.
For some insight into the protests, this article is quite good. For more images of the Democracy Monument, click here.
1 comment:
What a find for you! I know this communication means much to you. I too hope the man wasn't much older than Watty and is still living and still "with it."
When Watty went to GMA in College Park, GA, he spent most weekends at our house. At that time I was taking dancing lessons (ballet, tap, etc.) at the now long gone Peachtree Arcade near Five Points in Atlanta. I can remember once that Daddy drove me to the lesson, and Watty went too. The Peachtree Arcade was a huge building, three stories. Built in an oval - stores around the edge of the oval, and the open totally open. My lesson was on the third story, and across the open area was a Scott Stamp and Coin store. My lesson was at 9:00 a.m. Saturdays. The shops were not yet open. The three of us "window shopped" at the Stamp and Coin store. Watty's interest way back then got my daddy later to buy me a stamp album, and I too collected stamps for several years.
Bud inherited a stamp collection from a step-grandmother's brother. After we married, we moved some of my stamps to the larger album.
I learned quite a bit about countries and geography from my stamp collector interest.
Beverly
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