Amateur collects dynastic seals, stamps / Kolektor Amatir

Amateur collects dynastic seals, stamps

Nguyen Van Pham has spent more than 15 years travelling the country to find old seals and stamps used by the rulers of the later Le (1418-1789), Tay Son (1778-1802) and Nguyen (1802-1945) dynasties.
He has now amassed more than 400 bronze and ivory objects which he keeps in a private collection in his house in HCM City’s District 3.

At his home at 220/152 Le Van Sy Street, the 51-year-old antiques collector proudly displays seals made during the time of feudalism in Viet Nam from the 15th to the 19th century.
He also has 2,000 stone objects 2,500 to 3,500 years old that were found in Dong Nai Province, as well as Champa artifacts and bronze objects from the Bronze Age Dong Son civilization, which thrived from the seventh to third century BC.

Pham’s fascination with historic objects is rooted in his imagination. Although he is unable to read the ancient Chinese script on many of the seals, Pham says each object reveals details, both known and unknown, about each epoch in the country’s history and the kind of public administration that existed.
While Pham is a builder by trade, he says he spends a few hours every day to clean and admire his seal collection.

"I would like to be known as a man who keeps history through these antique seals because they appeared when Viet Nam established an administration system, a legal system and introduced its currency," Pham said.
Most of the seals were owned by minor officials like village mayors and canton chiefs as well by army chiefs.
The power of seals was such that they could decide the destiny of entire armies if they were used justly and properly by a commander-in-chief or a commander of a provincial army.

Pham says the bigger the seals were, the more power the owner had.
Used to make decisions official, seals could also be abused by corrupt officials whose actions could affect thousands of people and plunge them into poverty.

Pham says he keeps the seals in a mirrored cabinet where they are available for use by researchers and the younger generation who want to learn about their forefathers, Vietnamese culture, administrative systems and historical change.
With his penchant for collecting, Pham has spent many days negotiating prices to buy certain coveted items.
He paid a hefty price, which he would not disclose, for a seal stamped with the words Thien Truong Phu An (Thien Truong District Seal) which is now part of Nam Dinh Province. The seal was made in 1628 during the late Le Dynasty.

Pham said the district was once the second capital of the Tran Dynasty and the cultural cradle of the Le Dynasty.

Early interest

Born in a poor family in Phu Cat District, Binh Dinh Province, Pham began collecting antiques at an early age before he moved to Dong Nai and began working as a builder.
His seal collection took off when he returned to Binh Dinh later and met residents who were searching for metal debris from the war. They had found numerous old seals, which they later sold to a granary.
Sensing a good bargain, Pham offered to pay twice or triple the original price, which they agreed to. He walked away a very happy man, he said.

But few people understood why he would pay a lot of money to buy small bronze objects, and often called him stupid for doing so.

He says that if he had not bought these items made 100 to 500 years ago, they would probably have ended up being used as raw material to make bronze products.

In 1993, Pham made another good buy. He returned to Binh Dinh Province to take part in a ceremony to mark the battle of Ngoc Hoi–Dong Da, a victory won by Nguyen Hue (later the Quang Trung Emperor) against Chinese invaders in 1789.

Pham went to a house of his friend who owned a bronze stamp used during the Tay Son Dynasty and bought it for a cheap price. He later took it to HCM City and asked a Buddhist monk to translate two Chinese lines carved on the seal.

The monk said it was a stamp of an office and was issued by Quang Trung in the winter of 1791 to a special envoy who was an admiral.

"I decided then to collect ancient seals, especially those from the Tay Son Dynasty," Pham said. "I’m proud to be born in the same land of Quang Trung."

He says many seals and stamps still exist, and are probably buried in spots around the country. In his search, he has wandered across the country from north to south.

The Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism and Viet Nam History Museum in HCM City have asked him many times to sell his seals and stamps, but he has refused to part with his precious items that speak of the recent and ancient past.

From Viet Nam News by Luu Van Dat