You are told a lot about your education, but some beautiful, sacred memory, preserved since childhood, is perhaps the best education of all. If a man carries many such memories into life with him, he is saved for the rest of his days. And even if only one good memory is left in our hearts, it may also be the instrument of our salvation one day.

Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81), Russian novelist.
Alyosha Karamazov, in The Brothers Karamazov, vol. 2, "Epilogue," sct. 3 (1880).

History of the Collection

My collection of over 170 pieces, includes stamps passed down to me from my father, as well as stamps that I collected prior to leaving my country of origin, Iran. All the stamps are from the period of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's monarchy. The oldest dated stamp is from 1939, however there are a number of stamps that could precede even that one. Because they are not dated, however, the only indication of their age is that the currency is in dinars (not rials), which haven't been used in Iran since the mid 1960s.

These pages are not intended to make any political statement. Regardless of political or religious beliefs, these pages record a period in history. These stamps represent the memories I have of the Iran in which I grew up. They represent my childhood, and as such are part of the person I am.

--Masoud Milani, DMD