Hobbies give more enjoyment than mere monetary gain

Hobbies give more enjoyment than mere monetary gain

By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo

JAKARTA (JP): Have you ever seen a 20 million deutsche mark note? This note, displayed at the lobby of Sari Pan Pacific Hotel, Central Jakarta, is owned neither by a tycoon, nor a banking institution.

It is a part of the numismatic collection of Satria Wira, the Director of Marketing Communication of the hotel.

Printed in 1923, the note presently has little monetary value, and didn't even at the time it was printed. Yet from a historical perspective, the note represents a priceless era in contemporary world history. It was printed at the peak of hyperinflation that lead to the rise of Nazism and Adolf Hitler.

The history behind items like this note motivated Wira to organize the exhibition, which lasts until June 30.

Wira, 53, salvaged the note 30 years ago from the trash can of an expatriate who lived a few doors away from his family's residence in the Kemang area, South Jakarta. The expatriate, who happened to be a collector, had just returned to his home country. The outrageous denomination printed on the note made the expat's servant dispose of the note assuming that it was a mere novelty.

Wira, who happened to see the servant throwing it into a trash can on the side of street, asked for permission to take the "novelty" from the trash, only to learn that the expatriate had abandoned more of his collection inside the house.

Wira brought the note to his friend at the National Museum. Although the note holds a low monetary value, the friend assessed it as an authentic bill.

The note then became a part of Wira's vast numismatic collection of antique coins, bills and monetary tools. The oldest piece in his collection is a monetary tool from the Majapahit Kingdom of Central Java (circa 1400).

This note was not how he began the collection though. In his childhood, his grandmother gave him a silver coin as a gift. Thrilled by the shrill clink as he tossed the coin to the floor, little Wira started to collect coins randomly for their sound.

It was not until he started to take this hobby seriously that he learned that in the past sound was used to determine the value of precious coins. The silver coin, dated 1764, is still part of his treasured collection.

Besides the numismatic collection, there are also philatelic, sea shell, telephone card, butterfly and suizeki collections displayed in the hobby exhibition.

"We would like to popularize hobbies and inspire younger generations to start hobbies like this. By collecting stamps, coins, fossils or sea shells, one may acquire a lot from the past," said Wira. "Besides, hobbies like this may provide us with relief from stressful daily routines."

Wira is also exhibiting his collection of metal buttons. In the past, buttons indicated an individual's status within society. Historically, kingdoms issued buttons with the rulers' initial on them to their subordinates. Rank, wealth and place of origin may be reflected through an individuals' buttons. Uniforms of higher ranking individuals were decorated with more attractive buttons.

This tradition was not limited to aristocrats in Europe, but was also adopted by former kingdoms throughout Indonesia.

"As a part of the Dutch colony, former kingdoms and regencies in Java adopted the tradition and design of buttons from their Dutch rulers, perhaps for the prestige," added Wira.

Old buttons from Surakarta and Yogyakarta Palaces are included in his collection.

Antique dealers usually come to Wira to offer additions to his collection, although he also loves to hunt for undiscovered treasures.

"The quest for items is actually one of the most interesting parts of my hobby. Once I went to Beringhardjo market in Yogyakarta and found a bunch of buttons in the middle of a pail of bolts. They were sold by their weight as scrap iron. Not until I carefully polished them did I realize that they were made of superior quality silver," Wira explained.

He observed similar ignorance with gold coins. They were sold by a jeweler for their weight, not by their historical value. Some of his collection also came from farmers and fishermen who found the antiques in their fields or at the bottom of the ocean.

"Inadequate appreciation of history in our society is actually a blessing in disguise for an antique collector like me," he said.

Suizeki, another one of the hobbies displayed in the exhibition is popular among East Asian cultures. The word means stone river in Japanese. People pursuing the hobby can spend hours staring, almost in meditation, at stones with unique shapes.

"The distinctive shapes and surfaces of a stone allow suizeki followers to expand their imagination," said Rafles Rahid, the Director of Yorasaki Anggun Adinda, a supplier of suizeki stones.

River stones from Batang Ombilin and Batang Antokan of West Sumatra are widely sought after. "Each river has distinctive stone characteristics. The uniqueness, however, should be formed through natural causes. This is where the challenge comes," he said.

Extraordinarily shaped stones hold higher value. "Stones resembling human sexual organs are the most expensive, because they are in great demand," Rahis explained.

Another stand displays a collection of butterflies from Ambon, East Indonesia. Most of the butterflies are the result of cultivation. "By cultivating we avoid the extinction of these beautiful species, while at the same time enjoying their beauty," said the stall keeper.

Maintenance of these hobbies does not take a lot of time or effort and is enjoyable too. Wira, for example, placed his numismatic collection in modified photo albums. By adding matted board to frame the notes, he has extra protection for his collection without spending a lot of money.

"As long as you keep the collection under the appropriate conditions, that is by keeping it in dry, cool storage, you will be able to preserve your timeless collection. We just have to be a little creative and imaginative," he said.