The stamp and coin market in Barcelona's Plaza Reial is in danger.

BarcelonaBarcelona's Plaza Reial has hosted the Sunday stamp and coin market for over a hundred years. A century of history could disappear this fall. The reason: the City Council's new requirement for renewing licenses, which aims to align this activity with the rest of Catalonia's street markets. This would mean having to sign fifteen-year permits, instead of the annual license that stallholders have had until now. This type of concession poses a certain difficulty because most of them are over sixty years old. "We don't make a profit or live off of it; we're collectors and we do it because we like it," laments José María Ríos, president of the Plaça Reial Philatelic and Numismatic Association.

The lack of generational change and the stallholders' uncertainty about making a long-term commitment are the main obstacles to renewing their new permits and not being left out of this space, where they have been operating on Sunday mornings for 104 years. Furthermore, the association also denounces a situation of "helplessness," since until now the renewal was carried out collectively by Ríos himself, as president of the organization. Now, as individuals, many of the older stallholders lack the knowledge or means to complete the necessary digital procedures.

City Hall assures that the new ordinance—which has yet to be approved—represents a regulatory update to adapt to current legislation, specifically the 2010 Commerce Law of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The text is currently being prepared to begin the dialogue process with municipal groups, the same sources report. Stallholders must submit their renewals before the end of September or risk disappearing. For its part, the association is calling for a "more flexible" adaptation of the new legislation and for the "historical and cultural nature" of its fair to be recognized as intangible cultural heritage.

A declining trend

The market brings together around fifty people—mostly retirees—who are fans of stamp (philately) and coin (numismatics) collecting. The main activity is the exchange and buying and selling of various series released over the years. Although it began as a stamp fair in the 1920s, most of the stalls are for coin collectors, while the philatelic activity has been reduced to less than a dozen stands, explains Ríos.

The passion for stamps and coins has a strong family tradition. Ríos, for example, began collecting them in 1973 when he inherited a box of coins from his grandfather. Now he focuses mainly on collecting coins from around the world (except euros) from recent centuries. "When older people come with their grandchildren, we often give them coins or stamps and explain the meaning of each one. We want to foster interest among the younger generations," he notes.

Francisco Vicente, a stallholder at the Plaça Reial, has been collecting stamps all his life, having started attending the fair with his father at the age of five. He has set up shop here on Sundays since 1981. Now, on the verge of retirement, he asks that the City Council not "disregard" this activity and is skeptical about the decisions the council has made over the years. "We've always come out on the losers, like when they evicted us from the porches of the Plaça Reial in 2001 to make way for bar terraces, something the municipal government at the time swore they wouldn't do," he declares.

Along these lines, he agrees with Ríos that the activity has been reduced to a "sentimental" theme, since the little profit they can make is invested in acquiring new pieces for their collections. Furthermore, the lack of generational change means that this practice is very outdated and attendance at the fair is declining: "Many collectors are very old people who can't come to the square, and I bring the stamps to their homes," he explains. "Philately is mortally wounded, and numismatics is on the same path, but it will take longer."