Curator & Collector

Ubin Pokharel

A collector of the world, one artifact at a time.

A clinician by education and a venture capitalist by profession — and, in the hours between, a collector. I gather small objects that carry large histories: the banknotes of every nation, the football cards of a single genius, and stamps that mark the moments where sport, revolution, and a Himalayan kingdom entered the record. Three collections, one obsession — holding a piece of the story in hand.

Explore the collections ↓ Get in touch
About the Collector

Three pursuits, one quiet discipline.

Collecting, for me, is a way of paying attention. Each currency is a country's self-portrait; each card is a frozen second of brilliance; each stamp is a nation deciding what is worth remembering. Three very different pursuits, but the same instinct behind all of them — and the same standard.

All three sets are built slowly, on purpose. I hold out for the best example rather than the easy one — a PSA 10 Gem Mint slab, a clean and genuine note, a stamp worth its place in the album — so a single addition can take months to find, and some never surface at all. I have made peace with that, because the truth is I love the process more than the completion. The searching, the patience, the near-misses, the thrill of closing in on a set: that is worth more to me than ever finishing one.

39
World currencies
18
Messi cards, all PSA 10
3
Stamp themes
Ubin Pokharel
Collection I
Numismatics

World Currencies

A living catalogue of banknotes and coins from every sovereign nation on earth — all 195, from the Afghan afghani to the Zambian kwacha. The goal is total: one authentic currency from each country, mapped, catalogued, and tracked toward completion.

The full collection lives in an interactive dashboard — a world map, a regional breakdown, and a wall of every flag, updated as each new currency arrives.

Open the live dashboard →
39/195
20% complete
Collection II
18/116
16% complete
Sports Memorabilia

Lionel Messi · World Cup Cards

A focused chase of a single, singular player, told through his World Cup cards — from Germany 2006 to the arc that finally ended in Qatar with the trophy lifted. Six rainbow sets, 116 cards on the checklist.

◆ PSA 10 Gem Mint only. That single standard is what makes the build so slow — a card can take months to surface in the right grade, and most never do.

Which is rather the point. I love the process more than the finish: the hunt, the waiting, the near-misses, the moment a slab finally arrives and it is perfect. Completing the set would be wonderful. Pursuing it is the actual pleasure.

Open the card dashboard → @wcm_cards
Collection III

Philately

An avid stamp collector's three deliberate themes — sport, revolution, and a Himalayan kingdom — each chosen for the history it holds rather than its face value.

World Cup 1958 Sweden first-day cover
World Cup Hosts & Winners

Stamps issued by the nations that hosted the FIFA World Cup and those that lifted the trophy — a philatelic history of football's greatest stage, tournament by tournament.

Theme · Sport
Battles of Lexington and Concord first-day cover
Lexington & Concord

Issues commemorating the Battles of Lexington and Concord — the opening shots of the American Revolution in 1775 — including the U.S. commemoratives that mark "the shot heard round the world."

Theme · Revolution
Nepal pre-1951 Sri Pashupati stamp
Nepal, Pre-1951

Early stamps of Nepal issued before the fall of the Rana regime in 1951 — the classic Pashupati and Sri Pashupati issues, a scarce window into the kingdom's philatelic beginnings.

Theme · Nepal
Get in touch

Trades, finds & conversations welcome.

If you have a currency I'm missing, a Messi World Cup card, or a stamp from one of these themes — or you simply love collecting — I'd be glad to hear from you.

Email Ubin   @wcm_cards on Instagram