Philately

By:- Gaikhamdim Marangmei *

It all happen when I was in my VIII standard in kohima when I develop this hobby of collecting postal stamp, I was influence by a teacher of mine, later after when I was introduce to the world of internet that is when I was in X standard.

I started making pen friend from net friend, today when I open my album it's great to see all those lovely stamps, especially those stamps of the northeast issued by the Indian postal department.

Through this column I would like share what is stamp collection or Philately all about.

Introduction

The collection and study of postage stamps is known as Philately. It is also called the 'King of Hobbies'. Stamp collecting, a mania in the 1940's has grown into one of the world's most popular hobbies, a science and a business activity today.

Pursuit of the hobby offers enjoyment, education, companionship and so on. There is no other hobby which is practiced by such a wide variety of people- young and old, rich and poor. Besides school children, writers, artists, teachers, and scientists, in fact people of all professions and ages have been enchanted by stamps.

Stamps have conquered even kings. King George V of England, King Faud of Egypt, Queen Marie of Romania and American President Franklin Roosevelt were stamp collectors.

Today Philately is an organized hobby with Exhibitions taking place worldwide. Some of the world's most expensive stamps are the British Guyana one cent and "Mauritius post office issue Bordeaux Cover". The later was sold on 1993 for an estimated $3.8m (13 crores).

World Postal History

Stamp collecting began soon after world saw the first postage stamp in 1840 issued by Great Britain. An educator named Rowland Hill of England is considered the father of Philately In 1837 he advocated Prepayment of postage. He devised a prepaid envelope and the adhesive postage stamp.

The stamp picturing Queen Victoria was issued on May 1, 1840. Two years later Stamps were issued by private postal services in New York and Brazil and two Swiss Cantons (Zurich and Geneva). The US issued its first stamp on July 1, 1847. One (5c) had Benjamin Franklin on it and the other (10c) had George Washington on it.

Method

Both mint - stamps (unused stamps) and used stamps can be collected. These can be collected year-wise, nation-wise or theme-wise. To make this easier and more attractive to beginners, philatelists generally advise you to collect stamps according to a selection of your choice called a Thematic Collection.

Themes may be flowers, birds, animals, architecture, railways, monuments, Red Cross etc... Definitive stamps and stationery can also be collected as a theme. The bottom line is that the collection unfolds various aspects of a theme like a story

Types of Stamps

There are commemorative and definitive stamps. Commemorative stamps are issued, as the name suggests, commemorating important events, prominent personalities in various fields, aspects of nature, beautiful or rare flora and fauna, environmental issues, agricultural activities, national/international issues, games etc.

These stamps are only available at Philatelic Bordeaux and counters or under the Philatelic Deposit Account Scheme. They are printed in limited quantities. Definitive stamps on the other hand, are used for day - to - day postal mailing purposes and are available in various ascending denominations from 20 paisa onwards at all postal counters.

Philatelic material available at Philatelic Bureaus

Philatelic material includes -
Mint stamps (used stamps) First Day Covers (FDCs, which are issued with every commemorative stamp) Brochure (Information sheet accompanying each commemorative stamp) Collectors' Packs, year-wise Miniature/Souvenir sheets which are sometime issued with Commemorative stamps. Catalogue of Postage Stamps of India since 1947.

Indian postal

First post office was establish at Fort St. George Square, Chennai. Present largest post office Mumbai GPO. The first postal office outside the country is at Dakshin Gangotri on Antratica.

The fist stamp designer was Captain H.L Thuillier, Deputy Surveyor General Kolkata. The first state to issued stamp was Kathiawar in saurashtra(now Gujarat). First stamp honoring a national leader was Mahatma Gandhi issued on 15 August, 1948.