Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

PHILATELY

CHRONOLOGY

1771 A.D - First handstruck postage

stamp.

1852 (1st July) - First All-India Stamp,

'SCINDE DAWK" - issued by Bartle

Frere, Commissioner of Sindh (V

anna).

1854 (Oct.) - All India stamps (V

anna, 1

anna & 4 annas) issued.

1858 (Sept. 17) - First electric telegraph

stamp.

1861 (Jan. 4) - First foreign bill stamp.

1863

(Oct. 24)

- First customs stamp.

First share transfer stamp.

1864

(Nov.) - Kathiawar State — first

state in Pre-Independence India to issue

a stamp (one anna).

1866 - Earliest official stamp in India is-

sued.

1866 (Aug. 1) - First service stamp.

1870 (June 18) - First court stamp.

1873 - Official stamps issued - State of

Hyderabad.

1894 (Dec.) - First Philatelic exhibition in

India - Govt. School of Art in Calcutta -

by Philatelic Society of Bengal.

1900 - First military stamp, overprinted

CEF (China Expeditionary Force) for use

during the Boxer Rebellion.

1926 - Indian Security Press set up at

Nasik to print stamps.

1929 (Oct. 22) - First airmail stamp.

1931 (Feb. 9) - First commemorative

stamp.

1947

(Aug. 15) - First stamp of independ-

ent India (3 '

anna) with the inscription

'Jai Hind' issued.

1948

(Aug. 15) - First stamp honouring a

national leader Mahatma Gandhi.

1980 (Jan. 25 - Feb.3) - Largest Philatelic

exhibition in India (New Delhi).

1987

(Aug. 15) - Big stamp commemorating

forty years of freedom

1988

(May 9) - Big stamp commemorating

First War of Indian Independence.

* First stamp in freedom fighter se-

ries.

1988

(May 10) - Rare Indian stamp of 1854

auctioned for 52,800 pounds.

1991-Biggest stamp (6.1 cm x 4.6 cm) is-

sued in honour of late Rajiv Gandhi.

PHILATELY

HIGHLIGHTS

First adhesive postage stamp in world :

"Penny Black" bearing a profile portrait

of Queen Victoria was issued on May 6,

1840.

Maximum stamps honouring an Indian

person were for Mahatma Gandhi.

More than 80 stamps of Gandhi were

issued by 42 countries.

Largest denomination stamps are the

Rs. 50 & Rs. 20 stamps issued as part

of Science & Technology series.

Largest Philatelic exhibition in India

was held in New Delhi (from Jan 25 -

Feb. 3, 1980) organised by the Indian

Posts

Telegraphs

Department.

About 4 lakh stamps were on display.

Wildlife stamps - D. R. Ministry of Bom

bay has over 20,000 wildlife stamps.

Ramachandran, an Indian accountant in

Dubai, has more than 100,000 postage

stamps.

The most valuable stamp ever sold was

a One Penny Black of 1856, a British

stamp, for $ 280,000 at a 1970 auction.

Capt H.L. Thuillier designed India's

first stamps - in 1854.

Lowest denomination stamps in India.

Dhar (1897)

pice

Cochin (1909-46)

2 pice

(One pice =

anna)

Rarest stamp : A stamp of 1854 was

auctioned by Harmers on May 10, 1988

at London for 52,800 Pounds.

First circular stamp - Scinde Dawk

(1852).

First polygonal stamp - four annas

1854.

First oval shaped stamp - (half anna) -

issued by Indian state of Bhor (1879).

First Currency Stamp - The Indian

State of Bundi printed 3 pices and 1

anna tokens - cards reproducing the

current

stamps

overprinted

CASH

COUPON BUNDI STATE.

Multilingual Stamps

Jammu & Kashmir (1866) — > Arabic and

Hindi

Bhopal (1935-39) —> English, Arabic and

Hindi.

Hyderabad (1871-1948) —> English,

Marathi, Telugu, & Urdu.

In the recent past philatelists have earned

name and fame and many awards all over

the world. Truly philately is the hobby of

Kings and the King of hobbies.

Philately is the hobby of collecting

stamps. It includes postal history. A collec-

tor is known as a philatelist. Philately has

many branches: eg. Postal history, Tradi-

tional philately, Thematics and Aerophi-

lately. Earlier, letters were sent by mes-

sengers. This was a luxury meant for roy-

alty as it was expensive and inconvenient.

A messenger used to go running or on

horseback and faced many dangers like

dacoits and wild beasts.

Payment for letters used to be made by

the addressees on receipt.

The stamp system owes its origin to a

British nobleman, Sir Rowland Hill, who

was struck by the heavy loss incurred by the

postal department, owing to the refusal of

many to receive letters. Coming across an

old lady reluctant to pay for a letter, Hill

received it on her behalf. The lady chided

him for being a fool. The letter was from her

son, whom she had asked to send a blank

page every month indicating that all was

well!

The only way such losses could be

avoided, Hill felt, was by a postal charge.

He also proved that carrying letters from

one place to another in England would cost a

penny, instead of the one shilling being

charged, which could be realised by selling a

one-penny label at the post offices. Thus

the first postage stamp was born on May 6,

1840 in England.

It was designed by Sir Rowland Hill and

was called the "Black Penny". It had the

head of Queen Victoria in black. All UK

stamps till this date have the privilege of

omitting the name of the country though

they carry the head of the Monarch.

In India, Bartle Frere, the Commissioner

of Sind, introduced paper stamps in token of

pre-payment of postage in the province of

Sind in 1852. These stamps, the famous

'Scinde Dawks', were the first in Asia. The

central design of the stamp was the East

India Company's broad arrow. Vermillion