Wednesday, March 25, 2009

MUMBAI STAMPED

The conference room of the Government Post Office bustles with 35 people who don't belong here. The array seated around the massive oval teak wood table include doctors, lawyers, bankers, insurance officials, stamp dealers, housewives, retired government servants and rookie servicemen from the private sector. Ages range from 32 to 84 (though archived photographs shows teens and pre-teens in previous meetings). "The Philatelic Society Of India is soon to complete 110 years. We have had two stamps issued in our name," Dhirubhai Mehta, the society's chairman announces happily at the fortnightly meeting of an organization which has had among it's Honourable Patrons list five Presidents of India. Discussion commences: Stamps whose issues were ceased abruptly; upcoming national exhibitions; international philately exhibition criteria, philatelic literature… the dealers tout rare stamps in the market. Some members exchange. Others buy. Some of these members possess the rarest collections in town. But that's not why they're here. They're here because, long after the world wide web's tentacles strangled post-office revenue, stamps continue to connect them, in Mehta's words "to each other… and to history!"

"Stamp collectors are fools who pay for printing errors," Mehta smiles. "These errors create rareties." Mehta met his wife through philately: "She was my sister's friend. In those days exchanging stamps was our only correspondence." Every serious collector specializes – from aviation stamps, National stamps, State stamps, periods and events like the Olympics to butterflies… or a kind of monkey. "The smaller your collection, the more credible, because that's tougher," Damayanti Pittie, Secretary of PSI, advises. Pittie, a housewife, started during "a long cold winter in Germany". She re-oriented her focus from German to "the pre-stamp postal history of India" on returning to Mumbai. Which means she collects cancellation notes on envelopes, document covers and seal marks prior to 1854, which is when Sein Dawk - the first Indian 'stamp' - was issued by the Governor of Sindh. M Kotaria, has the Sein Dawk: "But what I'm really in search of is this stamp with the inverted head of the queen of which there are merely 15 specimens remaining." Pittie has several Whaghron couriers which were started by a gentleman called Whagron along a shorter land route – each now costing upto 1200 pounds. Many other "covers" she picked up for Rs 2, are now valued at Rs 500. A specimen most coveted is the Indian Bishop Mark, the earliest pre-stamp postal mark in India. The five traced specimens cost upto Rs 32 lakhs each. Telgi aside, stamp trading is serious business.



Mehta illustrates the diverse histories: "I have correspondence between a Peshawar dry fruit dealer and a Russian merchant long ago." He also has stamps from Junagar, the first Indian native state to establish a postal administration. His wife has stamps from Morvi – the last Indian native state to initiate such. Pittie's collection boasts 'campaign mails' or war couriers pertaining to the revolt of 1857 and the English-Afghan war. "Each item has marks sigifying the detailed land or sea route the mail took," Pittie enlightens. Correspondingly, each collector has nearly a book on every variety to help them trace this history and geography. Conversation shifts to exhibitions. Pittie's won a National Grand Prix. The next step is the International Grand Prix or the Grand Prix Honour, where, Pittie claims, Indian collectors are disadvantaged because of forex rates: "Britishers or Americans buy our stamps cheaper than we can theirs." Kotaria comes back to history: "Study the history of stamps vis-à-vis countries, and you'll understand currency – a five rupee stamp was the equivalent of an American two dollar stamp, which for us was Rs 100."

Some PSI members are also on the philatelic advisory committee, telling the post office what stamps to issue. "But it's very disheartening, because of the minister's veto," says a disgruntled member. So if the minister is from a state, for instance, there will be a sudden flood of stamps commemorating particularly that state's festivals, institutes and celebrities.

While Gandhi stamps, army stamps, stamps commemorating a jubilee are declared "rare stamps of the future", what is the future of philately vis-à-vis electronic media? "Immense," comes the unanimously resolute reply. "Even if personal letters are reduced, important documents will have to be sent by courier." The absence of the younger members seen in previous snapshots casts doubt. But let's hope it's an inexpensive printing error.

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