Putting a Stamp On It

“Philately is booming. If you see the options even on eBay,you’ll see how well it is doing. Stamps are the perfect investment,” says Harish Gupta,industrialist and a third generation stamp collector,who is in the city for the event. The exhibition will have 200-plus exhibitors and more than 1,000 frames with some of the best international award-winning exhibits.

The collectors who will be exhibiting range from industrialists,IAS officers and senior industry executives to engineers,scientists,doctors,teachers and bankers. “We have introduced categories in the exhibition,depending on their price and worth. We also have non-stamp materials like images related to stamps with different themes,” says Savita Jhingan from Stamps of India,an online resource for information on stamps,postal services and philatelic activities in India,that is hosting the exhibition.

The exhibition though,is not just about gawking at the painstaking care with which stamps have been collected,sorted and preserved for centuries. “There will also be a lot of buying at the exhibition,because the stamp dealers will be there,” says Jhingan. And when it comes to rare stamps,no amount is too small. The red Sindh Dak postage stamp brought out before Independence from the Sindh post has been pegged at Rs 15 lakh,followed by the British India segment which is one of the most expensive segments in stamp exchanges.

“The Gandhi service stamp can go upto Rs 30 lakh. There were only two sheets printed— one is in the Gandhi museum,the other was used by

C Raja Gopalachari,the last governor general of India,who used it for his office,way back in 1948,” says Gupta,who claims to have won every general knowledge quiz in school thanks to his love for stamps that began when he was in Class VI.