Kerala - Kozhikode   

Rare stamps on display at `Philafest 05'

Staff Reporter

PRECIOUS COLLECTION: Atish Kumar Jain with his `Gem and Jewellery' collection of stamps at a philatelic exhibition in Kozhikode on Friday. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

KOZHIKODE: `Philafest 05', organised by the Calicut Philatelic Club, which began at the Kandankulam Corporation Jubilee Hall here on Friday, is attracting large crowds.

Atish Kumar Jain's `Gems and Jewellery,' a unique collection of stamps, belonging to the six gems and jewellery series issued by the Postal Department on December 7, 2000, depicts a combination of the bead necklace from Indus Valley era, a gold necklace of Taxila in the first century, a turban ornament of the Mughal period, a navarathna necklace of the 18th century, a bridal necklace of South India in the 19th century and the Kamula necklace of Rajasthan in the 18th century.

His unique achievement using the permutation and combination method has been approved by the Limca Book of Records 2004. The collection has been displayed at an exhibition for the first time. The stamp series, said to be one of the best in Indian philately, was launched on the occasion of Indepex Asiana 2000, the Asian Exhibition held at Kolkota, from December 7 to 12.

It consists of 123 combinations of 13 horizontal blocks of six, 18 vertical blocks of six, 15 blocks of four, 19 vertical stamps of six, 8 horizontal strips of four, 13 horizontal pairs and 12 vertical pairs.

``These are made out of 540 stamps which are set in 49 album sheets,'' said, Mr. Atish, a young businessman from Kolkota, doing rubber trading in Kottayam for the last one decade.

Another of his collection on display is the errors such as perforation, printing and postal stationery in Indian postal stamps. One rare stamp is the Madhubani Mithila painting which does not have the denomination, year and country. A stamp collector bargained the Rs. 3 priced stamp for Rs 23,000.

Rajesh D. Nair's Pennyblack collection and Brahmin Dak is another variety at the exhibition. ``The Brahmin Dak was prevalent for a year at Mewar in the 1920s. Then Brahmins used to carry mails and these mails were cancelled with Brahmin Dak,'' he said.

Coin-shaped and odd-shaped stamps of Tonga, cardboard and plastic stamps of Bhutan, wood stamps of Switzerland, gold embossed stamp of Thailand, lottery stamps of Japan, hologram stamps of Australia and cloth stamp of Russia are some of his other collections.

Mr. Nair's stamp series on cinema featuring film festival, film awards, actors and actress of Kyrgyzstan, producers and directors of Hollywood and Bollywood have been exhibited.

He also has displayed a collection of the errors in Indian postage stamps.

S. V. Ummer Farook's exhibit include stamps of Mahatma Gandhi brought out by various nations and Diana -Princess of Wales.

Another attraction on display is the world first sand stamp of Russia. The stamp, collected by Balu Vasudev, was to commemorate Russia's victory in the Davis Cup.

The embossed net on the stamp is 99.9 per cent pure silver and the powder displayed in the image of the tennis court is part of the actual clay surface of the court which was used during the competition.

Mr. Vasudev's collection includes the first embroidery stamp and chocolate smelling stamp of Switzerland.

Gilbert Samuel's collection of military collection, C.V.Abdullah's Children's Day stamps, M.Prakash's stamps on Lenin, R.Pradeep's postal stationery series, M.Mohan's stamp covers have been displayed at the exhibition.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Rare stamps on display at `Philafest 05'
Keep pace with trends, IIM students told
PCB order victory for people: Medha
EDUSAT facility to be extended to 13 schools in Balussery
Supplyco affairs: PUCL seeks CBI probe
Minister promises help for tourism in North Kerala

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu