Indian National Army Stamps

      Indian National Army ('Azad Hind Fauz' in Hindi) was founded by Netaji ("Leader" in English) Subhash Chandra Bose,  in October 1943 upon re-organizing the previously existing Indian Independence League in Japan and taking the charge from Ras Bihari Bose, under the patronage of Imperial Kingdom of Japan. 

      Indian National Army formed the Provisional Govt. of Free India and almost immediately declared war against the United Kingdom and USA.The primary objective of Indian National Army was to politically free India from British rule with military and moral support from Imperial Kingdom of Japan and the Nazi Germany.Although Indian National Army gained hugh recognition from Axis powers,  head of other states like Croatia,Thailand, Burma, Philippines and Ireland also sent their congratulatory notes to the INA and the Provisional Govt. of Free India. 

Indian National Armyand Provisional Govt. of Free India issued a set of 10 stamps with "AZAD HIND" inscribed on it along with a Rangoon (former capital of Myanmar) type issued stamp with "CHALO DELHI" ('Let march to Delhi' in Hindi) inscribed.

The set of ten stamps with Azad Hind inscribed were produced in Germany during Second World War.

Its worthwhile to note that these 10 stamps sharing six different designs could never do any postal duty.

I have six of these Azad Hind stamps (imperforated) as part of my collection, which are as follows :-

Azad Hind Fauz Stamps (My collection)-6 out of 10 original produced

Happy Collecting :)

References

1. Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue on India, Pp. 142 under head "INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY'.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azad_Hind

British Indian Stamps-II

  Coming to Victorian regime on India, post withdrawal of East Indian control brought series of British Indian stamps bearing heads of Queen Victoria (although the previous stamps used to carry Queen Victoria head), followed by King Edward VII, George V and George VI 's heads on various denominations of British Indian stamps ( in order of their crowning).

Queen Victoria (Post 1857)

King Edward VII

King George V

King George VI

Interested readers may refer to the Wikipedia link on British Raj in India ('Raj' for Rule in Hindi).

In my next post, I shall be writing about few of my important personal collection of British Indian stamps.

Till then...Happy collecting :)

British Indian Stamps-I

     After withdrawal of Scinde Dawk stamps in October,1854, the East Indian company continued its issues carrying head of Queen Victoria till 1864, until its stamps were finally withdrawn from British territories to be replaced by stamps issued by Govt. of British India, reporting directly to Her Majesty Queen Victoria (assumed power from 1st Nov.1858).

Following were some East India issued stamps, minus the Scinde Dawk :-

East India Stamps (1852-64)

These stamps have become quite rare, especially the mint (unused) types. Stanley Gibbons puts a price between 4.50 to 1000 GBP. Its one of the most prized collections for serious philatelists.

I shall write more about other types of British Indian stamps which are part of my collection, in my upcoming blogs.

Till then...Happy collecting :)

Scinde Dawk - Asia 's first stamp

     Now something exciting !!!  Heard of the first Asian postage stamp issued way back in 1852 ?? (nearly a decade after the world's first stamp being issued in Great Britain, the "Penny Black".)

Penny Black (Mint -1840)

Returning to Scinde Dawk (Scinde = English corruption of Sindh word, and Dawk = Hindi for postal service), its issue started on 1st July, 1852, for meeting the postal requirements of British East Indian Company's military forces, stationed in the Sindh area, presently a Pakistani province along the Indus Valley.

It was issued with "1/2 Anna"(1 Rupee = 16 Anna, 1 Anna = 4 Pice,1 Pice =3 Pies) denomination. The first set of issues were made out of red was sealing, but due to frequent breaking of was impressions, the stamp was printed on a white background which because of prolonged usage became difficult to view.So finally an improved design emerged wherein the stamp had a distinct blue color impression in white background.

The Scinde Dawk served postal needs for a brief period of little more than two years, before being withdrawn on 30th Sept.,1854.

Scinde Dawk (1st Issue)

Mint form of Scinde Dawk stamps, according to Stanley Gibbons, have become extinct in the market, and if available, they are counterfeit. Used forms are also available among passionate collectors who can afford thousands of bucks.

Conclusively, Scinde Dawk is one of the most rarest stamps, and is a collector's pride.

The Second type Issue                                                    The Third type Issue

      There are many free online articles on Scinde Dawk stamp like in Wikipedia and also some paid articles, one of them being Scinde Dawk-An Introductory Paper, an e-paper available at Lulu.com.


Happy collecting :)

Something about Philately !

As God of Free & Open Knowledge, the Wikipedia, puts, Philately is as follows :

"Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps.For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare, or exist only in museums."

Courtesy: Wikipedia & Carlton, R. Scott. The International Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Philately, Iola WI: Krause Publications, 1997, p.196.

In the world of Philately, there are two well-known corporate giants, i,e Stanley Gibbons Ltd., UK (Estd. 1856) and Scott Publishing Co.,USA (Estd.1868) who deal with several related activities like updating and printing stamp catalogues, online & offline selling and buying of rare and latest stamps from across the world, and supplying   philatelic accessories like magnifiers,albums, lightings,color strip,perforation strip,special tweezers etc. 

There are other known players too who specialize in certain region of stamps like Michelle catalogue for German stamps. 


Philately is not about only collecting postage stamps, but also a wide range of postal collectibles, some of which are as follows:-

• First Day Covers (FDCs)
• Miniature Sheets
• Stamp blocks
• Special Issue Postcards
• Wide

Interested visitors may refer the Stanley Gibbons Philatelic Glossary for more details about different terminologies used in philately.


Coming back to my collection, I am in the process of narrowing down my philatelic interest to Indian Pre-Independence and Princely States Stamps.


I shall be giving an introduction on the above in the upcoming blogs.Mean while , interested visitors may refer the following rough map of India before independence during which there were British Indian territory and the hundreds of princely states, each of which behaved more like military protectorates rather than independent political entities. 

For more detailed map, please click on Pre-Independence Political Map of India (Region wise). 


Happy collecting :)

Philately & Me !

Welcome to my Philatelic Collection !

I developed deep interest into this exciting world of philately or stamp collection, as known to many around us, from childhood days.It all started with collection of severely cancelled (fine to poor cancelled) used(un-mint) Indian stamps, mostly issued between 1970s to 1980s, from the collections abandoned by my teenage cousins who were more eager to get into adulthood than pursue (as called by them) a childish hobby of Philately.

My fascination grew as I collected stamps from across the globe , ranging from North America, Latin American nations, European and Asian nations , down to Australian continent. Substantial part of my pocket money was spent in buying the old gum type stamp albums, then came the clean and easy to handle albums with transparent strips,where the collector has to only push the stamp without applying any gum.

To begin with, the collection was quite haphazard but gradually I zeroed on to specific styles of stamps, mostly mint types depicting some historical fact of a nation and also collected some odd sized stamps like those issued by Sierra Leone, Bhutan,Congo etc.

Finally I came across the pre-independence stamps issued by British Indian Govt. and the rulers in Princely States of India before independence.And these were the most fascinating stamps for me, since they represented a long history of both unparalled glory and downfall of autocratic rule in Indian Princely States.Over a period of time, I collected rare Indian Princely stamps dating back to 1870s and some issued lately till 1949-50 like those of Travancore State in modern South Indian province of Kerala.Even I could manage to buy a revenue stamp paper used in Jaipur (modern day Rajasthan province) court during 17th century AD.

This blog is aimed to showcase my collection and share my ever growing experience in philately.

Again, welcome to my blog !

Happy collecting :)