Thursday, April 12, 2012

A philatelic artefact much sought after

Dear Comrades,

Talking to philatelists, it appears that the rarer an object is the more interest in possessing it. The “presentation pack” is one such sought-after philatelic artefact which not many people are aware of.

“Presentation packs” are complete sets of philately material issued by the Philately Division of the Department of Posts, India, said Vidya K. Baglodi, a Mangalore-based philatelist and numismatist, who has collected 25 “presentation packs” 

Vidya K. Baglodi with her collection of ‘presentation packs’ in Mangalore on Friday. Photo: R. Eswarraj

She said that “presentation packs” could be sent as gifts to people abroad as they had visuals and information about India. They contained different combinations of four stamps, cancelled first day covers (FDCs), and an information sheet (the brochure), all within a file or folder. The contents and the folder were all based on a theme and coordinated.

Citing an example, she said that the “presentation pack” on the Second Indo-African Summit 2011, which had a miniature sheet, a cancelled FDC, and a brochure, all with the elephant theme, was good to send as gifts to friends abroad.

Her collection of “presentation packs” has themes such as Rashtrapati Bhavan, heritage railway stations, the Buddha, 75 years of the Reserve Bank of India, festivals of India, textiles of India, and the First War of Independence.

Her collection of “presentation packs” began with an initial bunch of packs she spotted in Coimbatore. Then, a friend gave her five packs and now she has 25 “presentation packs”.

She said that it was difficult to collect such presentation packs. It was difficult to find the right information on how many packs had been issued and also because not all post offices issued them. There was so much the Postal Department had done and people do not know about it, she said, about the packs which have been priced between Rs. 50 to Rs. 100. 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/article3290575.ece
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