Trichy :

Philatelists don’t mind a little struggle to get hold of their target stamps. It is not often they come across rare stamps or special releases. Stamp collectors in Trichy won’t easily forget November as much to their delight 10 extraordinary new stamps or miniature sheets were released at the head post office here in one month alone. There was a scramble for the first-day covers of the commemorative stamps and souvenir sheets.

In May this year, 53 stamps were released, but 50 of them were commemorative pieces on 100 years of Indian cinema alone. Though, only 10 were released last month, each marked different events or personalities. V Jambunathan, who is in-charge of the  Trichy Philatelic Bureau , told TOI that November was indeed extraordinary. It has to be so as significant events like Sachin Tendulkar’s 200{+t}{+h} test match and retirement. Besides, The Times Of India celebrated its 175th year.

The 10 new commemorative stamps that were issued were sold out soon after they were released. Unlike definitive stamps that are issued periodically depending upon demand, commemorative stamps are released only once, and normally a little more than four lakh would be issued across the country. A few of the significant events for which India Posts released commemorative stamps in November are: 50 years of Central Bureau of Investigation, 125 years of Intelligence Bueau , 150 years of Railway Workshops, 175 years of Times of India, Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test match.

At the counters a few mistook the TOI’s popular cartoon character ‘Common Man’ to be a “Standing Mahatma”. The first-day cover on the recent visit of  Emperor and Empress of Japan (December 5) was popular, even though it featured only Qutub Minar and Tokyo Tower, and not the royal couple.

The stamp to commemorate 125 years of Intelligence Bureau, which was originally released on November 23, was re-released in a special function in Trichy by the deputy commissioner of police Abinav Kumar in the presence of assistant commissioner of IB Mathiyalagan and others. “Since it is an important event, we wanted to create some more awareness locally,” Kumar told TOI on Tuesday soon after the release of the stamp in Trichy.

The officials of the philately department had a hard time explaining to stamp collectors about the non-availability of a couple of limited-edition stamps that were sold out soon. Trichy head post office gets commemorative stamps to the tune of Rs 7,000. Considering, the soaring demand, authorities have now demanded raising the limit to Rs 10,000. “There are around 1,000 account holders with us who will get the stamps on the first day of release and this would amount to Rs 5,000. Thereafter, stamps for Rs 2,000 would be sold to the general public on first-come, first-served basis,” explained Jambunathan.

Since the first-day cover would fetch a fortune later, collecting it has become a must, said an avid philatelist involved in buying and selling of rare stamps.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / by Dennis Selvan, TNN / December 21st, 2013