Colourful History of Old Indian Stamps and Philately

There is a lot to explore when it comes to the history of Indian stamps. Some of these old Indian stamps are extremely rare. Let’s take a quick look at some interesting facts about Indian Philately. 

Old Indian Stamps
Scinde Dawk is not only considered to be the very first stamps of India but also as the earliest stamps of Asia. It was made of red ceiling wax wafers and had an embossed design. These rare Indian postage stamps were circulated within the Sindh region and are highly sought-after by collectors all over the world. They bore the denomination half anna and only 100 such stamps exist today, making them highly desirable.

Indian stamps issued during the British regime featured portraits of kings and queens. The inverted head four annas stamp issued in 1854 is a rare gem which is auctioned for lakhs of rupees. This octagonal shaped postage stamp of India featured an inverted image of Queen Victoria and was printed due to an error. Owning these Indian rare stamps is every collector’s dream.

First Stamps of Independent India
The very first stamps in India issued after independence featured the tricolour flag along with the slogan “Jai Hind”. It bore the denomination three and a half annas and was issued on 21ist November 1947. However, these Indian stamps were used for international correspondence. The second postage stamp of India depicted the Ashokan Lion Capital. It bore the denomination 1 and half annas and was released for domestic mails. 

Commemorative Stamps of India
There are numerous fascinating aspects of our country which are worth exploring as themes for Indian stamp designs. Over the years, India has issued numerous interesting commemorative Indian stamps to celebrate important events, achievements or to honour important personalities. These events, institutions, organisations and personalities belong to different categories.

Through the study of these unique stamps in India, the younger generation can discover many amazing facts about our country. That’s the reason why, it’s very important to promote the hobby of stamp collecting among youngsters. They should be encouraged to collect stamps of India based on various themes such as animals, birds, flowers, monuments, history, science, art, culture etc.  This will increase their general knowledge to a great extent.

Now, that you know something about the history of old Indian stamps, start looking for some interesting varieties and put together an impressive collection.