Thursday, November 28, 2013

Philately - Year 1949. an archeological expedition

In the year 1949, 4 Commemorative stamps were released. I do not have any of the 4 and my hunt is on for them. However, 16 definitive stamps were released that year and and 3 more in 1951, making it a total of 19 definitive stamps. At this point, before I proceed, I own you an explanation of what is Commemorative and definitive.

A definitive is a stamp that is a part of a regular issue of a country's stamp available for sale by the postal service for an extended period of time. Hence these 19 stamps were available until 1955 at least. They are also called 'regular issues'

Commemorative on the other hand are issued to honour a person, place, heritage of the nation or an event and available for a limited time. Both the 'Definitive' and Commemorative stamps have postal validity.

Now these 19 stamps issued are together clubbed together as 1st Series of definitives. They are also called the Archeological series, since they feature historic monuments.

I have 17 of the 19 and the monuments represented are.


From top left to bottom right, the stamps are.

Elephant Motif from 'ajanta caves'.
The Horse from Sun temple of Konark.
Trimurti from elephanta caves. Though this one is reduced to the size of a small stamp, the original is about 20 feet in height.
Bodhisattva . There are two stamps, which are mirror image of each other. The second is the correct posture of the image.
Nataraja from Thiruvelangadu.
Mahahbodhi temple (Bod gaya)
Eastern gate of sanchi stupa.
Lingaraj Temple , Bhuvaneshwar. In 2 colours; Lake and Bright blue.


Tomb of Md. Adil Shah ( Also called Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur)
Kandarya Mahadeva Temple in Khajuraho.
Golden Temple in Amritsar
Victory tower in Chittorgarh
Red Fort  in Delhi
Taj Mahal in Agra

The two that I do not have are;
Qutab Minar
Satrunjaya Temple.

These stamps replaced the existing issues of King George VI series, which were still valid and commonly used even after Independence until their stock were exhausted.
P.S. Apologies for the badly arranged stamps on the photographs. They are not mounted, but I placed them from my stock album to photograph.

2 comments:

  1. I am amazed by the diverse range of topics and facts you share with us. I have nominated you for versatile blogger award, Please collect your award here: Awards

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    1. Thank you Sindhu, for your appreciation. Have a nice day.

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