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A stamping ground
Updated On: 18 December, 2019 08:27 AM IST | Mumbai | Dalreen Ramos
As India's largest exhibit of rare stamps comes to the city today, The Guide speaks to a pair of noted philatelists at the helm on building a collection, its preservation and the challenges they face today
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Old postcards themed on Bombay have been replicated and will be available at the venue to encourage people to mail them. Pics/ Bipin Kokate
While workers are busy tinkering with standees to accommodate The Indian National Philatelic Exhibition (INPEX) 2019, 88-year-old Damayanti Pittie walks in with a little black briefcase at Cuffe Parade's World Trade Centre. It is, almost, her whole world. Pittie, the president of the Philatelic Congress of India (PCI) that is organising the exhibition, has been a philatelist since 1957. And although she grew fascinated by it when she was 25 during a trip to Germany, where she began collecting Swiss and German stamps, she knew that the bond between her and the mail would be inseparable.
Over the years, she switched to Indian stamps. "But then I wanted to delve into a particular subject — like the pre-stamp postal history of British India i.e. the period before 1854, when there were no stamps issued. So, I have a collection that dates between 1780 and 1854, which has received the highest award, the Grand Prix," she says. Then, the briefcase is opened, and multiple documents neatly inserted into plastic sheets are unveiled — the famous pre-stamp postal history collection lies on the table amongst fine examples of intaglio prints and stamp seals. Besides this though, Pittie also has a collection that showcases the postal history of Bombay GPO till 1890 and one specifically on the reign of King George V in British India spanning 25 years.
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