PANAJI
On the occasion of 150 years of the release of the first postal stamp in Goa, the Goa Philatelic and Numismatic Society (GPNS) will be organising various activities on October 1. GPNS has proposed the release of a special cover at Tapal Bhavan, Patto. Goapex 2021 bulletin will be released along with a website and prospectus. On this occasion, four different World Postcard Day 2021 postcards will be released. A special cancellation for Panaji and Margao will be released too.
“This will be a welcome step taken by the GPNS to celebrate the first issue of native stamps. On this occasion a special cover would be released, and a special copper cancellation which is very rare and it will be an asset for the philatelic collectable for the philatelists all over the world,” said Dr Ramesh Kumar, president, GPNS.
“The issue and sale of the first issue of stamps had been set for September 1, 1871, but was postponed for reasons given by the acting General Administrator of the Postal Service, the Governor of India, in directive 294, published in Bulletin no. 67 on August 29th. Thus, on Sunday, October 1, 1871, the stamps were issued and put on sale. In view of the new organisation of the postal service, the stamps were sold out, since the postage rates were above 300 réis,” informs Rolando de Melo, joint secretary, GPNS.
The Goa Postal Division is planning to open a philately museum along with GPNS in Goa. “The Goa Philately Museum will be housed in a heritage building in Panaji. We are working towards opening the museum for the public by the end of this year itself,” said Dr Sudhir Jhakere, Senior Superintendent of Post Office, Goa Division. The GPNS members have volunteered to donate their personal collections of stamps, postal covers, cancellations etc to display at the museum. The post also has invited philatelists to cooperate, donate or share their collections.
The GPNS has around 60 members in the State who are all very active from the founder member V R Navelcar (85) to Pratik Bhandari (16) who began collecting stamps at the age of eight, and now have around 10,000 stamps.
V R Navelcar, founder member of GPNS who has invested his life in collecting philatelic material. Navelcar, who was GPNS secretary for 45 years, has not missed a single special cancellation issued by the government of India since the 1960s and who has visited world philately museums.
