In a recent National Philatelic Exhibition held at Pragti Maidan in New Delhi as a part of the Amritpex 2023, three members of the Goa Philately and Numismatics Society (GPNS) “ Dr M R Ramesh Kumar, Roland de Melo and Sheik Samiruddin won awards. Their exhibits generated curiosity amongst the public as they were Philatelically dead countries, such as the feudatory State of India called Cochin; Portuguese India (A Portuguese Colony) and French India (A French Colony).
Dr M R Ramesh Kumar won silver medal for his theme on ‘Cochin State Postal History’. Roland de Melo won a large silver medal for his Portuguese India along with a silver medal for his catalogue under the Literature class, ‘Philately with a Goan Connect’. Roland also won a bronze medal for his thematic collection on ‘Lighthouses’.
The trio displayed several interesting stamps, special covers, miniature sheets, First Day Covers, block of 4, Maxim Cards, Commemorative covers etc. There are several special cancelation and rare cancelation too in his collection including the pre adhesive cancelation and postage due cancelation in both English and Malayalam too. Also he had several privileged covers or palace covers which does not need any stamps on the cover.
“I had exhibited several postage due covers and also Dead Letter Office covers, train covers, interstate covers, international covers to the feudatory State of Cochin and vice versa etc. Also there are several place cancelation covers too. He had exhibited five frames of the above covers, meaning 80 A4 size sheets too,” said Dr Ramesh Kumar.
A set of 12 Geographic Indicators (GI) stamps were released at Amritpex 2023, a great boost to the Philatelic and GI collectors too. These were Kashmir Saffron, Himachali Chulli Oil, Ganjam Kewda Flower, Kaji Nemu, Mahabaleshwar Strawberry, Allahabad Surkha Guava, Shahi Litchi of Bihar, Naga Tree Tomato, Gir Kesar Mango, Bangalore Blue Grapes, Vazhakulam Pineapple and Eathomozhy Tall Coconut. Also a block of four stamps was released on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi and Bhagat Singh.
