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Philately - the king of hobbies

Of the very few freedoms still left to man in his regimented life today, the freedom to spend his leisure in the manner of his choice is one. Pursuit of a chosen hobby is one of the most common means of spending one's leisure. When the chosen hobby merely helps to amuse oneself while passing time, it remains a mere pastime and no more. But when the hobby not only helps to relieve one of ennui but also in an enriching experience by itself, it becomes an ideal pursuit in one’s leisure. Philately or the art of stamp collection has for this reason been rightly called the King of Hobbies and the Hobby of Kings.

The dictionary defines “Philately” as ‘stamp collecting’. The word has its origin in the Greek words Philos – meaning ‘loving’ and Ateles – meaning ‘exemption from tax’. A postal article is exempted from tax only when the postage on it is prepaid; and such prepayment is ordinarily by stamps or frank marks. Therefore, philately means love of stamps, and all that is connected with stamps like frank marks, post marks, cancellations and the like.

Till the postage stamp was introduced postage on letters was either prepaid in cash by the sender or collected from the addressee. The postage payable varied according to the distance the letter had to travel. Most of the letters were sent unpaid and many were refused by the addressees resulting in loss of substantial revenue. On the recommendations of Sir Rowland Hill the first postage stamp of the world the ‘Penny Black’ came into use in England on may 6, 1840. Brazil was the second country to issue stamps in 1843. Other countries followed soon after and from 1850 onwards numerous countries joined the ranks of stamp issuing countries.

In India, Mr. Bartle Frere the Commissioner of Sind introduced paper stamps in token of prepayment of postage in the Province of Sind in  1852. These stamps the famous ‘Scinde Dwaks’ were the first postage stamps brought but out only in India but also in Asia.

Millions of postage stamps have been issued  by the various countries of the world so far.
Thousands of new stamps are issued each year . The Governments of the various countries project through their stamps the objects of pride in their countries, their distinctive flora and fauna , their leaders, thinkers, and other greatmen, their  landmarks etc. The postage stamps have thus become the windows of a nation through which people overseas many behold its heritage and nature.

Origin and growth of Postage Stamps Collection

The earliest story of  stamp collecting is that of a young lady in England who had a strange fancy to cover her dressing room with cancelled postage stamps. She collected 16,000 stamps herself. In 1841 she advertised in the London Times requesting readers to send her more stamps. Soon the craze for collecting stamps became widespread. In the early years, it was the attempt of every serious stamp collector to have a complete collection. This was then possible because of the limited number of stamps then in circulation. With the phenomenal increase in the number of postage stamps issued by the various countries, now numbering over millions of possession of a world-wide collection has become wellnigh impossible. Philatelists have therefore turned to thematic or topical or subject-wise collection.

Philately or postage stamp collection has stood as the number one hobby in the worls for about seven decades now. It has the largest number of followers in all parts of the world. Several thousands of books have been written on this hobby. It has the largest number of magazines, over 1000 published in many languages.

The question would naturally arise “why this craze for collecting bits of paper?” The answer lies in the simple fact that while generally all studies entail taxing one’s mental and physical resources, Philately is a study, yet fun and gives pleasure. Philately imparts to its followers a sound knowledge of 

•  Geography
•  History
•  World Currencies
•  World events
  
  besides enlightening them about famous people and their lives because in the last few decades almost all the famous men and women of the world have been honoured by their countries issuing the stamp with their profiles.

Taking geography, how many teachers of ‘geography’ will be able to tell where Falk Land Island is? Or where Cocoo Island is? And yet, a collector of the whole world stamps will have their locations on the tip of his fingers. History is another subject in which a stamp collector gets automatically interested because all the major events of the country are reflected on his stamps. A stamp collector often knows more about world currencies than an average banker does in his occupation. Similarly, all the current world events are depicted on the stamps of the world, and a stamp collector has only to read the brochures issued with these stamps to become well informed of current world events. More important than all, the hobby of stamp collecting fosters universal brotherhood among its followers because it does not recognize caste, creed or political isms. It welcomes everyone, whatever his hue, in its fold and that is why stamp collectors are so successful in establishing exchange of stamps with their counterparts in other countries.

Good collections of postage stamps are really valuable. These colourful tiny its of paper carefully mounted on the albums have real money value. Philatelic rarities fetch enormous sums. Philatelic freaks or wrong prints also fetch fabulous prices. Occasionally, the small scrap of paper thus becomes a treasure. Stamp collecting can prove to be a lucrative business too.

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