Club News 4 Apr 2:44 AM (6 days ago)
Sydney Stamp & Coin Expo 2025 2 Apr 8:45 AM (8 days ago)
View : Result
Congratulations to all Winners !
1.Madhukar Jhingan 2.Sandeep Murjani 3, Savita Jhingan 4. Sushil Mehra 5. Ramachandran Mahalingam 6. Gauresh Mehra
Indian Winners
LARGE
VERMEIL MEDAL
Madhukar Jhingan – The
Indian Aerogrammes: Inland Issues
Savita Jhingan – From
India to Space
Kasaravalli Ananya –
Myriad Facets of Indian Woman
Mahurkar Katyayani –
Power & Grace, World of Mighty Birds of Prey
VERMEIL
MEDAL
Natarajan Lakshmi –
Perfins of Cochin
Ramachandran Madhav – A
study of Cochin Anchal Postmarks and Cancellations
Murjani Sandeep – Air
India, from Roots to Routes
Ramachandran Maheswari –
Kashmir – Heaven on Earth
Mehra Sushil – An Early
Portrait of Bengalaru
LARGE
SILVER MEDAL
Ramachandran Mahalingam
– Cochin Postal History
Mehra Gauresh – Halley's
Comet - The Science Narratives and business around the Haileys Comet
Mehra Sushil – A Post
Office Adventure along the British Indian Railway
Mehra Gauresh – Glimpses
of Bombay
SILVER
MEDAL
Raghavan Akshaya – The
Railway Mail Service of Cochin
Murjani Sandeep – Indian
Airlines
Sydney Stamp & Coin Expo 2025 Jury
My Recent Covers 18 Mar 4:48 AM (23 days ago)
Book Review 12 Mar 3:09 AM (29 days ago)
Threads of Tradition: Khadi Wavers and the GI Tags
By Sushil Mehra
Threads of Tradition: Khadi, Weavers
and the GI Tags By Sushil Mehra : First Edition : Type – A4 Size Paperback –
Coffee Table Book : Author, Publisher & Copyright : Sushil Mehra : Pages :
136 email : gaureshmehra@gmail.com
WhatsApp : 9972091818
The new book by Sushil Mehra , Threads of Tradition : Khadi Weavers and GI Tags features India’s textile heritage. Artisans and traditional fabrics through philately and GI. The book shows the significance of Textile industry and its heritage in different states of India through postage stamps and covers, Post marks and picture postcards. Textile industry plays an important role in the economy of India. The book gives a new theme to the Thematic collectors to develop into a beautiful exhibit. The book is presented in an excellent way and not only for the philatelists but in general for all is a wonderful book.
The book features articles by noted philatelists on Khadi, Textiles, GI Tagged handloom products of different states, List of GI Special Covers, on Textiles, Pages of Philatelic exhibit on Poshak (dresses) and many more to read. The book is very interesting. Different types of philatelic items related to Textile, Dresses, Handlooms, Silk, Khadi with lot of information are given in the book. The book will be very helpful for thematic collectors to prepare a theme related to textile. General readers would also enjoy the book with good information on handlooms of different states featured through postage stamps covers, post cards and cancellations. This beautiful coffee table book is recommended for one and all.
About the Author
Sushil Mehra is a BA (Hons) in Political Science from Delhi University and came to Bangalore in 1976. He is the Managing Director of Pan Office Systems Pvt Ltd, Bangalore which is engaged in selling office furniture and school furniture.
He has been the Past President of Rotary Club of Bangalore Orchards and Chairman of Publications Committee of FKCCI (Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry) as well as the Past President of Karnataka Hardware and Allied Merchants Association (KHAMA).
He is a
keen philatelist and numismatist with special interest in various varied
subjects related to stamp, coin and note collection. He is a member
of Karnataka Numismatic Society as well as member of Karnataka
Philatelic Society. He has a complete collection of Post Independence
India Stamps. ET (Economic Times) as well Deccan Herald have published
articles on his collection. Karnataka Postal Circle has released Post
Cards on his collection as well as two books on Special Covers of
Karnataka to which he Contributed. He is author/co-author of many books on
philately. Some of them are :
- Glimpses of Vintage Bengaluru’,
- ‘Guide
to Permanent Pictorial Cancellations of India’,
- ‘ My
Dashavatar Collection with special emphasis on Rama and Krishna’,
- ‘Exemplified
Philatelic Terms’,
- ‘Jai
Hind – The True spirit of India’,
- ‘The
Handbook of Permanent Pictorial Cancellations of India’.
- ‘INK
THE PPC: An Updated Guide to Permanent Pictorial Cancellations’
- ‘My
Collection of Special Covers issued by Karnataka Postal Circle 2019-2023’
- ‘The Post Office Buildings of India’
- ‘CARRIED COVERS of INDIA’
- ‘Gandhi
Connections’ on Post Offices in India bearing the name of Gandhiji
- ‘Daakiya
Aaya, Chitti Laya’ – a book in Hindi about Postmen and Letters through the
ages through the eyes of picture postcards
He
has won several award at National and International Philatelic Exhibitions.
- - Jeevan Jyoti
AMSIPEX-25 12 Mar 2:59 AM (29 days ago)
Report - AMSIPEX-25
The 1st International Virtual Aerophilatelic &
Astrophilatelic Exhibition
Amsipex-25 is the 1st International Virtual Aerophilatelic & Astrophilatelic Exhibition, organized by the Air Mail Society India Foundation (AMSI) to celebrate World Air Mail Day on February 18. The event took place from February 15-23, 2025, and was held virtually. (www.AMSIPEX.com).
AMSIPEX-25 received Patronage from the International
Federation of Aero-and Astrophilatelic Societies (F.I.S.A.) and the Philatelic
Congress of India (PCI). It was also Jointly Sponsored by the American Air Mail
Society and the Royal Belgian Astrophilatelic Society/COSMOS. Commercial
sponsors were David Feldman (Gold), Robert A.Siegel (Gold) and Argyll Etkin
(Silver) along with Philauctions (webinar sponsor) and Phila Arts (souvenir
book sponsor).
The Exhibition:
Entries were open to exhibitors from across the world
featuring Aerophilately: Development and Operation of Airmail Services, Airmail
stamps, and their use in Airmail Service, and Astrophilately: Exhibits related
to space exploration and astronomy.
The exhibition was in various categories, including
Competitive Class: 5 & 8 frame exhibits and 1-frame exhibits; Literature
Class; Youth: Youth Class: between 10-21 years in three age groups; Novice
Class: Exhibits by new collectors in 1-5 frame exhibits.
Besides the competitive class, there was a Court of Honour with 3 outstanding exhibits (21 Frames)
The Invitee Class saw another 17 Exhibits & 70 Frames (8 from Jury & 9 other non-competitive). All exhibits can be viewed at www.AMSIPEX.COM
Judging the exhibits: The exhibition
followed FIP Guidelines for Judging Aerophilatelic Exhibits and for Judging Astrophilatelic
Exhibits. The Jury comprised of 8 world renowned international experts in
Aerophilately and Astrophilately and awards were given based on the exhibits'
scores.
AMSIPEX-25 also
introduced some innovations that were well appreciated by all:
• Novice Class exhibits
for persons who were otherwise ineligible participate in such events
• Medals for eligible 1
Frame exhibitors
World
Air Mail Day Celebrations, 18th February 2025:
The Inaugural Function lasted 30
minutes, and started with a 2600 year old Sanskrit invocation known as Shanti
Mantra (Sahana Vavatu) reminding us all to work as one for the pursuit of
knowledge in a spirit of peace and brotherhood.
A Special Cover was then released to
commemorate the 114th Anniversary of the first Airmail flight from
Allahabad to Naini on 18th February 1911. Designed and Executed by Naveein O.C.
and Akhil Reddy, the cover carried the special cancellation issued earlier that
day from Prayagraj (erstwhile Allahabad) thanks to efforts of Rahul Ganguli and
from Bengaluru thanks to help from the Karnataka Philatelic Society and its
committee members.
The AMSIPEX-25
Souvenir Book was then released. Compiled and edited by Pragya Jain, this book
is divided into three sections – All about AMSIPEX-25, expert articles on
Indian Air Mails, and a technical section with rules and guidelines for aero-
and Astrophilatelic exhibiting. This is available for free download from the
AMSIPEX-25 website (https://www.amsipex.com/test1-361884.html ).
The Jury Chair, Glen
Stafford then read out the Jury Report and the exhibition results were
announced with names of winners of all Special Prizes. The jury was divided
into 3 teams, with Team 1 led by Charles Bromser evaluated all the
Astrophilately exhibits and the Novice exhibits, Team 2 led by Glen Stafford
for the aerophilately exhibits and team 3 by Javaid Muhammad evaluated the
literature exhibits. The high standard of the exhibits was also recognised by
the Jury.
The AMSI Chairman, Piyush Khaitan then spoke about the importance of World Air Mail Day, and future plans of AMSI, the need for all air mail enthusiasts to work together to create renewed enthusiasm for this wonderful hobby.
This
was followed by the announcement of the winner of the Air Mail Society India
Foundation’s first Lifetime Achievement Award and inductee in their Hall of
Fame, Ronald M. Lee. His 5 volume The Story of Australia’s Overseas Airmails
was recognised and the citation recognizing Ron was read out by the chairman,
followed by a video recording of Ron’s acceptance speech.
Pratisad Neurgaonkar proposed the Vote
of Thanks where he thanked the patrons, jt. sponsors, commercial sponsors,
jury, exhibitors the team work by the 10-member organizing committee.
World Air Mail Day
Webinar:
The highlight of the day was the
webinar featuring 6 Speakers & 5 hours of Non-Stop Fun on Aero & Astro Philately.
• Terry Hare Walker - (Imperial Route
to India 1972-29).
• Markand Dave FRPSL - (Indian Rocket
Mails during WWII Period).
• Pradip Jain RDP FRPSL - (By the
First Aerial Post of the world 18th Feb 1911).
• Davis S Ball - (Pushing the
Envelope).
• Cheryl Ganz RDP FRPSL – (The Basel
Zeppelin Post Exchange Office).
• Ken Sanford – (Air Crashes of
Imperial Airways).
Despite the long session, audience
remained glued to their screens, and we had many participants. Each session was
followed by a Q&A. Recordings of all these talks are being made available
on the AMSI YouTube channel @HawaSaeByAir. Some have already been uploaded, and
the rest will be posted during March 2025.
Jury Feedback Session:
We had a Jury feedback session on
Saturday 22nd February 2025 for Astrophilately & Aerophilately exhibitors,
where the Jury for Team 1 & Team 2 provided feedback and suggestions to
exhibitors on how to improve their exhibits. Questions were taken from participants
and detailed responses were provided.
View : AMSIPEX- 25
Results
-Piyush Khaitan: email : pk@khaitan.in
The following videos have been uploaded on YouTube
channel @HawaSaeByAir.
A 3-minute curtain raiser video about AMSIPEX-25 and
World Air Mail Day celebrations.
A 28-minute recording of the inaugural function of our
World Air Mail Day celebrations held on 18 February 2025.
AMSIPEX 25 - Curtain
Raiser
AMSIPEX-25 : Inauguration and World Air Mail Day
Celebration
https://youtu.be/L0BhDkSChkk?si=aluyJAjhFMuy7ndv
Indian Rocket Mails during WWII Period
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3PgKw_Yr3s
The First Aerial Post of the World 18th Febtruary 1911
New Special Cover from Himachal Pradesh 9 Mar 7:27 AM (last month)
9 March 2025 : St. Edwards School. Shimla - 100 Years : Shimla
New Special Cover from Uttrakhand 8 Mar 5:31 AM (last month)
Vasatotsav 2025 : Spring Festival : Raj Bhawan Dehradun
7-9 March 2025
7 March 2025 : Jatamansi : Dehradun
Image Courtesy : Ruchi Awasthi
International Women's Day 7 Mar 11:08 PM (last month)
Club News 6 Mar 6:27 AM (last month)
AUSVIPEX 2025 1 Mar 5:57 PM (last month)
Australian Virtual Philatelic Exhibition 2025
ausvipex2025.com
AUSVIPEX -2025
Deadlines
Entries
close: 28 September 2025
Title
Pages to Judges: Mon 5 October 2025
Scans
by: 20 Oct 2025 (but can be sent anytime up until then)
Exhibition
available on line for Judges: from Friday 13 November 2025.
Exhibition
available on line for public viewing: from Friday 27 November 2025.
Results
available: Friday 4 December 2025.
Feedback
to Exhibitors: Week commencing Mon 7 December 2025.
On
Line until 28 Feb 2026
Frames
Available: 500
Exhibition
Website https://ausvipex2025.com
Organisation
The
Australian Virtual Philatelic Exhibition 2025 (AUSVIPEX 2025) is an online
National Philatelic Exhibition organised by the Australian Philatelic
Federation (APF). These regulations are based on the APF Regulations for
Australian Philatelic Exhibitions.
For
all enquiries email: Ausvipex2025@gmail.com
Conditions
of Participation
Participation
in the Exhibition is open to all exhibitors worldwide. They do not need to be a member of an
affiliated organisation. The exhibitor must be the bona-fide owner of the
exhibit.
Exhibits
must be of 2-8 frames based on 16 sheets (approximately 28-29 cm x 23 cm each)
per frame. Page size is not critical but entries must be in the format of
frames each comprising 16 single sheets or the equivalent in double pages or
square pages, or a combination of single, double or square pages corresponding
to a ‘frame’ in a physical exhibition.
Exhibits
may come from any of the FIP or APF competitive classes, except for the
One-Frame Class. Only electronic (or digital) Literature Class entries will be
accepted. Exhibits will be classified and judged in their respective FIP class
or Australian National Class. Judging is based on the regulations of their
respective classes and these Guidelines. Each entry must be entered in the
correct class. Non-competitive entries
will be by invitation of the Committee only.
Entries
can be either scans of exhibits prepared and mounted on paper or exhibits
prepared using scans of philatelic items with the pages prepared on a
computer. If the latter, the nature of
preparation must be declared. The items scanned must be owned by the exhibitor
and the scans must not be embellished in any way.
All
entries will be displayed on the Exhibition website and available for public
viewing.
Entry fees
The frame fee of $20
per frame (multi-frame exhibits) or $25 (Electronic Literature entries) must
accompany the entry form.
New Special Covers 28 Feb 4:53 AM (last month)
24 February 2025 : 37th All India Postal Volleyball Tournament 2024-25 : Shimla
New Special Cancellations and Picture Postcards
JAMPEX - 2025 27 Feb 8:31 PM (last month)
JAMPEX2025
A district level philatelic exhibition was organised on February 22-23, 2025 by Department of Post, Singhbhum division, Jharkhand circle and supported by Jamshedpur Philatelic Society on the occasion of completing 50 years of the society.Exhibition was inaugurated by CPMG, Jharkhand on 22 Feb and awards were given by DPS, Jharkhand circle on 23 Feb.
Exhibits were displayed in 112 frames in which 36 frames had National Level exhibits by senior philatelist in invitee class, 54 frames in competitive class and 10 frames by 6 participants in youth class.Total 4 Bronze and 1 silver medal were awarded in Youth class whereas 8 Bronze, 5 Silver and 2 Vermeil medals were awarded in Senior class.Mrs Suchanda Banerjee was awarded a vermeil medal and Best exhibit award for her collection on “Rotary Movement”.
Specil Covers : JAMPEX - 2025
23 February 2025 : Cultural Heritage of Jharkhand: Jamshedpur
22 February 2025 : JAMPEX - 2025
URUGIUAY 2025 : Digital Palmares 22 Feb 5:48 PM (last month)
PALMARES CATALOGUE
Complete Award List
: Pravesh Kumar Gupta
Thailand 2025 Asian International Stamp Exhibition 22 Feb 1:09 AM (last month)
URUGUAY 2025 : Special Covers and Cancellations 21 Feb 6:58 PM (last month)
Special Cancellations : URUGUAY 2025
3 Special Cancellations were issued by India Post during URUGUAy 2025 on following themes
1.Mahatma Gandhi
2. Yoga
3. Taj Mahal
Indian Winners at URUGUAY - 2025 19 Feb 6:52 AM (last month)
URUGUAY 2025
Specialized World Stamp Exhibition
17-22 February 2025
Heartiest Congratulations !
National Commissioner : Parvesh Kumar Gupta
Joint National Commissioner : Raunak Dutta
AMSIPEX-25 : Results 19 Feb 2:08 AM (last month)
Row 1: 1. Sushil Mehrta 2. Naresh Agrawal 3.Praggya Jain 4. Savita Jhingan
Row 2 : 1. Pradip Jain 2. Capt Vijay Wadhwa 3.Pratisad Nerogaonkar 4. Markand Dave
Row3 : 1. Sandeep Murjani 2. Mohanachandran Nair 3. Rahul Ganguli 4. Pravesh Kr. Gupta
Heratiest Congratulations to all Winners !!
AMSIPEX-25 Webinar :18 February 2025 17 Feb 7:16 PM (last month)
18 February - World Air Mail Day
AMSIPEX 25 - 1st International Virtual Aero-Astrophilatelic Exhibition 14 Feb 9:32 PM (last month)
 |
New Stamps on Maha Kumbh 2025 13 Feb 6:33 AM (last month)
Maha Kumbh 2025
India Post issued a set of 3 Stamps with a Miniature sheet on Maha Kumbh 2025. The commemorative postage stamps, designed by Shri Sankha Samanta, beautifully depict three prominent aspects of Triveni tirtha- Maharshi Bharadwaj Ashram, Snan and Akshayvat.
Release of Commemorative Postage Stamps on “Maha Kumbh 2025’ by Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Hon’ble Union Minister for Communications and Development of the North Eastern Region
AMSIPEX -25 11 Feb 10:04 PM (last month)
1st International Virtual Aero-& Astrophilatelic Exhibition
15-23 February 2025
World Air Mail Day Webinar
AMSIPEX-25 Free Webinar - 18 Feb. 2025 - No registration required.
Start Time: 16:00 (IST), 11:30 (CET), 10:30 (GMT) & 05:30 (ET)
Meeting ID: 943 4063 8575
Passcode: 026815
Meeting link: https://tinyurl.com/18-Feb-
Club News 5 Feb 10:46 PM (2 months ago)
Rainbow Stamp News February 2025
50th Anniversary Of The Patenting Of The Rubik’s Cube 4 Feb 5:50 PM (2 months ago)
The Rubik’s Cube
Date of Issue : 30 January 2025
Here is a beautiful Souvenir sheet issued by Magyar Posta to commemorate the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the patenting of the Rubik’s Cube® with a stamp issue. The puzzle made its international debut at the toy fairs of London, Paris, Nuremberg, and New York in January and February 1980. In the 80's and 90'sthis puzzle was a craze among people of all age groups. Even today it is popular and can be seen on Toy shops.
The
Rubik’s Cube®, or Magic Cube as it was originally called, was invented by the
architect, interior designer, designer, toy designer, and Kossuth and State
Prize-winning Hungarian sculptor Ernő Rubik Jr. An honorary professor, he was
awarded the title of Artist of the Nation and is a member of the European
Academy of Sciences. An expert on innovation and creativity at international
level, his toys were inspired by a child-like inquisitiveness and
imaginativeness. As a designer, he created many logic toys and his most famous
invention, the Rubik’s Cube®, is a captivating puzzle. Rubik applied for a
patent for the Cube on 30 January 1975, which was granted on 31 December 1977.
Success came soon after. It is not a simple game, but takes the cuber straight towards
human creativity. The Cube activates in everyone skills such as concentration,
curiosity, playfulness and the desire to find the solution. The Rubik’s Cube®
became a global craze. It has appeared frequently in books, plays and Hollywood
blockbusters, has been the subject of university courses and is used as a piece
of sporting equipment at world speed solving competitions. Over its past of
almost half a century, it has become the game of a billion people.
The stamp design of the numbered souvenir sheet issued by Magyar Posta shows a scrambled Rubik’s Cube®, while the squares and rectangles forming the frame are in the colours of the Cube. The special first day cover features an image of the so-called Retro Rubik’s Cube®. The Hungarian version of the official logo for the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Rubik’s Cube® (50 Years of the Rubik’s Cube®) appears on the souvenir sheet, the first day cover and the imprint of the postmark on the cover.
Rubik's invention
In the mid-1970s, Ernő Rubik worked at the Department of Interior Design at the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in Budapest.Although it is widely reported that the Cube was built as a teaching tool to help his students understand 3D objects, his actual purpose was solving the structural problem of moving the parts independently without the entire mechanism falling apart. He did not realise that he had created a puzzle until the first time he scrambled his new Cube and then tried to restore it.Rubik applied for a patent in Hungary for his "Magic Cube" (Hungarian: bűvös kocka) on 30 January 1975,and HU170062 was granted later that year.
The first test batches of the Magic Cube were produced in late 1977 and released in toy shops in Budapest. Magic Cube was held together with interlocking plastic pieces that prevented the puzzle from being easily pulled apart, unlike the magnets in Nichols's design. With Ernő Rubik's permission, businessman Tibor Laczi took a Cube to Germany's Nuremberg Toy Fair in February 1979 in an attempt to popularise it. It was noticed by Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer, and they signed a deal with Ideal Toys in September 1979 to release the Magic Cube worldwide. Ideal wanted at least a recognisable name to trademark; that arrangement put Rubik in the spotlight because the Magic Cube was renamed after its inventor in 1980.
The puzzle made its international debut at the toy fairs of London, Paris, Nuremberg, and New York in January and February 1980.
After its international debut, the progress of the Cube towards the toy shop shelves of the West was briefly halted so that it could be manufactured to Western safety and packaging specifications. A lighter Cube was produced, and Ideal decided to rename it. "The Gordian Knot" and "Inca Gold" were considered, but the company finally decided on "Rubik's Cube", and the first batch was exported from Hungary in May 1980.
The packaging had a few variations depending on the country, most popular being a clear plastic cylinder but cardboard versions were also used. The cube itself had slightly different variations in the order of the colours (Western vs. Japanese colour scheme where blue/yellow are switched) and some of the cubes did not have a white piece logo.
1980s Cube craze
After the first batches of Rubik's Cubes were released in May 1980, initial sales were modest, but Ideal began a television advertising campaign in the middle of the year which it supplemented with newspaper advertisements.At the end of 1980, Rubik's Cube won a German Game of the Year special award and won similar awards for best toy in the UK, France, and the US By 1981, Rubik's Cube had become a craze, and it is estimated that in the period from 1980 to 1983 around 200 million Rubik's Cubes were sold worldwide.[ In March 1981, a speedcubing championship organised by the Guinness Book of World Records was held in Munich,and a Rubik's Cube was depicted on the front cover of Scientific American that same month. In June 1981, The Washington Post reported that Rubik's Cube is "a puzzle that's moving like fast food right now ... this year's Hoola Hoop or Bongo Board",and by September 1981, New Scientist noted that the cube had "captivated the attention of children of ages from 7 to 70 all over the world this summer."
As most people could solve only one or two sides, numerous books were published including David Singmaster's Notes on Rubik's "Magic Cube" (1980) and Patrick Bossert's You Can Do the Cube (1981). At one stage in 1981, three of the top ten best selling books in the US were books on solving Rubik's Cube,and the best-selling book of 1981 was James G. Nourse's The Simple Solution to Rubik's Cube which sold over 6 million copies. In 1981, the Museum of Modern Art in New York exhibited a Rubik's Cube, and at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee a six-foot Cube was put on display. ABC Television even developed a cartoon show called Rubik, the Amazing Cube.In June 1982, the First Rubik's Cube World Championship took place in Budapest and would become the only competition recognized as official until the championship was revived in 2003.
In October 1982, The New York Times reported that sales had fallen and that "the craze has died",and by 1983 it was clear that sales had plummeted. However, in some countries such as China and the USSR, the craze had started later and demand was still high because of a shortage of Cubes.
My Recent Covers 3 Feb 11:49 PM (2 months ago)
Cover from Finland
Many thanks to the unknown sender from Finland. I always receive covers from Finland but never get the address of the sender. So plz send me your address so that I can personally express my gratitude for the beautiful covers from Finland by sending some covers from India.
Special / Commemorative Covers from Pratg Philatelic Society, Prayagraj
30 October 2024: Deepotsav - Ayodhya
27 January 2025 : Importance of Snan-Kumbh Mela : Prayagraj
29 January 2025: Divya, Bhavya and Digital Mahakumbh
