There seems to be an increase in awareness among people on philately but not many pursue it with the seriousness required, is what philatelists say. “Today people do not deface stamps. When they find them lying around, they pick it up for safe keeping. But the interest stops there,” laments P.R. Krishnan, Secretary, The Philatelist, Coimbatore.
Mr. Krishnan feels devotion to stamps can take philatelists places. He says an acquaintance of his, a school dropout, landed a job because of his knowledge of reptiles that he mainly gained by collecting stamps!
Philately is not a mere hobby for kids. It is a science, says Mr. Krishnan.
And he says he wants to set right the common belief that philatelists collect stamps of all countries.
“In fact, the first lesson in philately is ‘collect your own country’s stamp’,” he says.
Philately is a serious occupation and serious collectors of stamp go about it quietly. “You will be surprised to know that many doctors are philatelists,” he points out. Urologist S.B. Viswaroop is one of them.
The doctor started collecting stamps in his school days but gave up in between.
But he resumed once he became financially independent.
“It is one of the first things I did – spend money to resume my collection,” he says and adds that he has been doing it professionally for close to 12 years now.
Dr. Viswaroop who is also a quizzer, says collecting stamps works as a stress-buster for him besides being an important source of general knowledge.
There is another facet to philately – stamps as an investment option. Mr. Krishnan says that gold bought for Rs. 100 in 1948 may be worth Rs. 75,000 or so today.
But stamps bought for the same amount will be worth nearly Rs. 2.25 lakh.
And, first-day covers purchased for Rs. 100 then will easily be Rs. 12 lakh.
As India is growing, investment in stamps will fetch very high returns and beat inflation as well. The other interesting aspect is that the value of stamps can never go below its face value.
“A Rs. 5 stamp is always Rs. 5, unlike stocks that may trade below the face value,” explains Mr Krishnan.
Philately clubs are popular in many schools and children take it up as an extra curricular activity.
As part of the philately club activities, the schools take students to post offices, enrol them as members of the philately bureau and encourage their participation in competitions conducted by the India Post.
