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India has a long and varied postal history and has produced a large number of
* Commemorative stamps: A commemorative stamp is often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honour or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print. There are numerous commemorative stamps that were issued by India to honour notable personalities like freedom fighters, politicians etc. Many other stamps to celebrate special events related to sports, space, science and technology, defence, arts and crafts etc. are issued.
*Republic definitive stamps: These stamps are a part of the regular issue and are available for using postage services for an extended period of time. They are designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. A definitive issue or series have a range of denominations sufficient to cover ongoing postal rates. Several definitive stamps of India have been issued with different themes and illustrations, depicting art, history, science & technology, nature, vehicles, industries, institutions and more.
* Military stamps : During the time of war or when peace keeping operations are on, special postage stamps have been issued called as military stamps. Mostly the army itself transports the letters to the desired destinations. These stamps were commonly used during World War II by soldiers who wanted to connect and send their message across to their beloveds. Prior to that and since that, many other military stamps of India have been released for various military operations where Indian Army has made some selfless contributions. These stamps portray different monuments, culture, arts and crafts, personalities and more. The stamps are overprinted to use in foreign on regular definitive stamps by Peace-keeping Armed Forces.
* Miniature sheets: A miniature sheet is a small group of stamps that are still attached to the sheet on which they are printed. They could be regular issues or commemorative ones as well. They could be individual designs as well with special illustrations on the sheet. Several miniature sheets have been issued by India which portrays different aspects of the nation's identity like famous personalities, important events, art and culture, history, monuments etc.
* Se-tenant stamps: Se-tenant stamps are printed on the same plate and adjoin one another. Though they make a set which adjoin each other on the same sheet, their designs, colour, denominations or overprint differ. They may also feature overlapped or extended designs which appear on the entire set of stamps. India has a tradition of releasing some extremely beautiful se-tenant stamps that collectors all over the world love to own.
*My Stamp: 'My Stamp' is the brand name for personalized sheets of postage stamps of India Post. The personalization is achieved by printing a thumb nail image of the individual photograph and logos of institutions, or images of artwork, heritage buildings, famous tourist places, historical cities, wildlife, other animals and birds etc., on a selected template sheet having postage stamps. 'My Stamp' was first introduced in India during the World Philatelic Exhibition, ‘ INDIPEX-2011’. This scheme is available in selected Philatelic Bureaux and counters/ Important Post offices/Post Offices situated at tourist places.
Indian Postage Stamps
Stamps of the World Wiki Catalog
Welcome to the World of Indian Philately
Stamp Collection World Records in India
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Postage Stamps of India Postage stamps of India
India has a long and varied postal history and has produced a large number of postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
s. These have been produced by a variety of techniques including line engraving
Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is mainly used in connection with 18th- or 19th-century commercial illustrations for magazines and books or reproductions of paintings ...
, typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...
, lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
, photogravure and web-offset. Stamps have been produced both for postage and for service or revenue. Definitives and commemoratives have been issued. Stamps have been produced both as unperforated sheets, perforated and miniature sheets. The stamps have been produced in a number of shapes – the Scinde Dawk being rounded and some, like the stamp on the Bombay Sappers being triangular. Recently the 2009 stamp on Louis Braille had braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displ ...
imprinting on it in addition. Many cases of overprinting exist – for converting the use of domestic postage stamps to service; to earmark stamps sold by field post offices attached with international control commissions and other reasons.
The Indian Postal Service has issued stamps on many themes – relating to history, architecture, nature, culture and heritage. Provisions exist for organisations and interested bodies to suggest the printing of special commemorative stamps as well as first day covers and cancellations. The Indian Post runs philatelic bureaus, operates deposit based philatelic services, a philatelic magazine and also publishes lists of stamps from time to time.
The article lists the stamps in two sections – Indian postage before and after independence. Stamps belonging to convention and feudatory states have been excluded.
Stamps produced in British India
Though British rule in India began effectively in the mid-eighteenth century i.e.1860s, the first adhesive stamp was issued in 1852, 12 years after the firstPenny Black
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom (referred to in philatelic circles as Great Britain), on 1 May 1840, but was not valid for use until 6 May ...
was issued in England. This was the Scinde Dawk. It was followed by the East India company lithographed issues and a long series of engraved stamps portraying Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, and King George VI.
Stamps produced in independent India
India's independence saw the postal department issue its first stamp on 21 Nov 1947 depicting the Indian flag. The Dominion of India issued stamps from 1947 to 1949 with the caption of ''INDIA POSTAGE''. In 1950, India became a republic and the first stamps of India as a republic were a series of four issued on that very day. The stamp issues continued to be in Annas (abbreviated as "As") until 1957, when theIndian rupee
The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use ...
was decimalised: the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi for "new paise"). In 1964, the initial "naye" was dropped. This change in currency is faithfully reflected in the denomination of the stamps of the time. The initial stamps were commemorative or special issues. In 1949 the first definitive "Archeological" series of 16 values was issued.
Types of Postal Stamps
There are six types postal stamps are in circulation in India:
* Commemorative stamps: A commemorative stamp is often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honour or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print. There are numerous commemorative stamps that were issued by India to honour notable personalities like freedom fighters, politicians etc. Many other stamps to celebrate special events related to sports, space, science and technology, defence, arts and crafts etc. are issued.
*Republic definitive stamps: These stamps are a part of the regular issue and are available for using postage services for an extended period of time. They are designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. A definitive issue or series have a range of denominations sufficient to cover ongoing postal rates. Several definitive stamps of India have been issued with different themes and illustrations, depicting art, history, science & technology, nature, vehicles, industries, institutions and more.
* Military stamps : During the time of war or when peace keeping operations are on, special postage stamps have been issued called as military stamps. Mostly the army itself transports the letters to the desired destinations. These stamps were commonly used during World War II by soldiers who wanted to connect and send their message across to their beloveds. Prior to that and since that, many other military stamps of India have been released for various military operations where Indian Army has made some selfless contributions. These stamps portray different monuments, culture, arts and crafts, personalities and more. The stamps are overprinted to use in foreign on regular definitive stamps by Peace-keeping Armed Forces.
* Miniature sheets: A miniature sheet is a small group of stamps that are still attached to the sheet on which they are printed. They could be regular issues or commemorative ones as well. They could be individual designs as well with special illustrations on the sheet. Several miniature sheets have been issued by India which portrays different aspects of the nation's identity like famous personalities, important events, art and culture, history, monuments etc.
* Se-tenant stamps: Se-tenant stamps are printed on the same plate and adjoin one another. Though they make a set which adjoin each other on the same sheet, their designs, colour, denominations or overprint differ. They may also feature overlapped or extended designs which appear on the entire set of stamps. India has a tradition of releasing some extremely beautiful se-tenant stamps that collectors all over the world love to own.
*My Stamp: 'My Stamp' is the brand name for personalized sheets of postage stamps of India Post. The personalization is achieved by printing a thumb nail image of the individual photograph and logos of institutions, or images of artwork, heritage buildings, famous tourist places, historical cities, wildlife, other animals and birds etc., on a selected template sheet having postage stamps. 'My Stamp' was first introduced in India during the World Philatelic Exhibition, ‘ INDIPEX-2011’. This scheme is available in selected Philatelic Bureaux and counters/ Important Post offices/Post Offices situated at tourist places.
List of commemorative stamps by years
* List of postage stamps of India (1947–1950) * List of postage stamps of India (1951–1960) * List of postage stamps of India (1961–1970) * List of postage stamps of India (1971–1980) * List of postage stamps of India (1981–1990) * List of postage stamps of India (1991–2000) *List of postage stamps of India (2000–04)
India has a long and varied postal history and has produced a large number of postage stamps. These have been produced by a variety of techniques including line engraving, typography, lithography, photogravure and web-offset. Stamps have b ...
* List of postage stamps of India (2005–09)
* List of postage stamps of India (2010–14)
See also
* List of Miniature Sheets from India Post *Postage stamps and postal history of India
Indian postal systems for efficient military and governmental communications had developed long before the arrival of Europeans. When the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danish and British conquered the Marathas who had already defeated the M ...
References
* Anon. (2008). ''Phila India 2008 Guide book (1800-2007)''. * Anon. (1989). ''India Postage Stamps 1947-1988''. Philately branch, Department of Posts, India. * Anon. (2008). ''List of stamps (Year 1852 to 2007)''. Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra Circle, Mumbai 400001. *External links
Indian Postage Stamps
Stamps of the World Wiki Catalog
Welcome to the World of Indian Philately
Stamp Collection World Records in India
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Postage Stamps of India Postage stamps of India
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...