As part of National Postal Week celebrations, Postal Department organised a philatelic exhibition, showcasing about 4,000 stamps, including some rare ones made of diamond, gold and silver, here on Tuesday.

Students of various schools made a beeline to Mohamed Sathak Dastagir Matriculation Higher Secondary School to take a glimpse of stamps from a rich collection of philatelist A. Jebaraj Michael, a retired Headmaster from Tuticorin. Mr. Michael, accompanied by S. Jebakumar, retired Public Relations Inspector (Postal Department), helped in organising the exhibition for the second successive year.

His collection included rare stamps on Mahatma Gandhi, birds, animals, fruits and stamps in different shapes.

A stamp made of diamond and the one issued by Austria, containing meteorite dust, sandalwood, jasmine and rose-scented stamps and a ‘chocolate stamp’ issued by Switzerland were the cynosure of all eyes. “Most of them are commemorative stamps,” Mr. Michael said adding “we have also displayed a couple of stamps in definitive series, including India’s lowest denomination (one paise) and highest denomination (Rs. 50).”
Mr. Michael said that he had been collecting stamps for the past three decades, by setting apart at least 20 per cent of his monthly income for buying them. His collection included stamps of more than 100 foreign countries.

The exhibition was organised to motivate students to show interest in stamp collection and open Philately Deposit Account in select post offices to regularly receive stamps, brochures and first day covers, N.J. Udaya Singh, Superintendent of Post Offices, Ramanathapuram division, said.

As part of National Postal Week celebrations which began on October 9, school students had been invited to post offices to know the duties of postmen, S. Vijaya Gomathi, Assistant Superintendent of Post Offices, said.