Coimbatore: Penny Black and Scinde Dawk, the world's and Asia's first postage stamps respectively, were displayed at the two-day ‘Kovaipex-2024' that began on Tuesday in the city.
The philatelic exhibition was organised by the department of posts.
Scinde Dawk was introduced by the East India Company's administrator, Sir Bartle Frere, of the Province of Sind in 1852. The value of one stamp is now Rs 2.5 lakh.
P Surendran, 62, of Sundakkamuthur in the city, displayed his stamp and post cover collections at the exhibition. Among his displays was Penny Black, which was issued by the United Kingdom on May 1, 1840. It was used for the public postal system from May 6. The cost of the stamp was one penny, and the colour was dark.
It carried the bust of Queen Victoria. The stamp was issued until 1841, and 6.88 crore stamps were issued.
"I have been collecting stamps for more than two decades. I have collected around 20,000 stamps. It is my hobby. I bought Asia's first stamp through an auction on a website and bought one stamp for Rs 1 lakh. Now, the value of the stamp reached Rs 2.5 lakh," Surendran said.
C Selvaraj, a numismatist and philatelist, also displayed his collection of stamps at the exhibition. A businessman, Selvaraj has collected more than one lakh stamps in two decades.
He possesses a Jawaharlal Nehru commemorative VIP coin released in 1964. The value of one coin is Rs 7 lakh now.
"I spent crores of rupees on the stamps, currency, and coin collections. As of now, the worth of my collection would touch at least Rs 50 crore," Selvaraj said.
Earlier, Coimbatore city police commissioner V Balakrishnan inaugurated the exhibition and released the special cover on Kovaipex-2024.