Gems of Indian Flag Stamp Essays

 Gems of Indian Flag Stamp Essays

L.N. Williams in his “Fundamentals of Philately”, published by the American Philatelic Society, Pennsylvania, 1990, defines; “Essays” are (printed) designs proposed but not adopted as proposed.

 The proposed but never used postage stamps of Azad Hind Government (Nationales Indien). Indian National Army (INA) was so sure of its triumph that it printed postage stamps for Azad Hind. The stamps printed in 1943 at Reichsdruckerei, Berlin, Germany were designed by the team consisting of Werner and Maria von Axter-Heudtlass. The stamps were meant for use in Free India (Azad Hind) after the liberation of India. Three types or colour trials (?) of semi-postal stamps in the denominations of ‘1R + 2R’ are known to exist. According to S. A. Ayer, former minister of publicity of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind, ‘Under Netaji’s specific instructions a number of designs for stamps to be issued in the name of Azad Hind were prepared. Many of the designs were personally approved by Netaji.’  In 1988, Biren Roy, Member of the Parliament (MP)  said, ‘I have spoken to Colonel of the INA Prem Saigal who was Netaji’s private aide-de-camp in the Far East. He stated that the stamps were printed under the orders of Netaji Bose in Germany.’ Source; “Azad Hind” and “Chalo Delhi” Stamps by Herbert A. Friedman, Published by Jal Cooper,1972.

 

 India 1947 Flag Stamp Essay (imperforate block of four), first appeared in the 59^th Specialised Public Auction Sale ; 8^th & 9^th November 1997, by Sukhani Europhil Ltd, Calcutta. (The item was later withdrawn from the auction sale).

On 28 January 2014, an auction was held in London by Spink, the first item on the auction list was the 1947 Independence 1¹/₂ a. Flag Stamp Essay- an imperforate pair. Source; Stamps Today, January-February 2014, New Delhi. 

Erstwhile Princely State of Hyderabad

  Hyderabad: 1947 Essays prepared in anticipation of the Commemoration of Hyderabad’s Independence; however these stamps were never issued as Hyderabad became part of India. The complete set of four stamps include 4 pies green & yellow depicting transport symbols, the 8 pies purple & yellow depicting the proposed flag of the Independent State of Hyderabad,  the 1 anna yellow & green depicting the map of Hyderabad and the 2 annas yellow-orange depicting head gear ”Dastor”. An extremely rare and important complete set of which less than 10 sets are in private hands today. These four stamps are a testimony to the fact that Hyderabad may have become an independent country and not belonged to India after 1947. Source: Todywalla Auctions; Electronic Stamp Auction – 1, conducted by Art & Antique Décor, Mumbai.

India Postage Stamp Centenary 1854-1954 Essays on watermarked paper.

The National Flag of Bangladesh

26^th  March, Independence Day (Shadhinata Dibôsh) of Bangladesh. The day commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Pakistan on late hours of 25 March 1971. The day is a memorial to the deaths of thousands of civilians who died for their own Mother Language in erstwhile East Pakistan.

  Issue Date: 29-07-1971

Designer: Biman Mallik

Printer: Format International Printing Press, U.K. 

 The  flag of Bangladesh  used during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.

The map was later deleted in 1972 from the flag. The Red disc represents the sun rising over the Golden Bengal (Soner Bangla), recalls the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The Green field may have been inspired by its association with Islam but in the flag the colour stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh.  The flag is said to have been designed by Serajul Ilam, whose name means “Light of the Flag”.

Indian stamp issued on 10 April 1973, in commemoration of the inauguration of the first Parliament on 26-3-1971, which gave itself a constitution on 16 December 1972. The stamp shows its National Flag with the Shapla - the National Flower of Bangladesh.

  Bangladesh in United Nations

Bangladesh joined the UN in 1974

 

  

  Freedom is heralded by hoisting of a new national flag. Inclusion of that flag in front of the UN building in New York is the symbolic equivalent of being recognized as a real country.  (The Indian National Flag unfurled through Philately (Niyogi Books, p.107).

Bangladesh National Day and Anniversary of Independence 

      

 

 

 

Flags of the member countries : Asian Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU),

  Asian Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU) 

 Flags of the Member Countries

Most of the countries in the world are members of the Universal Postal Union. The Constitution of this Union permits members to form themselves into restricted unions covering specific regions of the globe. Special agreements are concluded to facilitate cooperation and improvement in the postal services of the member countries within the region, provided such agreements introduce provisions more favourable to the members of the public than those provided by the acts of the UPU. Further a restricted Union has the important role of promoting postal development in the region, cooperating with the UPU and the regional economic commissions in the implementation of technical assistance programmes in respect of postal services and strengthening relations with the other restricted Unions. At present the following seven restricted Unions are functioning in different parts of the world:

 1. European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), Stockholm.

2. The African Posts and Telecommunications Union (APTU), Brazzaville.

3. The Arab Postal Union (UPA), Cairo.

4. The Postal Union of the Americas and Spain (PUAS), Santiago.

 5. The African Postal Union (APU), Cairo.

6. Asian-Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU), Manila/Bangkok.

 7. The Narodic Postal Union (UPPN), Helsinki.

Asian Oceanic Postal Union (AOPU), originally known as Asian Oceanic Postal Convention is an inter-governmental organization of 32 postal administrations of the Asian Pacific region.The objective of AOPU is to extend, facilitate, and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services.

 The convention was to come into force on 1 April 1962. On that date, they formed a union among themselves and established its headquarters in Manila with Mr. Palomar, Postmaster General of Philippines as its first Director. 

The headquarters was relocated to Bangkok in 2002.

 Philippines commemorated 15 years of AOPU in 1977. The Stamps show Flags of fourteen (14) member countries.

 The stamp from Thailand commemorating 15th anniversary of AOPU shows flags of eleven (11) member countries .

Indian stamp issued on the occassion of 15th anniversary of AOPU shows only the Logo of the Union.

 

Postal stationery Aerogramme from Papua New Guinea commemorates 20th Anniversary of the AOPU in 1982.

Philippines stamps issued to commemorate the 50 th anniversary of AOPU. 

(Note; The 30p denomination stamp reproduces one of the stamp issued earlier during 15th anniversary celebration of AOPU. My friend Mr Kenneth Sequeira very kindly sent me the above two stamps from Dubai. Many many thank you Kenneth)

Thailand issued a stamp in the denomination of 3 Bhat to commemorate the 50th. anniversary of AOPU

In due course others countries of the Asian-Pacific region joined this regional postal union (AOPU) making it today an inter-governmental body of 32 countries namely; Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Lao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam.