For Raj Paul Oswal, managing director of Oswal Spinning Ltd, stamps are miniature gateways to world. He has got over 25,000 stamps in his treasury including some of the rarest and costliest stamps from across the world.
Oswal possesses a chocolate stamp made of real chocolate released by Switzerland on 100th birthday of chocolate cake. A big follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he has a big collection of stamps on Bapu, released on special occasions not only in India but by several other nations. Britain's royal family too occupies a pretty good space in his stamp cabinet. Embroidered and the gold stamps form the rarest in his collection. He also possesses gold and silver coins from authors of Indian literature to the Royals of England.
Start, pause and resumption
Raj Paul Oswal, 76, one of the senior most members of city's respected industrial family, developed a craze for stamps when he was a youth. But business responsibilities came on his shoulders at a young age which is why he could dedicate too much time on his passion.
But when Oswal got time for his hobby in 1999, many things had changed in his favour. He has become efficient enough to fill his treasure with the costly stamps around the world.
According to Oswal, there will be very few in Punjab with a treasure of stamps that he has in his home."I am so passionate that as soon as the stamps are released, I order them no matter what they cost," For him, every stamp is invaluable, but stamps of the England's royal family and other countries are the costliest ones he has. He also possesses stamps which are gold plated and silver plated.
Times immemorial
His royal collection ranges from British kings of 18th century stamps till present day prince. Besides, his collection also includes stamps on Indian architecture, wars, inventions, animals and religions collected throughout the world.
He has collected stamps related to Mahatma Gandhi from all around the world including countries like Zambia, Maldives, Vietnam, Mauritius, France, Switzerland, London, Kyrgystan and Somalia. The theme of these stamps starts from the time when Mahatma Gandhi was young and doing his barristership, till the time he died.
His royal collection has got stamps from the first queen of England till the present queen. Though for few decades, he could not pursue his hobby, but when he did resume he searched for each and every stamp and bought them.
The most important thing about his collection is that he always buys mint stamps, which are released from postal services and directly bought by philatelic throughout the world.
HONOURS
Oswal won national-level gold medals for his stamp collection on Jainism in 2004 and silver medals for collection of Mahatma Gandhi stamps at "Dak Bharti 2004". A national level contest was organized at Ahmadabad in October 2004 where 87 philatelists from all over the country participated. Stamps dating back to150 years were put on display at the contest. The stamps on Jainism, which brought him the gold medal, reflected various aspects of Jainism like truth, non-violence, Jain pilgrimage centres, conception, principles, admirers, Jain architecture, Jain jewellery and Jain institution. Similarly the stamps on Mahatma Gandhi included all those that have been released on him all over world and reflected his lifestyle and ideology.
Exhibition
As the vice president of the philatelic club, he puts all his stamps on display once a year on Children's Day. His exhibitions get high security considering the high cost of him stamps.
Keeping a tab
Many might wonder that how he is able to keep a tab on activities related to stamp releases throughout the world. For that, Oswal, as an internet freak, has subscribed to almost every stamp books in the world. He checks out when and where the stamps are going to be released and immediately sends the order.
His search on
Right now he is in search of India's first stamp, 'Black penny', which might cost in crores. This busiest industrialist collects stamps mostly on weekends and sometimes during his tea-break or lunch-break. "If you have a hobby, you always get time for it," he said.
Gandhi Stamps:
Stamp on Barrister days of Gandhi ji: Zambia released this stamp when Mahatma Gandhi was student of Law in London. This stamp was released in 1883.
Stamp signifying Gandhi as a symbol of peace, truth and non violence. These stamps were released by Somalia in 2003 to pay homage to these significant characteristics of Mahatma Gandhi.
Apostle of Peace: These stamps were released by most of the countries inclduing France, Venezuela, Zambia, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives and Mauritius. These stamps cover different aspects of Mahatma Gandhi's life right from his youth days to India's freedom struggle. There are more than 300 stamps released by other countries on Mahatma Gandhi and Raj Paul all of them.
Costliest postage stamps of Mahatma Gandhi: The Rs 10 postage stamp depicting Mahatma Gandhi issued by India in 1948 is one of India's most famous stamps. A set of 100 of these stamps were overprinted with the word 'Service' and provided only to the Governor General of India for his official use. This stamp was auctioned for 38,000 Euros in the David Feldman auction sale on 5 October 2007. In an auction on May 19 2011 at Geneva, David Feldman sold the 1948 10 Rupee Mahatma Gandhi stamp of India for a world record price of Euros 144,000 (US$ 205,000).
A stamp on Mahatma Gandhi attending roundtable conference: This is one of the rare stamps of Mahatma Gandhi released by a small twin island of Antigua and Barbuda.
Stamp on Satyagraha: This stamp was released from Cuttack in 1998. This was the special edition on Dandi March and was released to pay tributes to the devoted work of Mahatma Gandhi with Gandhi's wordings and signatures.
Pakistani Stamps:
Fasting Buddha - Pakistan (1999): Pakistan issued a miniature sheet containing two stamps under the Archaeological Heritage of Pakistan series in 1999. The theme of the miniature sheet is fasting Buddha.
16th death anniversary of Mahomed Ali Jinnah (1964): This stamp was released on the death anniversary of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and it is one of the rarest stamps found by anyone in India.
* Raj Paul Oswal did not buy all this stamps from Pakistan. He has his friend in Pakistan named Farooq Muhammad with whom he exchanges stamp of their countries. He has been doing this for more than 20 years.
Royal stamps of England:
Stamp on diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria: These stamps were released in 1952 by country named Ottawa as a gift to England Queen Victoria on her golden jubilee. Raj Paul Oswal bought this through royal mail for stamps.
Queen Elizabeth's 100th birthday: These 3V stamps in block of four were issued by New Zealand on 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth on August 4, 2000.
75th Birthday of Queen Elizabeth II: Gibraltar post issued single stamp miniature sheer with special post mark. Guinness world record stated it as the record breaker stamp. The cost of one stamp was 5 Euros.
Photo mosaic on 100th birthday of Queen Mother: Union Island issued imperforated photomosaic sheet of 8V stamps of 1 Euro each. The stamp contains thousands of tiny photographs of flowers given the shape of Queen Mother's face.
Marriage stamp of Kate Middleton and Prince Williams: Britain's Royal Mail celebrated Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding with a set of stamps featuring their official engagement portraits.
Stamp on Royal Baby: (George Alexendar Louis) Raj Paul Oswal has already ordered for this stamp in advance. Royal Mail has still to issue these stamps.
* On the 60th anniversary of Coronation. Royal Mail has sent him a special stamp album. Raj Paul Oswal started collecting royal stamps when he was studying in London. After coming back to India, he had been ordering stamps through Royal Mail.
Rare Stamps:
Embroidered stamps: Austria has released an embroidered stamp depicting an Edelweiss flower in 2005. Switzerland issued a similar stamp in 2000. Raj Paul Oswal has embroidered stamps from Austria, Grenada, Gambia and Helvetia.
Chocolate Stamp: Oswal possesses the special stamp made of chocolates which was released by Switzerland on 100th birthday of Chocolate cake in 2000. He has kept those stamps in his refrigerator from the last 10 years.
Gold Stamp of Queen Victoria: Raj Paul Oswal possesses this royal gold stamp released in memory of Queen Victoria. The cost of this stamp is in lakhs.
Another one he possesses is gold plated. Republica Da Guine Bisau issued an imperforated soveniour sheet of 100p and imperforated miniature sheet in block of four. These stamps were released on 25th anniversary of coronation celebrations of Elizabeth II.
Stamp on 100th anniversary of Titanic Ship: This stamp was released by Canada on 100th anniversary of Titanic ship in 2012. For Canada Post, the release of Titanic stamp series is a chance to honour the people of Halifax, who rose to take on the grim duty of recovering the victims. Its cost is $10.08.
Times immemorial
His royal collection ranges from British kings of 18th century stamps till present day prince. Besides, his collection also includes stamps on Indian architecture, wars, inventions, animals and religions collected throughout the world.
He has collected stamps related to Mahatma Gandhi from all around the world including countries like Zambia, Maldives, Vietnam, Mauritius, France, Switzerland, London, Kyrgystan and Somalia. The theme of these stamps starts from the time when Mahatma Gandhi was young and doing his barristership, till the time he died.
His royal collection has got stamps from the first queen of England till the present queen. Though for few decades, he could not pursue his hobby, but when he did resume he searched for each and every stamp and bought them.
The most important thing about his collection is that he always buys mint stamps, which are released from postal services and directly bought by philatelic throughout the world.
HONOURS
Oswal won national-level gold medals for his stamp collection on Jainism in 2004 and silver medals for collection of Mahatma Gandhi stamps at "Dak Bharti 2004". A national level contest was organized at Ahmadabad in October 2004 where 87 philatelists from all over the country participated.
Stamps dating back to150 years were put on display at the contest. The stamps on Jainism, which brought him the gold medal, reflected various aspects of Jainism like truth, non-violence, Jain pilgrimage centres, conception, principles, admirers, Jain architecture, Jain jewellery and Jain institution.
Similarly the stamps on Mahatma Gandhi included all those that have been released on him all over world and reflected his lifestyle and ideology.
Exhibition
As the vice president of the philatelic club, he puts all his stamps on display once a year on Children's Day. His exhibitions get high security considering the high cost of him stamps.
Keeping a tab
Many might wonder that how he is able to keep a tab on activities related to stamp releases throughout the world. For that, Oswal, as an internet freak, has subscribed to almost every stamp books in the world. He checks out when and where the stamps are going to be released and immediately sends the order.
Search on
Right now he is in search of India's first stamp, 'Black penny', which might cost in crores. This busiest industrialist collects stamps mostly on weekends and sometimes during his tea-break or lunch-break. "If you have a hobby, you always get time for it," he said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/m6aycqr
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