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Mathew John with the
world’s first postage stamp
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Enter
the High School block of the St Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom, and one
will find a variety of postage stamps and coin exhibits arranged neatly in
three of the classrooms.
Inside one of the
classrooms, a group of school students are keenly listening to Mathew John who
is a teacher of St Mary’s High School and the owner of the rare collection of
the exhibits on display.
The teacher hailing from
Kattanam, Mavelikkara, had put up the rare coin and postage stamp collection
for the benefit of students as part of the school’s Platinum Expo organised
recently.
The philately and
numismatics enthusiast posesses over 4000 coins and postage stamps . Taking
visitors through his collection, he stops at a particularly intricate postage
stamp printed in black ink featuring the bust of a young Queen Victoria. “This
is Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp issued officially on
May 6, 1840. Before that there were only seals. The idea for the stamp was
given by Rowland Hill who was later knighted as Sir Rowland Hill for his
invention of the postage stamp.”
Though Mathew has a wide
collection, he takes special pride of the stamps and coins he has from the time
of British rule through the 1950s. He also has coins and stamps dating back
from the Mughal era, religious postage stamps, those issued as souvenirs or
miniature sheets containing two to ten stamps or more. Another of his prized
possessions are coins dating back to the Roman empire.
He also has different
shapes and sizes of stamps and coins issued from different countries like
Ghana, Tanzania, Israel, US, Bahrain, Afghanistan and so on. There are many
more thematic postage stamps featuring flora, fauna and different personalities
as well. One example is the stamp featuring Nehru’s visit to Bhutan.
The numismatist has been
collecting stamps and coins for over three decades now. Recalling that he
always had a thirst for knowing more about other countries, he says: “ My
father used to work as chief cashier at a German company in Oman and as a
result used to get such coins and stamps as souvenirs and gifts. He used to
send them to me, some through post and some when he came home. He was the one
who suggested to arrange them in an album.”
But it was his grandmother
who saw his passion for the hobby and nurtured it, for she was also an avid
collector of the rare artefacts. “My grandmother’s brother was abroad. Whenever
he came home, he used to bring back rare coins and postal stamps for her,’’ he
recalls.Seeing his interest in the hobby, his grandmother gave away all her
coin collection to him.
Talking about his
granduncle, he also shares another interesting titbit. “It was said that he had
been a part of the INA cadre set up by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.”
It was in 2005 that he
became a member of the Philately and Numismatics Club in the city. When asked
more about how he collects rare coins and postal stamps, he replied: “Most of
the time, I get it from people who don’t know the importance and worth of
stamps. I also get many from dealers and the Postal Department.’’
He surely knows the value
of his prized possessions. “These are very valuable and just a glimpse can
brief you about the history of the particular country. I feel so happy to be
able to educate students through my collection,’’ he said. He proclaims
proudly: “Philately is known widely as the king of hobbies and hobby of kings.”
Source :
http://www.newindianexpress.com/
