Know IT! Share IT! Explore IT! - தெரிந்திடு! பகிர்ந்திடு! ஆராய்ந்துடு!: January 2017

Friday, January 27, 2017

Deltiologist - PostCrossing

Deltiology is the collection and study of postcards. This is the third most popular hobby next to philately and Numismatics. Deltiologist is a person who collects and studies the postcard. Deltiology is related to Philately since it also deals with Postal item.

Image-1: India Postcard featuring Lion Head Stamp

Image-2: India Postcard featuring Gandhiji Stamp

Image-3: Indian Picture Postcard featuring Taj Mahal

Today - 27.01.2017, during a visit of CPMG (Chief Post Master General) - Mr. Charles Lobo to Mettupalayam. He introduced us to a wonderful website project called www.postcrossing.com, which is extremely a simple and surprising way to collect postcards around the world, almost without any loss.

Here is how it works :

The main idea behind the project is "If you send a postcard, you will receive one back from a Random PostCrosser from anywhere in the world"

Goto https://www.postcrossing.com/
Signup for a new account. (Note: Provide the complete address containing Door No, Street Number, Town, City with pincode and INDIA)
Verify your email account by logging to your email

Now you are ready to join the world of postcrossers.

Now you are entitled to send a postcard to a Random person which the system selects so that later you will receive a postcard from a random person anywhere in the world. So how to send a Postcard.

Login into Postcrossing
Click "PostCards" menu and select "Send a PostCard"
Click "Request an Address"
You would see a PostCardID and an address to which you need to send a postcard

5. Now get a picture postcard and send it to the address you have received. Please do not forget to write the Postcard ID on the letter (This is very important which is necessary for you to receive a card back)

So how do you receive a Card back?

Once the person to whom you have posted the card receives it, you would then Register the Card in the Postcrossing.com using the PostCardID you mentioned in the card. (Note: Ideally it would take more than 15 days for the card to reach the person depending on the country)

Now, whenever a postcrosser requested an address, your address would be in the queue. Very soon you might receive a card from any corner of the world at a surprise.

Initially, you are allowed to send 5 postcards at a time, later as the number of postcard you sent increases, the number you can send would gradually increase. For more on How many postcards you can send?

Some Interesting facts on Postcrossing.com:

More than 39 millions postcards sent so far by the postcrossers around the globe
199,962,080,445 km traveled - i.e., 4,989,696 laps around the earth
As on today, India has around 8234 members registered
All-time topper has sent around 21,322 postcards so far (from India the topper has sent around 5820 postcards so far)

Happy Postcrossing:) !

Friday, January 13, 2017

India Post - My Stamp

Many a time personally I have wondered, how good it would be to have a stamp of a person or place which is lesser known to outer world (but we know their importance to society or to our culture/country). Sometimes, even imagined, how about a stamp for ourselves?

Have you ever dreamt of your portrait in a stamp? From our childhood or as a philatelist or as a adult, we know that stamps are issued only for national leaders, achievers in various fields, national monuments, animals, landscapes, etc.

India post has come up with an initiative called "My Stamp", where any individual or corporate can printed their own personalized stamp. My Stamp was first introduced during "2011- INDIPEX - World Philatelic Exhibition." Owing to the popularity and interested expressed it was expanded across the country.

How does "My Stamp" look like?

Image 1 - "My Stamp" featuring person with

Greetings Commemorative Stamp

of ₹5

Do you see a difference of this special "My Stamp" from the Normal Postage stamps issued. Yes, the thumbnail image is printed alongside the selected commemorative stamps. Remember, this stamp is not just a collectible or show piece alone, it is a postage stamp as well. You can mail a letter to someone with this stamp pasted on the envelope.

Below are the "My Stamp" sheets with different commemorative stamps

Image 2 - "My Stamp" Sheet featuring person with

TajMahal Commemorative Stamp of

₹5

Image 3 - "My Stamp" Sheet featuring person

with Greetings Commemorative Stamp of

₹5

How do I get my "My Stamp" printed ?

Very simple, visit your nearest Philately Bureau/ Head Post Office
Get "My Stamp" Application form and fill the same (Note you are entitled to submit an identity proof)
Cost of printing a single sheet is ₹ 300 (For 2-100 sheets, you would get a 10% discount and for more than 100 sheets- 20% discount)
A sheet contains 12 stamps, each of the stamp with a value of ₹5 [Mathematically, for ₹ 300, you will get 12 stamps valuing ₹ 60]. Might looks costly ???

You can order My Stamp for your children, friends, parents, spouse and surprise them as a gift. Even schools/colleges can issue My Stamps to their "Best Outgoing Student", "Best Teacher", "University Rank holders". This would mean more to them at a later stage of life in terms of both memory and value.

Of course, I would like to show you my "My Stamp" as well

Happy me :)

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Where and how do I get Non-Circulating coins of India ?

How many of you know where our coins are minted? How many of you know the cost of minting each coin ? How many of you know we even have a ₹20 coin, a ₹50 coin, not just that even a ₹100 coin, ₹150 coin, yes also ₹200 coin, ₹500 coin, believe it a ₹1000 coin too.

₹10 Coin minted in 1972 to commemorate "25th Anniversary of Independence"

₹20 Coin minted in 2014 to commemorate "125th Birth Anniversary - Maulana Abul Kalam Azad"

₹25 Coin minted in 2012 to commemorate "Silver Jubilee of Shree Vaishno Devi Shrine Board"

₹50 Coin minted in 2000 to commemorate 50th Anniversary of Supreme Court"

₹60 Coin minted in 2014 to commemorate "60 Years of Coir Board"

₹75 Coin minted in 2010 to commemorate "75th Anniversary of RBI"

₹100 Coin minted in 2003 to commemorate "100th Birth Anniversary of K.Kamaraj"

₹125 Coin minted in 2015 to commemorate "125th BirthAnniversary of Dr.Radhakrishnan"

₹150 Coin minted in 2013 to commemorate "150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda"

₹500 Coin minted in 2015 to commemorate "3rd India-Africa Forum Summit"

₹1000 Coin minted in 2010 to commemorate "1000 Years of Brihadeeswarar Temple"

Now you wonder then why we haven't seen anyone of these coins yet, if it really exists. Simple, these are called "Non-Circulating Commemorative Coins", which are not circulated to public unlike other coins of denomination ₹1, ₹2, ₹5 and ₹10.

India has 4 Mints are minting coins and Government of India mints the coin. RBI puts the coins into circulation through currency chests.

List of Coin Mints in India are :

In case if you are a Numismatist or you would like to get such coins or you would like to get updates about such coin sale.

You can create a account in the Mint you wish (Note : An identity proof is a must during account creation)
Once you are done with the account creation process, you can purchase the coins which are available for sale by visiting the "Customer Corner" section in the website (Caution: Do not be shocked by the rate of the coin/coin set. Yes, it costs that)

(or)

You can visit the Mint office directly and purchase the coin available at that point of time (Remember to carry your identity proof, along with your PAN Card)

Process for getting the coin by visiting the mint as in

http://igmmumbai.spmcil.com/Interface/CounterSaleMumbai.aspx

Below is the recently received ₹2 commemorative coin from Hyderabad Mint :