pune thematic displays of postal stamps representing the bharat ratna awardees stamps from preindependence india and old coins from kingdoms no longer on the map heres a rare occasion at the stampex 2009 not only for those interested in stamps and coins but anyone with a sense of history and its assorted momentsorganised by the international collectors society of rare items the exhibitioncumauction of stamps first day covers and coins was inaugurated by post master general s c jarodia on friday at the sonal hall karve road to commemorate the occasion a cover depicting the aga khan palace was released with mahatma gandhis injunction strength does not come from physical capacity it comes from an indomitable willcollectors made the most of the platform to showcase themes as eclectic as they were unusual philatelist jigar desais collection of covers included such members as the sunset at bandra worli sea link with the corresponding stamp as well as indias first 3 dimensional cover which depicted the photo of a sand sculpture on juhu beach dated october 2 2009 with a corresponding stamp of mahatma gandhi amongst others apart from stamps and covers i have an abiding interest in the history of the railways he said a fact demonstrated by the inclusion of a railway ticket issued on 09092009 at 0909 with even the last two digits being 09then there was vijay dixit whose thematic display golden jubilee of the maharashtra state showcased first day covers with images of marathi heroes freedom fighters and heritage buildings of maharashtra there is a first day cover issued by the department of posts on the 300th anniversary of chhatrapati shivaji maharajs coronation on 1741961 images of tilak vasudev balwant phadke and so on he saidother collections included coinscumfirst day covers from world history including those issued on the 40th anniversary of queen elizabeths rule as well as the 50th anniversary of the dday landing normandy landing by the allied troops accompanied by a coin with winston churchills face on it there was also a coincumcover which was one of a set released to mark the 450th death anniversary of henry vii amongst othersspeaking on the occasion jarodia said the department of posts is committed to encouraging philately as a hobby not only do stamps give you a rare glimpse into our rich and varied history and heritage they also showcases our present day problemswith over 155000 post offices in the country he said the india post focused on extending its services in a variety of directions with a view to be as prompt as possible with deliveries and dispatches we have also started diversifying our services as the need of the hour is to keep pace with technological advancements from selling gold coins and greeting cards to issuing passport application forms and giving citizens the facility to file their it returns we want to be as customerfriendly as possiblethe international collectors society of rare items was formed in 1995 with the objective of giving assorted collectors