The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A stamp of her own

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Monday, Jun 30, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A stamp of her own

Staff Reporter

BANGalORE: Sita Bhateja is well known in Bangalore as a gynaecologist. A few, however, know that she is also a renowned philatelist who has been appointed as Commissioner from India for the World Philatelic Exhibition that will be held at Luoyang in China in April 2009.

The former president of Karnataka Philatelic Society, Dr. Bhateja has a personal collection of stamps of pre-Independent India that she claims is the only one of its kind in the world. She was a member of the Philatelic Advisory Committee on the 150th anniversary of Indian Postage Stamp celebrated in 2004.

Dr. Bhateja says that she was 12 years old when she developed an interest in stamp collection. Collection of coins, feathers, flowers, and cartoons published in newspapers and magazines were amongst her other interests.

“I used to spend my pocket money to buy stamps. I have a good number of coins in my collections,” she said.

Costliest stamp

The 1864 Red and Blue Head Inverted stamp is the costliest and the most rare in her collection.

The cost of the stamp was 4 annas. “The head of the queen is placed inverted in this stamp. That’s why this stamp was known by this name and it has two colours. The frame of the stamp is blue,” she explains.

“I gain knowledge by collecting stamps. I have spent a lot of time in libraries to trace the roots of these stamps.”

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