Friday, March 11, 2011

Postage stamps of Pakistan - 1948 and my stamp album

After printing a set of four stamps on July 9, 1948 (the first set of indigenous stamps of Pakistan that I talked of in my previous post - Interim stamps of Pakistan 1947), the Pakistan Post issued its first regular series of stamps on the eve of first anniversary of the creation of Pakistan on August 14, 1948. In all there were seven sets of stamps. 

It was on 9th July 1948 that a set of four indigenous stamps of Pakistan was issued as under:


The Re. 1 stamp at the top was designed by renowned water colour painter Abdul Rehman Chughtai - the scarlet coloured stamp was beautifully engraved stamp had Urdu inscription reading "Long Live Pakistan". The three stamps underneath showed (left to right) Karachi National Assembly building in ultramarine colour of 1 and half Ana, Karachi International Airport in green colour of 2 and half Ana and Lahore Royal Fort in purple-brown of 3 Ana.


The set of three stamps on extreme left (top line) above bore the Scale of Justice with face value of 3,6 and 9 paisas. The next three stamps showing the crescent and moon were of face value of Anas 1, 1.5 and 2. The three stamps on the left of the second line above bear the photo of Karachi Port Trust building and had a face value of Anas 6, 8 and 12., while the three stamps on the right of second line had photo of the famous Sukkur Barrage, with face value of Anas 2.5, 3.5 and 4.

The two stamps in the third line with a face value of Anas 3a and 10 had the Karachi Airport building on it. The three stamps in the fourth line bore the photo of Salimullah Hostel, Dacca with a face value of Rs. 1, 2 and 5. The three stamps in the bottom line bore the photo of famous Khyber Pass with a face value of Rs. 10, 15 and 25.


When I flipped opened my stamp album, I also find stamps of all sets, but not complete, as shown above. The stamps of Scale of Justice and Salimullah Hostel, Dacca were complete, while the rest had an odd stamp missing.

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