Visitors since
1st March 2009
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Mahatma Gandhi - SERVICE overprint
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Rare mourning stamp
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The rarest mourning stamp ever issued is the 10 rupee value issued by India in August 1948 to mourn the death of the famous pacifist Mahatma Gandhi.Gandhi who had been assassinated by a Hindu nationalist in the midst of the violence that followed the granting of independence to India in 1947.
Only 100 of the mourning stamps, (which were overprinted with the word 'SERVICE'), were issued and these were for the official correspondence of the Governor General.
The stamp was a variation of the 10 rupee red and brown value from a set of four which was originally released in 1948 to mark the first anniversary of India's independence.
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Forgeries - Many collectors have not seen the real SEVICE overprint, (illustrated above), an as such can be caught out by forgeries that appear on the market. The fake overprints are generally larger than the original.
In most cases, all 4 values appear with the same overprint, and will often be placed for sale in with more common items forming a small collection or assortment. This is generally done so that the vendor does not have to accept returns and to dupe the buyer into thinking they are getting a bargin.
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The normal stamps, (without the overprint), are fairly easy to obtain, with only the high value being a little harder, though not out of the reach of most collectors. We would like to note that full sets used on cover are not common.
Most of the commercial covers found are airmail items, as illustrated, and these form a nice addition to a collection of this subject, country or topic.
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