Gandhi Rare Souvenir collectible stamps

Recently I saw India 1948 Gandhi Rare Souvenir sold for $989 by ebay seller "rushstamps"

This is private FDC of Gandhi 1948 stamps from India with CDS of "Bhawanipur" Calcutta.

To me this CDS does not make sense at all on First Day cover because it should have special cancellation from Calcutta instead of Bhawanipur.!!

Also stamps were not distributed to all post office. (It's not feasible to supply stamps to all small post office in India).

All CDS and special cancellation from smaller cities are nothing but FORGERY or BOGUS.

So do you really think this kind of Bhawinpur FDC is valued $1000.!!!

Do you think this is genuine transaction ?

Reason for doubt is that in Gandhi stamp collection there is lot of Forgery Bogus (never exist) 

• Shill Bidding (by seller other id or friends or relatives bidding) 
• FAKE bidding by other collectors.

Let's see even if it was sold for $1000 do you think following entities were paid.?

• eBay commission
• PayPal commission
• Capital Gain Tax.
• VAT in Europe or GST in India or Austrialia or where ever it was sold.
• Sales Tax or Income Tax.

Only seller/buyer/ebay/paypal and government knows.

It was only supplied to big cities General Post Office. (GPO). To my knowledge it was only available in just 4 cities of India which were Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras.

It was not available in Ahmedabad GPO also, even though Mahatma Gandhi lived here for 11+ years and had house (ashram) there.

There are lot of BOGUS special cancellation available from various cities.

BOGUS means never issued but greed collector/exhibitor made one and started displaying in their stamp exhibition.

And that collectors/exhibitor started selling it after glorifying in their online exhibition and stamp handbooks.

Following are some of the BOGUS special cancellation.

You all know that there is a great push to GLORIFY 1948 Gandhi philatelic material as INVESTMENT in Gandhi stamps as well as other Gandhi stamps from different countries.

We all had seen lot of forgery by just making rubber stamp and applying on envelope, which as selling as used covers, first  day covers. Also we had seen some BOGUS (never exist) special event cover as well as first day covers.

In 1947 India Post & Telegraph printed it's first stamps in Nasik, India after independence from British, but they decided to print 1948 Gandhi stamps of India in Switzerland because India did not have good quality printing press.

So I am sure Post & Telegraph department also thought about standard in special cancellation, but if you see there is a very wide range of this special "Jai Hind" cancellation.!! 

After reading this blog post you might start thinking whether you want to collect or INVEST in stamps.!!

TO ME IT ALL CANCELLATION ARE FORGERY OR BOGUS BECAUSE OF DEMAND AND GLORIFICATION.!!

I THINK THIS IS TO CREATE NEW THEMATIC COLLECTION OF 1948 FIRST DAY COVERS!!

SO BEWARE OF THIS.!!

And if you have already 1948 special cancellation in your collection then you will be AFRAID to go back and compare or even see it, because you will be scared that you might be victim of it.!!

In past I compared  special cancellation issued  from BOMBAY, but in this blog post I am comparing or display which ever I saw on eBay so everyone can get idea what happened in past 65+ years or is happening currently as you read this.!!

But it's nothing like 1948 Gandhi stamps with special cancellation including forged stamps.  To me it looks like very large quantity of FORGED or BOGUS first day cover with special cancellation are roaming in the market.!!

Now post office of India were closed even on First day of  Independence day - 15th August 1947 so how this many post office were open on 1st Anniversary.!!

Following are just a tip of iceberg from wide varities of 1948 Gandhi special cancellation from India.

Please look at all screenshot of 1948 Gandhi stamps with special cancellation and do SELF study before you pursue your dream or nightmare.!!

When you try to collect cancellation from different cities, then chances are that you might get BOGUS (never issued) or FORGED cancellation if it's rare available from small cities.!!

Chances are some collectors or dealers might have decided that let's create this 1948 Gandhi First Day Cover thematic collection from different cities of India.!!

Also you might see some BOGUS (never issued) or Forged cancellation from Nepal India Embassy, Pondicherry ( former French India until 1954) etc.

Compare following and you decide.!! HALF of them are BOGUS (not forgery, because it never exist or issued by P&T India.!!). You decide which are BOGUS (fantasy).

                                                      Calcutta Cancellation are different

 Simla cancellation are both different.!!

Both SHILLONG cancellation looks different with HINDI alphabet "Jai Hind" and type & # of lines.

Compare above cancellations from BOMBAY and check for # of lines, types of lines in center of special cancellation. (some has 7 and some has 8 and some don't make sense.!!)

Above two cancellation are from MADRAS. Only cancellation with "AUG".!! Also look at the difference between them in shapes. Also "." is missing.

Forgers have not only manufactured stamps for the philatelic market, they have added forged cancellations to those stamps.

Forged cancellations have also be applied to genuine stamps, in cases where the stamps are worth much more postally used. In addition, where rare cancellations are desired by collectors, those cancellations have also been forged.

Cancellations also may be used to prove that certain philatelic items are genuine. For example, forgers have fabricated many supposedly valuable postal covers by adding genuine stamps and forged postal markings to pre-stamp covers. (From Wikipedia)

Poona & Simla cancellation looks like BOGUS

Don't your think it's UGLY out there ?

Above two cancellation are from NAGPUR looks BOGUS. Look at the difference.

Kanpur & Patna cancellation with irregular alphabets and letters along with shapes

Delhi and New Delhi cancellation. Looks at  the difference.

Pondicherry was ruled by French India in 1948. Compare it with MADRAS which only has "AUG" where as Pondicherry has "AUGUST" even though they are very near.!!

Does ALLAHABAD & PATNA cancellation looks like GENUINE ?

Did you notice there was no special cancellation from AHMEDABAD where Gandhiji spend there 15 years of life after coming back from South Africa.!! 

WHY ?

What to SELF study ?

1) G.P.O missing on Simla, Nagpur and Shillong. WHY ? ( Genuine or BOGUS or Forgery)
2) Alphabet type and size : Shillong, Delhi, New Delhi
3) Shapes of special cancellation (Madras)
4) Is it AUG or AUGUST.
5) Compare lines and size inside the cancellation
6) Compare Hindi languague alphabet "जय हिन्द"
7) All kinds of different things you can think and compare.!!


To me it looks like a BIG SCAM.!!!!!! But it's upto you to decide.!!!

Now you do SELF Study and decide and think deep what  happened or happening.!!

There is nothing RARE or Scare in philately because this hobby is in downward trend because experienced collectors are loosing interest because value is not appreciating and new collectors are not coming in to this because there are lot of other things to do for them such as playing video games on Nintendo or X-box , social networking on facebook or google+ or  surfing on web through internet or SMS through iphone or android or watch games such as cricket, football or basketball on TV.

Only way philately can sustain is to stop cheating in this hobby. Yes CHEATING.!! which is what you will see in order to increase value artificially by inflating the price by SHILL bidding, not paying to seller or mutual understanding cancelling transaction and lot more.

To know more about this kind of activity read my following blog post and think what are the possibilities in cheating, glorification, SHILL bidding, FAKE, Forgery etc.

1) 1948 Stamps False hope of Riches?
2) 1948 Gandhi Stamps: Are False hope of Riches - Part II ?
3) 1948 Gandhi Mourning Private FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part III?
4) 1948 Expensive Gandhi FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part IV?
5) 1948 Gandhi Stamps Early Usage cover :  Gandhi Stamps Are False hope of Riches - Part V?
6) Maxi Card sold for $5100 with 1948 Gandhi Stamps - False hope of Riches - Part VI?
7) Indian Philately Exposed 
8) Indian Philately Exposed - Part II
9) Gandhi SERVICE overprint stamp price fell from $1009 to $1.!!
10) How can you tell that Gandhi SERVICE stamp is FAKE or Forgery ?

I hope all the above will help while making decision in investing stamps and to avoid getting CHEATED.!!

Now don't you think it does NOT make sense STAMP INVESTING!! or even Collecting.!!!

Do you think it's INVESTMENT or GAME.!!

I think it's not for Investment but it's a Philatelic GAME.!!

So let's see how to play  Philatelic Game.!! (click to read how to, rules and regulations.!!)

Thanks

Gandhi Stamps Club.