I posted the AZAD HIND Stamps earlier on this forum :
Those stamps were only available unused.........
But lately I discovered these items in India
In 1964, to commemorate 67 years since Chandra Bose's birth, the Indian post office allowed the 1943 Waffen-SS Azad Hind stamps to be used.
The post office release of these was very limited.
How odd that it took 21 years to use these stamps, since they were never used in 1943 due to the war!
Prior to the World War II period, Indians in Singapore and Malaya retained strong political, sentimental and economic ties with their home country.
Anti-colonial thoughts and actions, inspired by the “call for freedom” in India, resonated in the region too.
Radio broadcasts, newspaper reports and visits by nationalist leaders strengthened the nationalistic mood among the migrant Indian community.
The Indian National Army and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose brought to the fore this spirit of nationalism.
This collection provides rare documentary evidence of the involvement of the region's Indian community in the Indian National Army and the Indian Independence League, the army's fund raising arm.
This is a First Day Cover issued in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Azad Hind
Should we now consider these stamps, which were issued by the national printing office in Berlin in 1943 and pasted on letters in the period from 1964 to 1968, as canceled?
I would consider these examples to be cancelled but not postally used.
Did the Indian Post Office allow these stamps to be used to pay for postage on regular postal items in 1964 or could they only be cancelled like this on souvenirs or applied as labels in addition to regular stamps?
My first thought is: yes they are cancelled, but all these covers are unadressed, so they are not postally used, so they are CTO at best.
I would call these philatelic creations that do not really change much to the fact that the Azad Hind stamps were commissioned but unissued.
i also think the idea of discussing them as cancelled or not is immaterial IF they remain on the cover; off the cover, they become philatelic orphans whose existence would be tough to explain
Login to Like this post
"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"