Saturday, February 28, 2009

Gandhi 1969 Color Trials

The 1969 Gandhi Color Trials went on the Hammer at http://www.auktionen-gaertner.de/ "India & Indian States" on 21st Feb 2009

Auction Lot Numbers & selling price

  • 20p - Lot# 11149, bid opening 1500 Euros, hammer price, 2600 Euros.

  • 75p - Lot# 11150, bid opening 1500 Euros, hammer price, 2600 Euros.

  • Re1 - Lot# 11151, bid opening 1500 Euros, hammer price, 2600 Euros.

  • Rs5 - Lot# 11152, bid opening 1500 Euros, hammer price, 2600 Euros.


  • With additional 15% buyers premium assuming payment is made by bank draft to reduce additional 4% credit card charges.


    Total Euros = 11,960.00
    As of 02/28/09 - Total USD = 15,162.27 and Indian Rupees = 773,351.38
    Barring 1 or 2% currency fluctuations, it's quite a change.


    1969 Centenary Issues.


    Celebrating the centenary of birth of Mahatma Gandhi, India Post & Telegraph Department had issued a set of 4 stamps in denominations, 20P, 75P, Re1 and Rs5.






    What are color trials?

    also called rainbow colors.





    Before any stamps get printed or issued to the general public for use, the issuing authority, in this case, India P&T, usually performs a color trial. The stamp design or the sheet is printed in different color layouts and by using the process of elimination a committee or a person identifies the best one for actual use.



    The unused or rejected or unissued color trials are then archived. They remain in the archives for whatever reason with the India Security Press, Nasik, India. They never see the light of the day and are never auctioned or sold. Little or no information is available as to what actually happens to them.

    How many different colors?

    Each stamp in this specific set was printed in 8 different colors. So, there are 8 x4, 32 known examples of the color trials for this set. Attached below are the actual images from auction.







    My Opinion - I am probably opening up a can of worms.


    These color trials are classified as the philatelic treasure and are the property of the people of India. The democratically elected Government is the sole custodian.


    The laws of economics, "Demand creates supply" applies in this situation. Eventually the people with physical access to it become the suppliers to meet the demand and the color trials probably made it's way to the philatelic collecting community and to this auction.


    Case of convenience.
    I don't think, neither Christoph Gartner nor Auktionshaus Christoph Gärtner GmbH & Co. KG , would have been aware that these are actually stolen goods from the Government of India and they are breaking the laws of India by assisting in sale of stolen goods.


    On the other hand, these are not officially listed in the Stanley Gibbons Catalog or The Scotts Catalog. Any sane philatelist and dealer will swear by these catalogs. So the question is, is the auction house smarter than the catalog publishers or did the auction house knew of it's existance as stolen goods and conveniently ignored it?



    The million dollar question - how did it make it to the auction?


    I have heard from philatelic circles, that the individual who consigned these items is a citizen of India.



    Article that appeared in Times of India on this specific auction.



    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Now-auction-of-rare-colour-proofs-of-Indian-stamps/articleshow/4163236.cms

    5 comments:

    1. As a fellow stamp collector, I strongly believe that color trials and other philatelic archival items should be made available to philatelists. Such items are better off in the hands of collectors than lying around in some printers archives locked up never to be seen by collectors.

      If I were running the India P&T department, I would retain one set of all such items and auction off the rest.

      That being said, I am of the opinion that a crime has been committed when these items were removed from the Indian archives and that India P&T department should be expected to run a full investigation into the theft and to bring the culprits to justice.

      Unfortunately, this is nothing new and corruption runs deep. I have been told, by some very reliable sources, that the only known 1948 Gandhi 10 Rupees Service sheet which is supposed to be at the Delhi Museum has been replaced by a sheet with forged “Service” overprint.

      ReplyDelete
    2. As a fellow stamp collector, I am strongly believe that color trials and other philatelic archival items should be made available to philatelists. Such items are better off in the hands of collectors than lying around in some printers archives locked up never to be seen by collectors.

      If I were running the India P&T department, I would retain one set of all such items and auction off the rest.

      That being said, I am of the opinion that a crime has been committed when these items were removed from the Indian archives and that India P&T department should be expected to run a full investigation into the theft and to bring the culprits to justice.

      Unfortunately, this is nothing new as corruption runs deep. I have been told, by some very reliable sources, that the only known 1948 Gandhi 10 Rupees Service sheet which is supposed to be at the Delhi Museum has been replaced by a sheet with forged “Service” overprint.

      ReplyDelete
    3. I agree that these are stolen goods, as are other archival material from India. IMO, the only archival material that are not stolen goods are from printing houses that went bankrupt and sold their archives in the open market (there have been a few). Except for modern printing houses that generate these by the dozens (in which case they have no special value, anyway). I always hope that a private collector would buy and ultimately donate these to Indian museums (as Indian museums and the government cannot afford to and should not be expected to use precious public funds for this purpose.

      ReplyDelete
    4. It is most unfortunate to see these India postage stamp archival's items colour trials, proofs etc are being auctioned sold in recent overseas Auction. All such archival material are stolen from the custody of India Post Philately Division who are the sole In - charge.

      Inspite of knowing about all these fact , the treasure of material is stolen and sold but suprisingly the India Post never lodged registered the FIR which is their first and foremost duty / action should be taken by them but in contrary the India Post Philately Division issued a notification on dated 20th July 1993 'Ban of display of such archival items from State/national Philatelic exhibition' which is very much remain questionable rather it has opened a free passes to take away, all those item to overseas market and freely trade / auction them by the officials / and people involved in all these racket over the year.

      Unless the India Post at first and foremost bring those officials accountable in the hand of law such practices will continue which is bringing bad name to India .

      ReplyDelete
    5. Herewith an article which I had published in "Stamps of India" (Issue # 358 – Sep 11, 2008)earlier,of course with no response from the authorities.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      INDIAN PHILATELY – A BLACK MARKETING OPPORTUNITY
      By G Radhakrishnan
      Recently, the French court ordered the web giant auctioneer eBay to pay €40 million ($65.8 million) in damages to up market fashion luxury goods group LVMH for allowing to sell fake luxury goods on its online portal and held eBay responsible for the negligence, knowingly or unknowingly, in allowing the sale of fake bags, lipsticks and designer clothes of reputed fashion houses. The court further held eBay responsible for encouraging trade in pirated and stolen goods, and failing to act within their powers to prevent the reprehensible use of its site, by the user, to commit acts of counterfeiting and imitation of French brand names.

      Here the contentious point was that who is responsible for what happens on eBay portal? The court was of the view that eBay was, as they’re the ones making the profit out of the sales of fakes, at the same time accusing it of encouraging trade in pirated and stolen goods with full knowledge. It further warned of banning eBay from operating in France unless it conforms its operations within the ambit of domestic auction law.

      World over, anyone abetting or helping to sell a stolen product,knowingly or unknowingly, is viewed as equally guilty like the one who steals the product in the first place. Thus in short, both the people who sell and/or help to sell the pre-issues or unissued stamps of Indian Stamps either through the web sites blatantly mentioning that it is an unissued stamp (or in other words stolen / obtained illegally with the connivance of postal employees e.g. Guru Granth Sahib Stamp sheetlet and Miniature Sheet) or quoting prices for this product in their catalogues (published from Kolkatta and from UK) are equally guilty of selling the product,obtained through illegal means from the Government of India Post Offices, having full knowledge about its source.

      This indeed is a serious crime.

      On behalf of the thousands of philatelists in India may I request the Department of Posts, under the Ministry of Communication and
      Information Technology, Government of India to wake up from its slumber of ostrich like attitude and take strong steps in this matter and initiate legal recourse already available with them so that, stamp collecting in India does not become yet another black marketing
      opportunity for people least connected with Philately - the king of hobbies and hobby of kings.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      ReplyDelete