Contributed by Mr Rajesh Paharia, Jaipur
25th Asian International Stamp Exhibition , BANGKOK 2010 was held at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center , Bangkok, Thailand, from August 4 to 12, 2010. A 1,000 frame event was organized by Thailand Post . The beautiful exhibition’s venue was located in the center of the city and divided into 3 sections ; the international postage stamp sales area for 50 booths, the local postage stamp sales area for 50 booths and exhibition area of 1,500 square meter
There were special stands made on theme of select participating countries which also included India. Indian display was made on Taj Mahal theme and two male and female Thai models were all the time present in Indian costumes there. Thai School Children visiting Exhibition were amused seeing Taj with Turban wearing Boy and Saree clad Girl there.
Thai Students seeing Taj Mahal Model at venue
Thai Girl in Saree & Boy with Turban posed with Indian Group
A big visitors draw was a special pavilion showcasing amazing new stamps like 3D Stamps , Silk Stamps , Talking Stamps , Plastic Stamps , Gold Stamps , Silver Stamps , Wooden Stamps, Diamond studded Stamps, Perfumed Stamps etc. The beautiful presentation and huge popular interest gave me an Idea to prepare similar Exhibit for display in India also. I already have a large number of such stamps and bought some more from there. Hopefully , I shall try to display it in forthcoming National Exhibition in New Delhi.
Another innovative attraction was a special sale counter of Thailand post for sale of customized stamp where visitors could get stamps printed with their own image and use it on their letters. I also used this opportunity and got my stamp printed there. It is interesting to note here that India Posts has policy of not issuing Postage stamps on people alive and hence this novel idea is yet to be introduced in India.
India Posts had also established their Sale Stall but it had very less buyers due to lack of sufficient attractive material. Apart from some latest issues , many other recent beautiful stamps of India were missing there. We are visibly far behind in issuing stamps on world preferred themes and adopting newer stamp printing technologies. I wonder if India Posts officials visiting such exhibitions learn from crowded stalls of small countries like Bhutan or Bangladesh that what sells and interests to today’s stamp buyers.
Rajesh Paharia with his Stamp Display which won Silver Medal
There were 14 participants from India who won 2 Gold, 1 Vermeil , 2 Large Silver , 2 Silver , 3 Silver Bronze and 3 Bronze medals. Indian Exhibits had some rare items but interestingly rarest Stamp of Indian Origin i.e. Red ‘Sindh Dawk’ issued in 1852 valued over Rs. 10 lakh on cover was displayed by a Pakistan exhibitor. In my personnel interaction with this Pakistani exhibitor , when I enquired about availability of such rare stamps , he amused me by saying that still best of Bhopal State , Hyderabad State , Junagarh State etc Coins and Stamps are in Pakistan which were taken way back at the time of partition .
| S.No. | Name | Medal |
| 1 | Damyanti Pittie | G |
| 2 | Ajay Mittal | G |
| 3 | Dinesh Sharma | V |
| 4 | S S Somani | LS |
| 5 | Ravi Bhansali | LS |
| 6 | Rajesh Paharia | S |
| 7 | Dhananjai Desai | S |
| 8 | Rajesh Bhura | SB |
| 9 | Pratisad Neuorgaokar | SB |
| 10 | Naresh Goyal | SB |
| 11 | Om Prakash jagati | B |
| 12 | Dinesh Sharma | B |
| 13 | Mrinal Mathur | B |
| 14 | Moloy Sarkar |
