UP youth to feature in British stamp exhibition

Passion pays. Mohammed Nadeem, a youth from a town in Utter Pradesh is going to participate in an international philatelic exhibition to be held in London in April.

The exhibition will feature stamps from some of the biggest names in philately, such as Stanley Gibbons Limited, where stamps get auctioned to the tune of thousands of pounds.

Nadeem, 22, is so passionate about collecting stamps that he discontinued his studies after the 12th grade and devoted his time to building a philatelic treasure.

"I used to save whatever money I could for a week and take an early morning train to Delhi on Sundays to buy stamps at the Sunday market in Delhi," he said.

On days when funds were short he would walk miles from the railway station to the Sunday market in the walled city to save a couple of rupees, which would fetch him a few more stamps.

A couple of years ago, he heard of an old man in a western Uttar Pradesh town possessing a unique collection.

Armed with a mere name, Nadeem began knocking every other door in that town for three days till he found the man. "It took me three months to convince him to sell the collection of 2,000 odd stamps to me. It was a unique collection," Nadeem said.

Beginning in 1995, when he left his school, he went on collecting stamps till 1998, without any idea of the actual worth of his collection.

At a stamp exhibition in 1998 in New Delhi, he got a glimpse of the international catalogues. By that time he had thousands of stamps in his possession, including some rare ones.

"That day I realised that it can be a career as well," he said.

When he showcased his collection at an international philatelic exhibition in Calcutta in 2002, Nadeem got lucky. John Wood, the Hampshire based owner of Stanley Gibbons walked to his stand. Gibbons' stamp catalogues are highly respected in the philatelic world and are believed to have rare and a wide range of stamps.

"I told him that I have a stamp which is not listed even in his catalogue. It was a stamp from the princely state of Rampur," he said.

Wood and his assistants got the authenticity of the stamp checked and knew that Nadeem, who could barely mutter a few words in English, owned a rare stamp.

In the Philatelic world the older the stamp is, the costlier it gets and the prices are extravagantly high. Similarly, a stamp, which has an error fetches a huge amount.

And that was what helped Nadeem. Late last year, he flew to London with a stamp celebrating the 200th death anniversary of American president George Washington. The stamp had some errors and was only the 12th of its kind to be found on earth. Stanley Gibbons bought it for a 'huge amount'.

"It was a great feeling when John Wood received me in his castle in

Hampshire. I was abroad for the first time and it seemed like being in a fairy tale," Nadeem gushes.

Nadeem is looking forward to the forthcoming exhibition in London. But despite the riches smiling at him he likes to maintain a low profile. "In my part of Utter Pradesh, kidnapping and extortion is quite rampant. If someone gets to know about it [his collection and its worth], I might get into trouble," he said.