Niger celebrates Navarathri with dazzling stamps
Chennai, September 26: Niger, a small West African country, too is celebrating the Indian festival of Navarthri with special, dazzling stamps. The Niger government on Thursday released two stamps – of Ganesha and Lakshmi Ganesha--with a golden foil in India exclusively for the Navarathri festival. The stamps are sold online- with limited edition of 1,500 stamps - for Indian collectors.
Within seven hours of launching the sale, Alok K Goyal, authorised dealer for the special Niger stamps in India, received 42 orders from Chennai. He has sold 140 stamps across India on the launch day. “The highest number of orders is from Chennai and next is Bengaluru with 12 orders. The sale will be open till the stock is available,” he said.
Speaking to DC over the phone from Kolkotta, Alok K Goyal said that the Niger government produced these special stamps to mark Navarathri and earn revenue. “The growing popularity of Indian art and culture internationally has initiated the government of Niger to issue these two special stamps during the current festive season in India." The Ganesha stamp, which is in a hexagonal shape and is made of gold foil, is priced at Rs.1001,” he said.
The other stamp in the shape of lotus has Lakshmi and Ganesha decorated with a Swarovski stone and is priced at Rs.1, 111. Goyal said that he wanted to launch these stamps for Ganesh Chathurthi but got delayed because of the special printing with gold foil. Goyal’s site www.stamps-n-stamps.com
A resident of St.Thomas Muount, Aggarwal (32), has decided to add the glittering Niger stamps to his rich collections of 500 stamps. “I have been collecting special stamps right from my school days. These two stamps are so special during the Navarathri festival. These two will add to my fifth album of special stamps,” he said.
