- This page will serve as a general information page regarding stamps, covers, governmental policies, etc. In my correspondence with collectors and dealers I hear many things that I have never heard about previously. Often it is the type of information that one just mentions in a conversation, not thinking of it’s importance.
- 5 October 2014: Today I added my new Revenue Stamp Catalog to my web site. Please take the time to visit it and feel free to offer suggestions.
- 7 September 2014: Werner Gras has reported the existence of three different horizontal perforations for the 2011 Tagore stamps – 13.25, 13.75 and 12.. To date the actual perforations of all of the issues has not been noted in this catalog. It is hoped that that will change in the near future. It is going to be a monumental task as all the stamps must be measured. Additionally, other perforations must exist that the Editor is not aware of. The Bangladesh Postal Department evidently does not consider accuracy in reporting such to be of any importance. Most of the perforations they put in the inserts are not correct and often multiple perforations sizes exist for some stamps, especially the definitives.
- 17 July 2014: Thanks to the efforts of Al-Arefin Khan, we now know the dates of issue of all of the Harrison definitive stamps. Images and updated information have been posted on the Harrison Definitive page.
- FIRST DAY COVERS: It is not known how many envelopes for First Day Covers of each issue were printed in the 1970’s and 80’s. In the 90’s the quantity was around 1000 to 1200 for each issue, but in the year 2000 it was reduced to 800 for all issues. It was increased in the year 2005 to 1100 ~ 1200. Some special issues were as high as 2000 and more, but it requires special approval from the Director General of BPO to increase the numbers printed. Often all of the printed envelopes for the FDCs were not sold and were later destroyed, meaning that the quantity of FDCs that exist are smaller than the number of envelopes printed. Even though now FDC cancellors are made for 20 different cities, and distributred to them, often no covers are made from that city. Only a few blank, cacheted envelopes are sent to most cities and they are often never sold. Thus, the number of FDCs actually made, compared to the number of envelopes printed, is much smaller. Earlier, less than twenty cancellors were made for different cities. Three cancellors are made for Dhaka. One for the First Day ceremony and used to cancel covers, another for the Philatelic Bureau and one as a back up in case something happens to one of them.
- SERVICE overprinted stamps are no longer used by all the government departments. Some are using private courier services.
- Many collectors do not realize that the Postal Department often charges organizations and other governmental departments that want a stamp issued. If it is issued, the governmental department, or organization is billed for part, or all of the costs.
- 2014: The Post Office is not issueing many stamps as they have huge stocks of previous stamps in their vaults. Unfortunately, they have done a terrible job of promoting the stamps of their country and there is little interest in them, other than some of the topical stamps, i.e. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Flowers, Birds, etc.
- SPECIAL COVERS: Generally such covers only exist for Dhaka, but on occasion one other city will have a cancellor for the event. Generally the city has some relationship to the event. To date, only one insert, which is a pamphlet exists for a Special Cover. They normally do not make them for the Special Covers.
- August 6, 2014: Thanks to Arefin Khan we now know the dates of issue of all of the Harrison SERVICE overprint stamps. The information and illustrations have been added to the catalog under the Harrison SERVICE Overprints.
- CAMP POST OFFICES (On-site Post Offices): Mr. Mohammed J. Islam and Arefin Khan have indicated that the cancellations are used for one day at the sites. They are then returned to the Main post office in Dhaka and people can request to have their covers cancelled with these cancellors. This is not commonly done, but it is known to happen
- TEMPORARY POST OFFICES: The Temporary Post Offices are used to see if there is a need for a post office in an area. When an area or town is selected, it is assigned a Temporary Post Office number (For example – Temporary P.O. DA-439. The letter was mailed from Gozia which falls under the jurisdiction of the Shylet H.O.), the use of the new Temporary P.O. is monitored to see if there is a need to establish a full-time facility at that site. If it is determined there is a genuine need for a post office, the Temporary P.O. cancellation is then replaced by one bearing the name of the location. It is known that even after the new cancellors are issued, postal employees often continue using the Temporary P.O. cancellor, whch they should not do. The example mentioned above for Gozia bore a cancellation from 1 November 1974. If the person sending the envelope had not written the name of their village it would be difficult to determine what the origin of the Temporary cancellation was. Fortunately, the person had written Vill. Gozia, P.O. Begumpur, Dist. Sylhet.
