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The Azad Hind Stamps are a set of Cinderella stamps in six different designs produced in 1943 in Nazi Germany for Subhas Chandra Bose's Azad Hind (Indian National Army). The Indian Postal Department includes these six unused Azad Hind Stamps in its commemorative book India's Freedom Struggle through India Postage Stamps.
Contents
Background
A concept of Subhas Chandra Bose, the stamps were designed by Werner and Maria von Axster-Heudtlass who created many German issues between 1925 and 1949, and show themes depicted on ten denominations.
The stamps
The designs are
All stamps were printed by photogravure in sheets of 100 at the Reichsdruckerei, the Government Printing Bureau in Berlin. A million copies of the lower denominations were produced, with a further half million of the higher values, except for the 1 + 2 Rupee stamp, of which only 13,500 were printed in three color varieties.
Each value was printed in a different color. The 1 + 2 Rupee stamp was designed as a multi-color design.
A complete set includes several color varieties of the Mi. VII 1 Rupee + 2 Rupee design.
Catalogue listing
The German Michel catalog lists the seven semipostals first (Mi. I-VII); the surcharge was for the administration of Andaman and Nicobar Islands then under Japanese control. Next come the three regular postal issues with no surcharge (Mi. VIII-X). A set of 21 stamps currently exist, both perforated (10×12) and unperforated.