Jal Cooper
Jal Manekji Cooper FRGS (died August 1972) was an Indian philatelist, and an expert and authenticator[1] of the postage stamps and postal history of India. Cooper was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the author of several philatelic handbooks. He was both a stamp dealer[2] and a collector and was associated with philatelists like C. D. Desai,[3] N. D. Cooper, and Robson Lowe.
Cooper is occasionally but erroneously credited with having discovered the Inverted Head 4 Annas. The 1891 reprints show that this error was already known. E. A. Smythies said the error was first discovered at a meeting of the Philatelic Society of London in 1874.[4]
The Jal Cooper Philatelic Society, in Varanasi, India, is named after him and India Post issued a 10 rupees commemorative stamp in 1997 depicting Cooper and Indian postmarks, on the occasion of INDEPEX 97.
Selected publications
- Stamps of India, Bombay (1942), 177 pp.; reprint: Bombay (1968).
- Bhutan, Bombay (Sept. 1969)
- Early Indian Cancellations, Bombay (1948) 92 pp.; reprint: Bombay (1993).
- India Used Abroad, Western Printers and Publishers Press of Bombay (1950) 100 pp.; reprinted in India's Stamp Journal (1972)
- India Used In Burma, Western Printers and Publishers Press of Bombay (1950) 67 pp.
References
- ↑ http://www.filatelia.fi/experts/namesa.html#c Cooper's authentication mark
- ↑ http://www.stampsofindia.com/newssite/vando/trans-001.htm Philately in Transition in India
- ↑ Cooper, Jal; Foreword to the auction catalog: The Unique Collection of India offered by order of the Executors of the late Mr. C. D. Desai, F.R.P.S.L., Robson Lowe (London), May 25 and 26, 1949. Sale Nos. 838-841.
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20091028105908/http://geocities.com/mjshah.geo/articles/classic_error.html E. A. Smythies, "A Classic Stamp Error," American Philatelist (1950), pp. 59, 60.