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Not many would be aware of the world's first postal ticket that was released in Bihar's capital Patna, despite World Postal Day being celebrated on Wednesday.
Anil Kumar, chief postmaster of the Patna general post office, said, "The first postal ticket was released in Patna in 1773 by the British. It was in copper metal, so it was known as the 'copper ticket'."
Kumar said that postal ticket is today worth millions of rupees on account of its rarity. "Experts say there are four or five pieces of the first postal ticket available in different parts of the world," he said.
The British had issued orders to release postal tickets across all Indian states, but Patna was the first to do so, thus becoming the first in the world. "We are proud of it today," Kumar said.
In India, a piece of the first postal ticket is lying in the National Museum in Delhi, and another is in the possession of Dilip Sah, 60, of Jabalpur, a world-renowned philatelist.
According to Kumar, the British released two postal tickets of copper worth one anna and two annas. The 1 anna ticket had 'Azimabad Ekanni' imprinted on the obverse and 'Patna Post One Anna' on the reverse. In those days Patna was known as Azimabad.
The value of the postal tickets was based on the distance a letter would have to traverse. The distance was divided in stages of 100 miles each.
In 1980, the Indian government released a commemorative postage stamp on the 'copper ticket', which was the first dak [post] ticket.
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