IDUKKI: Some love collecting and preserving old stuff, years after they go out of trend and fall out of use, as a means to maintain a connection to the past. Gopalakrishnan K N, 52, is one of them. The Bison Valley native has been collecting antiques, including stamps, letters, notes and coins, for decades. Now, he has coins and stamps from as far back as the 1800s.
“Since childhood, I have had a fascination for all things old. I used to store them as a window to the past,” Gopalakrishnan told TNIE. He began by collecting discarded stamps and those distributed in schools. “At the time, match boxes were apt storage places for stamps and coins, until I started pasting them in an album,” said Gopalakrishnan, who runs a wellness centre in Bison Valley.
The collection of Gopalakrishnan alias Gopal grew when he joined the Sadhguru Music Academy in Madurai and met N R Subrahmanya Iyer, a leading advocate in Madras.
“I stayed with him at his office and helped him with office work. His family owned a huge library in Madurai, where several advocates came every day,” Gopalakrishnan said.
Realising Gopalakrishnan’s interest in philately, Iyer handed him more antique stuff he had in possession. They included old letters, judgements and, of course, stamps. Others visiting the library also contributed to his collection upon learning of his fascination.
A letter written by former President R Venkitaraman, while he was a junior advocate in 1947, is one of the rarest items on Gopalakrishnan’s collection. He also has stamps published by the East India Company in 1818, and a Liberty Coin from 1795, which is worth around $1.25 million (around Rs 10.4 crore). He also possesses the smallest album in the world – a miniature piece just 1.25 inch long and 1 inch wide.
Though he exhibited his collection in schools earlier, Gopalakrishnan stopped after some of his stamps and other precious items went missing. “The hobby is easy for beginners. As you move up the ladder, things get tough. There are some rare stamps, the value of which cannot be measured in measured in money,” he said.
Several persons have approached him for his collection, including employees of now-jailed antique dealer Monson Mavunkal. But Gopalakrishnan refused all their offers.