Praful Thakkar

Praful Thakkar
Born (1940-02-25) February 25, 1940
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation Retired Indian Administrative Officer, Author, Hobbyist
Years active 1965–present
Spouse(s) Rekha (1965–present)
Awards Double Limca Book Record Holder 2009 for Autograph collection & Indian Canteen Tokens

Praful Thakkar - Hobby is for Health and Happiness. Praful Thakkar (Born : 25 February 1940) is a double [1] Limca Book Record Holder in 2009 for Autographs & Canteen Tokens and indeed is a collector of autographs, stamps, First Day Covers (FDCs), coins, medals, tokens, badges, badge plates etc. and many more collectibles of India since last more than 50 years. He has written several books on these subjects of Hobbies.

Hobby is for Health & Hobby is for Happiness is motto of his life. The hobbies of Autograph, Philatelic and Numismatic collection have given him new energy and enthusiasm. For him any such hobby is a worship that keeps him pure, fit and healthy. People have hobbies for happiness and harvesting profit in future. For him, it is for keeping good health too.

He is an avid collector of various collectibles like numismatic & para-numismatic items, Stamps & First Day Covers and Autographs of Indian/World celebrities. As a collector, he has faced many difficulties in collecting, understanding and arranging the collection. The same may happen with the new collectors and they may face similar hurdles too. To overcome such situations and to encourage various hobbies and to preserve such a classic collection of Indian heritage, he has made attempts through Collector’s Guides & websites.

For numismatic collectors, he has authored Collector's Guide to Indian Canteen Tokens, Collector's Guide to Membership Badges of Turf & Race Clubs of India, Collector's Guide to Chronologies of Sultans, Rulers & Colonial Heads of India and Chapras: Collector's Guide to Belt Buckles, Badges and Badge Plates of India.

For philatelic collectors, he has written Collector's Guide to Covers & Folders of India 1947-1964 - Official & Private. Through this book, he has tried to give a dimension to Philatelic facet of early classic period by cataloging Official FDCs, Private FDCs and Folders of this time.

For lovers of Indian Autographs, he has written a book Glimpses of Indian Autographs. This book is first of its kind and contains around 600 autographs of Indian celebrities in 8 major groups which are further divided in 42 different categories.

His three websites a) Indian Autograph Gallery b) World Autograph Gallery and c)Indian Numismatics have made landmarks in their respective hobby fields of Numismatics and Autograph collection as they present rich Indian heritage.

He developed the hobby of collecting Art, Autographs and Numismatic objects in his own way. He believes that hobbies are ‘Pleasure for you & Treasure for Family’ and a way to 'Share the Knowledge & Spread the Knowledge'. In true spirit of practising his life's motto, he has created the websites and written books that will be helpful for aspiring hobbyists.

Career
Praful got his school education in Gokuldas Tejpal High School, Bombay. He was a General Secretary of Students’ Union and Co-operative Stores run by the students. He later went on to Tatwagnan Vidyapeeth, Thane, Maharashtra for his further studies. This was an institute established by founder of [2] Swadhyay Pariwar and Padma Bhushan Rev. Pandurang Shashtri Athavle. Here he learnt Indian & Western Philosophy and was oriented with Indian Culture. After graduation he appeared in various competitive examinations for administrative assignments in Government. As I.A.S. officer he has served the Government of Gujarat for more than 31 years on various notable and challenging posts as Deputy Collector of Veraval, Morvi & Palanpur, Collector of Valsad, Commissioner Rural Development, Secretary Revenue Department and others. He has recently achieved a diploma in Graphology from the International School of Handwriting Analysis located in California, USA.

When he was the Deputy Collector & Collector of different districts, he got a rare opportunity to receive and organize the visits of two Presidents of India Mr. Gyani Zail Singh and Mr. R. Venkataraman and two Prime Ministers of India Mr. Morarji Desai and Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Awards, Prizes & Media Recognitions

  1. Felicitated in Sept. 2008 with Life Time Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to Indian Numismatics, at Indore in the 92nd Annual Conference of the Numismatic Society of India, Banaras (Varanasi)[3] which includes the Numismatic Society of India Varanasi, the Indian Coin Society, Nagpur and the Gwalior chapter INTACH.
  2. Awarded Life Time Achievement Award by Gujarat Coin Society, Ahmedabad at their Annual General Meeting in June 2009.
  3. Recognized as National Record holder by Limca Book of Records in 2009 for creating a wonderful website of Indian Autographs
  4. Recognized as National Record holder by Limca Book of Records in 2009 for collection of Indian Canteen Tokens.
  5. The last philately book Collector’s Guide to First Day Covers & Folders of India 1947-1964 Official & Private has received 6 awards in International Philatelic Exhibitions at Portugal 2010, Joberg 2010, Johannesburg- South Africa, Napex 2011, Washington-USA, Chicagopex 2011, Chicago-USA, PhilaNippon 2011, Tokyo-Japan and Indonesia 2012.
  6. Received various Medals at Stamps of India National Exhibition, New Delhi in 2010 & 2011 and Gujarat Philatelic Exhibition GUJPEX 2011 at Baroda, Gujarat India.
  7. Received Trophy in the Exhibition organized by South Indian Philatelic & Numismatic Dealers Association at Chennai in 2006 for displaying Autographs of Presidents and Prime Ministers of India.
  8. In 2011, Shree Lohana Maha Parishad, Ahmedabad has awarded him an International level ‘Vishisht Raghuvanshi Pratibha Award’ recognising and appreciating his vivid activities and hobbies.
  9. Received Prizes for Exhibits of (A) Cash Coupons of Indian Princely States (B) Presentation Medals of Viceroys of India at the exhibitions organized by International Society of Collectors of Rare Items, Pune.
  10. Received Trophies for Exhibits of (A) Commemorative Medals of Royal Visits of British Rulers to India (B) Indian Temperance Medals at the exhibitions organized by Gujarat Coin Society, Ahmedabad, the Numismatic Society of India, Varansi at Chandigarh 2005 and at Money Mela 2008 organised by Indian Coin Society at Indore in September 2008.
  11. Rainbow stamp blog club news highlighting Praful's achievements [4]
  12. Gullak Magazine coverage [5]
  13. Philately book was reviewed and welcome by following Philatelic Magazines of USA & UK. (a) Philatelic Literature Review, Pennsylvania USA (b) FIRST DAYS-Journal of the American First Day Cover Society, USA (c) The Philatelic Communicator, Journal of American Philatelic Society, USA (d) The London Philatelist, Journal of the Royal Philatelic Society London, UK in its issue number 1386 of June 2011.
  14. Website http://www.indianautographs.com has received 'World Web Award of Excellence' from Art Space 2000 in 2007.
  15. Times of India Ahmedabad Mirror - Token of Love [6]
  16. Greyhounddurby.com Race Club Badges [7]
  17. Autograph hobby interview on ETv [8]
  18. Autograph exhibition coverage n ETv [9]
  19. Chapras collection interview on ETv [10]
  20. Her Excellency Gujarat Governor releasing the book - Glimpses of Indian Autographs [11]

Cultural Dimension
He got a legacy of art, culture, numismatic understanding and insight from his father. He has authored several learned publications on Indian culture in Gujarati language.

  1. Mandir i.e. Temple
  2. Aapna Utsavo i.e. Our Festivals
  3. Dev Darshan – Explaining Idols of Indian Gods in a rational way
  4. Vichar Darshan – Presenting good thoughts with excellent expressions!
  5. Shubhasheet Ratna Sagar- A collection of Sanskrit Slokas, Hindi Dohas, Gujarati poems etc. with translation
  6. Shubhasheet Sukti Sagar- Another collection of Sanskrit Slokas, Hindi Dohas, Gujarati poems etc. with translation

References

  1. ↑ "http://www.limcabookofrecords.in/home.asp" Limca Book
  2. ↑ "http://www.swadhyay.org" Swadhyay Pariwar
  3. ↑ "http://www.bhu.ac.in/aihc/ins.htm" Banaras Hindu University
  4. ↑ http://rainbowstampclub.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html Rainbow Stamp Blog
  5. ↑ http://www.gullak.in/issue1.pdf Gullak Magazine
  6. ↑ http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Columnists%20-%20Sunday%20Read&sectid=26&contentid=20090823200908230218547501248ed8f Times of India
  7. ↑ http://www.greyhoundderby.com/Indian%20badges.htm Race Club Badges
  8. ↑ ETv interview on Autograph Hobby on YouTube
  9. ↑ Autograph Exhibition Coverage on ETv on YouTube
  10. ↑ ETv interview on Chapras collection on YouTube
  11. ↑ H. E. Gujarat Governor releasing the book of Autographs on YouTube
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