This cover is part of Southern Covers, a private collection of 47 First Day Covers from South Africa and the homeland states. New to all this? Read the guide, or just browse the whole collection.
Mahyatma Gandhi 1869-1948
South Africa, Pretoria · 1995-10-02
Official
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front
info card
info card_2
Cachet: Portrait of Gandhi.
Info card
Railway Station, Pietermaritzburg
Additional information
This official South African First Day Cover was issued on 2 October 1995 in Pretoria, recognising the 125th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth. It carries a set of stamps under SG reference 886 to 887, with SAPO serial number 6.23b, and its cachet features a portrait of Gandhi. The info card depicts the railway station in Pietermaritzburg, a detail with real historical weight, since it was at that very station in 1893 that a young Gandhi was famously thrown off a train for refusing to move from the whites-only carriage, an experience often described as a turning point in his life and one of the sparks behind his lifelong commitment to civil rights and non-violent resistance. Given Gandhi spent over two decades of his life in South Africa developing these ideas before returning to India, this cover connects a global historical figure directly back to South African soil.
Theme: Heritage
Condition: FineGood condition. Minor wear or small imperfections, but overall well-presented.
Addressed: No
Signed: No
SG reference: 886-887
SAPO serial number: 6.23b
Estimated value: ~US$0.15
This is a high-level, subjective estimate only, not a professional appraisal.
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