C. D. Desai

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Chunnilal Devkaran Nanjee, known as "Desai" was a leading figure among Indian financiers of the twentieth century. As well, he has a place in the first rank of students of Indian philately.

[edit] Financial Career

Desai was a senior partner in the well-known firm of Messrs. Devkaran Nanjee and Sons, stock, cotton, bullion and exchange brokers. He was also the honorary Treasurer of the Bombay Stock Exchange and one of the founding directors of the Dena bank and other Dena allied companies.

[edit] Philatelic Career

Desai made many major discoveries among the 1854 lithographed stamps of India and formed an unsurpassed collection of these classic issues with the assistance of Jal Cooper. Collaborating with Sir Eric Studd, he discovered the famous 1854 1 anna red Die I "Substituted Transfer" variety. He also recorded the typographed 2 annas green of 1854 on a previously unknown paper watermarked Stamp Office.

Desai's collection included many items of extreme rarity. It featured the unique unused block of 14 of the white Scinde Dawk stamp. His collection included the finest known example of the famous 1854 Head Inverted Four Annas stamp, cut square and on cover, as well as a second cut square example of this great rarity.

Jal Cooper noted,

"The late Mr. Desai had few equals in the realm of Indian philately. .... His helping hand was a constant source of solace to many Indian dealers and there was a regular pilgrimage to his home from dealers in other parts of India."^[1]

The Desai collection was offered for sale to the public in 917 lots by Messrs Robson Lowe, famous philatelic auctioneers, on May 25 and 26 May, 1949. The auction included his collection of the "Scinde Dawk" stamps and the magnificent 1854 issues of India.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society.

[edit] References