Visitors take a look at stamps at the second Eastern India Philatelic Exhibition in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 9: A two-day philately exhibition in the city showcased extraordinary collection of stamps from all over the globe at Kalinga Buddha Vihara.

The second Eastern India Philatelic Exhibition, EIPEX-2014 that concluded on Sunday was organised by the Eastern India Philatelists’ Association with the support of the department of posts, government of India.

Lives of legends, nature, art, culture, souvenirs of some rare occasions, a few grand events and a lot more was displayed at the exhibition.

The theme of the exhibition was “Save our Environment”. A philatelist himself, state minister for forest and environment Bijoyshree Routray inaugurated the exhibition on Saturday.

A special cover on the endangered birds of Mangalajodi, the bird sanctuary of Chilika lake was released on the concluding day.

“These will also be released at Mangalajodi, at a separate event today, which is about 70km from Bhubaneswar. The objective of launching a postal ticket on the subject is to use the most popular hobby of philately to create awareness to save the environment and save the endangered birds of the famous Chilika lake,” said Anil Dheer, a member of Eastern India Philatelists’ Association.

Over 12,000 stamps of 50 philatelists, including veterans as well as students, were on display. In the 70 frames of postal tickets and postcards on display, versatile themes were included.

Thirteen philatelic dealers, who came from Calcutta sold rare postal tickets and also offered membership to passionate philatelists