Recently 4 months back i got Praful Thakkar sir's "Collector's Guide to Indian Canteen Tokens" book. After looking in to the book i found there will be something special on Indian Canteen Token. After observing this valuable book of Praful Thakkar sir i felt that other collections like coins, stamps, notes, post cards, match boxes etc. these Canteen Tokens have also special significance. Then i decide to collect Canteen Tokens. From then onwards so far i am collecting 32 different Indian Canteen Tokens.
Now some brief introduction about famous research scholar Shri Praful Thakkar sir who is the author of this great research book and gave inspiration to me for collecting not only Indian Canteen Tokens but also getting inspiration from his book for creating one blog on Indian Canteen Tokens.
Praful Thakkar - Hobby is for Health and Happiness. Praful Thakkar (Born : 25 February 1940)( who is a Retired Government Officer from Gujarat) is a double 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 45 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.
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.
These are Praful Thakkar sir's 3 websites.
http://www.indianautographs.com/index.php
http://www.worldautographgallery.com/
http://www.indiannumismatics.com/
Below are images of Collector's Guide to Indian Canteen Tokens book. I hope from now onwards many other collectors also across the globe will got inspiration from Praful Thakkar sir and collecting Indian Canteen Tokens and gave more popularity to Indian Canteen Tokens like other hobbies.
Once again my sincere thanks to Praful Thakkar sir.
