Jal Manekji Cooper FRGS (29 March 1905 – 2 August 1972) in Mumbai, was an Indian philatelist, and an expert and authenticator of the

postage stamps and postal history of India Indian postal systems for efficient military and governmental communications had developed long before the arrival of Europeans. When the Portuguese India, Portuguese, Dutch India, Dutch, French India, French, Danish India, Danish and Briti ...

. Cooper was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the author of several philatelic handbooks. He was both a stamp dealer and a collector and was associated with philatelists like

C. D. Desai Choonilal Devkaran Nanjee (1890–1948), also known as C. D. Desai, was a twentieth-century Indian commodity trader, financier, and philatelist. Financial career Desai was a senior partner in the firm of Messrs. Devkaran Nanjee and Sons, ...

, N. D. Cooper, and

Robson Lowe John Harry Robson Lowe (7 January 1905, London – 19 August 1997, Bournemouth) was an English professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer. Life and career Lowe is regarded by philatelists as the father of postal history, ha ...

. Cooper is occasionally but erroneously credited with having discovered the Inverted Head 4 Annas. The 1891 reprints show that this error was already known. E. A. Smythies said the error was first discovered at a meeting of the Philatelic Society of London in 1874.

E. A. Smythies Evelyn Arthur Smythies, Order of the Indian Empire, CIE (19 March 1885Bateman, Robert. ''Stamp collectors' who's who''. London: Stanley Gibbons, 1960, p. 81. – 10 January 1975), was a distinguished forester and philatelist, born of British pare ...

(1950
"A Classic Stamp Error"
''

The American Philatelist ''The American Philatelist'', published by the American Philatelic Society, is one of the world's oldest philatelic magazines still in operation; its first issue having appeared in January 1887. The magazine is published monthly for members of th ...

'', pp. 59, 60. The ''Jal Cooper Philatelic Society'', in Varanasi, India, is named after him and India Post issued a 10 rupees commemorative stamp in 1997 depicting Cooper and Indian postmarks, on the occasion of INDEPEX 97.

Selected publications

* ''Stamps of India,'' Bombay (1942), 228 pp.; 2nd edition: Bombay (1951), 226 pp; 3rd edition: Bombay (1968), 177pp. * ''Bhutan,'' Bombay (Sept. 1969) * ''Early Indian Cancellations,'' Bombay (1948) 92 pp.; reprint: Bombay (1991). * ''India Used Abroad,'' Western Printers and Publishers Press of Bombay (1950) 100 pp.; 2nd edition in ''India's Stamp Journal'' (1972); repinted in book form from India's Stamp Journal, Bombay (1972), 86 pages. * ''India Used In Burma,'' Western Printers and Publishers Press of Bombay (1950) 67 pp.

References

Parsi people 1972 deaths Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Stamp dealers Indian philatelists 1905 births Philately of India {{philatelist-stub