Identify 3 Stamps

The first stamp I believe is India, but I can't decipher the denomination and the ones I found for Travancore don't exactly look like this. #2 I can't read the rest of the words under the cancellation mark. Postat something. #3, I went through the stamps with no country, but couldn't find this one. Thought it might be Jordan as some of the characters seem similar, but again couldn't find it in my Scott catalog. Maybe it's another country from that region?

They're from Travancore, Albania and Turkey.

The Travancore is Scott #029.

For the Stanley Gibbons tribe..

Turkey is SG337 (1913) gpo constantinople.

Albania is (approx) SG280 (1930) King Zog 25 quind.

(King Zog is a famous stamp collector by the way)

Travancore may be
SGO0059 (1933) T0001 1.5ch conch rose

SG"O" for official "On State Service"

Thank you !

I agree with Rod about the catalogue number of the Travancore stamp. It's the 1½ Chuckram Service overprint, SG O59, or possibly SG O58. Gibbons helpfully classifies O58 as 'claret' and O59 as 'rose', but life is never so simple in Travancore.

It would be worth checking the gauge of the perforations. The normal is perf 12 (and minimal value) but it also exists perf 12½ (£14 in Gibbons) and compound perf 12 and 12½ (£32). I wouldn't be optimistic, though: the postmark looks a bit too early for these.

It's in pretty bad shape, but perf appears to be 12.

Just compared it with my specimens of SG O59, and I'd be happy to call it an SG O58 (the 'claret' rather than 'rose' shade). SG O58 is only known perf 12.

Gibbons rates it £1.60 used, against only £1.40 mint. This is most unusual (unprecedented?) for Travancore: offhand, I can't think of another Travancore stamp priced more highly used than mint.

Oh, and as Rod could assure you, your specimen is in pretty average shape for a Travancore stamp of that era. The old 12 gauge perforator must have been on its last legs for years, but they kept it going somehow.

How can you tell how many Chuckram's this is. I don't see #'s.

The value is partially underneath the 'S' of the overprint - but apart from that, experience, and long exposure to these very dreary designs ... (Eh, Rod?)

Tony, Isn't this the 1½ chuckram value and so should be SG O59?

On my stamps the "4" of the 1¼ extends lower down than the "2" of the 1½.

Nigel, you're quite right. I need to have my glasses adjusted. A simpler test to distinguish the two is the Malayalam inscription in the lower left quadrant of the oval - the 1¼ Chuckram value is much longer than the 1½.

All the same, the shade is more reminiscent of the 1¼ Chuckram than SG O59

Here is a 1½ Chuckram (SG O59c) and a 1¼ Chuckram (SG O84)

here is a detail of the issue stampdog.

Now I see the number. Don't laugh, I was trying to read the stamp upside down

Do you find that easier than trying to read them while standing upright?

For this stamp, probably :)