Hyderabad - 1896 Stamped Envelope

To the extent that you've formed an opinion about them, do you buy the argument that they were essays, and not officially adopted?

Rajpipla? I wouldn't dare form my own opinion, but from what I've read of those who are in a position to form opinions, the Rajpipla lettersheets were perfectly genuine, and predated the postage stamps. Of course, genuinely used Rajpipla stamps on cover, and genuinely used lettersheets, are serious rarities. The covers have sold for hundreds of pounds on the odd occasions they come up for sale, and I don't recall a used lettersheet being sold.

It seems odd that the four values would be printed together four up, and then cut. It would be a unique postal service that had an equal need for the lowest value through the highest value.

(Unless the "need" was supplying the philatelic trade, perhaps?)

Nevertheless, Rajpeepla is still missing from my "one from each state" collection accumulation, so I shouldn't throw stones.

Thanks for sharing the oddities.

Cjd, I don't think the Rajpipla Post Office had the faintest idea of relative needs for individual values. They simply did one of each. The motivation may have been philatelic, but even unused, the lettersheets aren't all that common. I'm inclined to acquit Rajpipla, though of course we're never likely to know now.

A map that is helpful perhaps.


From http://blog.lookindia.in/2010/03/26...-india-maps/

Bearing in mind that this map is necessarily greatly simplified

One more little test for the eagle-eyed



Which State was this card used in? (A hint: not Kishangarh)