Bhopal In The George VI Era

Elderly members, or those with long memories, may remember the infamous industrial accident at Bhopal in central India in 1984. A Union Carbide chemical plant leaked poisonous gas which killed many thousands in the city around the plant. The trials of eight defendants in the case having just concluded, suggested to me that we might take a look at some of the stamps of Bhopal - particularly of the George VI period.

Bhopal first issued stamps in 1871 - charming stamps, and true Uglies:



(SG 29)

These continued until 1908, when the British Indian Post Office finally managed to close the Bhopal postal system to the general public, and confine it to Bhopal government mail only. (Policy on the Indian States maintaining their own postal systems varied widely from time to time and place to place. The post in Bhopal's big neighbour, Indore, was also also closed to the public in 1908. On the other hand, Barwani, a little to the west of Bhopal, was allowed to run its local post unhindered from around 1917 until Indian independence.)

Bhopal woke up to the possibilities of making money from collectors quite early on. Most of its early, Ugly period, stamps are fairly reasonably priced still. (SG 29 above dates from 1889, and is catalogued at £2.25.) Shortly before the closure to the general public in 1908, Bhopal turned to Perkins, Bacon to have its stamps 'properly' printed. The result was this really rather unexciting 1 Anna stamp:



After 1908, and for the whole of the George V era, Bhopal stuck to this design, with changes to the wording around the edges. It makes for a rather dry display. Then, in 1935, Bhopal changed course completely, and produced something much more attractive to the collectors:



(SG O330)

Topical/thematic note: I was long puzzled why the supporters to the coat of arms of Bhopal were goldfish. Didn't seem very martial. It turns out that they are a member of the carp family, but mahseer, and definitely not suitable for the suburban aquarium. Image here
http://swittersb.files.wordpress.co...-mahseer.jpg

In 1937, the basic letter rate increased, and Bhopal reissued the triangular design, printed locally at Bhopal:



A number of errors occurred in this issue, but none of them are common. (The printers were at least making efforts to turn out a fair quality product.) Imperf between pairs are known:



(SG O331a)

and also examples with the SERVICE overprint omitted:



(SG O331b)

As these stamps were never officially issued without the overprint, one has to suspect that the overprint was a bit of a jab at the British, for forcing Bhopal to close its post to the general public.

In 1939, the design was reissued again, in one colour this time:



(SG O332)

The stamp was cancelled at 'EXPERIMENTAL PO N-30'. Experimental post office CDSs were typically issued to new post offices, to gauge whether they were generating enough business to justify being made permanent. As each post office was made permanent, and received its own CDS, or was closed, the Experimental CDS was returned to central stores, and reissued elsewhere when needed. AFAIK, noone has ever attempted to pin down the locations of all Experimental POs down the years.

Covers of these, and other Bhopal stamps, are surprisingly scarce, considering how well the stamps were used. Used are almost always cheaper than mint, and most often priced between a few tens of pence and a pound or two.

The triangle returned in 1941, when the postage rate was reduced again:



SG O346

Not a very attractive design, and a rather bilious colour: the type had outlived its usefulness

Incidentally, Bhopal used rather distinctive and attractive cancellations. Here is an example on a British Indian postal stationery card, going outside Bhopal State:



Makes the British Indian CDS look very dowdy by comparison

Between 1936 and 1949, Bhopal issued a set of pictorial definitives covering values other than the basic letter rate.

The ½ Anna occurs in two distinct families of shades:

SG O336: purple-brown and yellow-green



and (in 1938), purple-brown and green



showing the Moti Mahal ('Pearl Palace'). I'll come back to this below.

A 2 Anna value followed in 1937, showing the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque:



SG O339

and was reissued the following year in different colours



All imaginable types of errors of overprint and perforation occur on all these stamps, and all are scarce to rare. They also seem to be very tightly held: they very rarely come up for sale, even at the big ticket auctions. Here is the cheapest of the lot:



SG O338b - imperf between in a vertical strip of three

The ruling family of Bhopal were Muslims, and quite remarkably, produced a succession of female rulers through the 19th century. These women don't seem to have been mere puppets of their husbands, either. Wikipedia describing the builder of the two monuments above says

Sikander Jahan Begum

In 1844, Sikander Begum succeeded her mother as the ruler of Bhopal. Like her mother, she too never observed purdah. She was trained in the martial arts, and fought many battles during her reign (1844-1868).

During the Indian rebellion of 1857, she sided with the British and crushed all those who revolted against them. She did a lot of public welfare too - she built roads and reconstructed the fort. She also built the Moti Masjid (meaning the Pearl Mosque) and Moti Mahal (the Pearl Palace).

which makes Queen Victoria look a little pallid.

Dear Tony,

are you calling me elderly? there is still hope.

oh and some very glamorous mint stamps I am proud of you. now we just have to find the triangles

There are two good shade families of the 4 Anna



Blue and brown, SG 339, and



Blue and reddish brown, SG 339e

It depicts the Benazir Palace. Murray's Traveller's Guide to India describes it as 'the most picturesque building in Bhopal', and I found this fuller entry through Google:

Benazir palace was constructed in year 1877 as a summer rest-house for Bhopal's ruler, Shahjahan Begum. Historians claim that the then viceroy Lord Chemsford stayed at the palace during his visit to the city.

Located at Motia Lake the palace is a perfect blend of European and Mughal architecture. Beautiful fountains reflect the feel of Moughal art. Nets were installed at window panes to allow the breeze to enter. The fine construction and art itself make it unique. Mahatma Gandhi issued his call to join the freedom movement from the very ground of the palace in year 1929, He also halted for a night at the palace.
An exquisite Hamam (bath) was built in the basement of palace and still looks glorious with leaves and flowers carved into the walls of the Hamam.

with a modern photo, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/753966...3/444614656/

Gibbons lists only one shade for the 8 Anna



SG 340 - and if you think that's an inverted 'A' for 'V' in the SERVICE overprint, you're wrong. I have an (expensive) BPA Certificate that says its a stray bit of dirt.

All my other copies, mint and used, of the 8 Anna are similar to the stamp above, but I have this one mint example in a strikingly intense colour:



I don't know what to make of it. A frame double error is known on this stamp: could this be a perfectly registered double print? Or just a poorly mixed batch of ink?

This shows the Ahmedabad Palace, also known as the Qasr-e-Sultani Palace: a 20th century edifice, and apparently the first in Bhopal to be built of Italian marble. Which is probably quite enough on that subject.

The 1 Rupee was quite a complex issue, with several printings and versions of the overprint. This is the commonest version, SG O341b (blue and reddish purple, with a black overprint, as opposed to the brown overprint of the first printing).



Unfortunately, I couldn't find any useful description of this piece of Bhopal scenery. These days, it appears to be nothing more than a locality.

brilliant but dont visit bhopal anytime soon after calling their ghat a locality. how much did you for the certificate?

It's a while ago now, and I can't remember exactly. It wasn't cheap: some tens of pounds, I think.

I'm loving this.... used KGVI and the history!

David

Bhopal Arms:
The inhabitants of Bhopal are predominantly Hindu, the "begum" (princess) however is Muslim.
Her Motto therefore implies the victory of Allah (nasr Minullah)

The fish are "Masheer" an anglicised version of a common Indian Fish.

Rodney, my Arabic is probably as shaky as yours , but I understood Nasr Minullah to mean 'Victory with God'. Not quite so in your face.

Sounds good Tony,...accepted.

Yes, nice to say "thank you".
We usually only speak to him when we want something.

In 1940, Bhopal introduced two values of what may have been intended as a longer pictorial set, showing game animals. I can't find any references to big game hunting in Bhopal territory itself, but Kipling's Jungle Book was set in the forests just to the east of Bhopal.

The ¼ Anna featured a tiger



and the 1 Anna a spotted deer or chital - now apparently a favoured game animal here in Australia as well. Rather than regurgitate Wiki on the subject, here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chital



Sorting through my used copies of these stamps to show here, I was struck by how often the postmark avoided the tiger on the ¼ Anna when compared with the deer on the 1 Anna. Coincidence, of course ...

With the onset of WWII, Bhopal decided to follow the lead of British India



SG 265-277

and introduce 'economy' stamps, that used less ink and/or paper. Three values of the large bi-colour Palaces were released in smaller format and single colours in 1944.

Here is the ½ Anna



SG O347

Tony, when will Indian States, the Motion Picture be released?