Gwalior - My First Indian State

At least, that is what I think this is. July 8, 1909.

OH NO! Another Family member has fallen!

oh oh

Granted it is a convention state stamp, rather than feudatory.

Where's Spock?

On Vulcan of course!

Gwailor take 2

I love those cobras guarding the source of light.

Be cognisant of the differing stroke on the character thus:

Don't know how I missed this thread, but congratulations to Smauggie for dipping the toe into the murky waters of the Indian States!

Like a lot of Gwalior, this innocent little 3 Pies stamp hides all sorts of complications. For a start, there are two different overprints: one 14 mm long, with 1¾ mm between the lines, and the other 13 mm long, with 2¾ mm between the lines. In the first type, there's also a rather uncommon error with an oversized 'R' in GWALIOR. (Sorry, but yours is normal, Smauggie.) The basic stamp also comes in pale grey and slate-grey. Not worth a whole lot, but very nice to see used paying the postcard rate. You see, perhaps, ten 3 Pies postal stationery cards for every 3 Pies stamped postcard.

Now, the cobras and the Sun. There is a legend concerning the founder of the Gwalior dynasty. He was abandoned as a baby in the middle of the day in a field. Two cobras, recognising the importance of the infant, came and shaded him from the sun with their hoods. Hence the cobra and Sun motif.

The late Maharaja, Sir George Jivaji Rao Sindhia, was one of the most senior rulers and a noted Anglophile. At one of his palaces, he had a huge banqueting table, with a miniature silver railway around it, to deliver the after-dinner port to his guests.

Anyway, I can spare a few assorted Gwalior stamps if you'd be interested, Smauggie, to add to your Gwalior collection. Just send me an email with your address, and you're welcome to them.

Here is the banquet table with the railway tracks,
followed by the cabinet containing the train.








Tony: In smauggies first postcard, is that a printed stamp under the stamp? or just a "place stamp here" ?

Just a rather fancy 'Place stamp here', Rod.

Unless there were a lot of rather abstemious types at the table, that port decanter must have been the size of a 44 gallon drum. Perhaps it was a 44 gallon drum.

:)

I wonder if you would feel a tad snubbed, if you were
seated at the near end of the table?
Perhaps guests all walked clockwise around the table
until the music stopped...

Cupping the hands beside your mouth, you bellow...
"Hey! pass the pheasant!"

I know my place, Rod. I'd be happy to be anywhere at that table

lookie. another round for spock pretty soon everyone here will know and love and collect the glamorous indian states :)

Since someone mentioned Gwalior , I thought it might be a good occasion to show a few, and help repay my debt to Spock ...

Here are the Edward VII 2 and 3 Rupee stamps, overprinted for Gwalior (the 2 Rupee is the 'long' overprint; the 3 Rupee is the 'short' overprint)



SG 61A, and



SG 62B

This one is a genuine overprint error, unlike the notorious Nabha overprints from the same period:



SG 69a

and the rather nice George V 1 Rupee



Stamps for Gwalior Government use were overprinted in Hindi 'Gwalior Service'. (Gwalior was the only State influential enough to be allowed to use Hindi; the other five Convention States had to make do with English overprints.)

There was a nice error in the overprints on the Queen Victoria stamps. The last two Hindi letters in the second line of the overprint were transposed. This occurred on one stamp, from printings made up to May 1896. Here it is on stamp 1 of this block:



SG O1 (stamp 1: SG O1a)

and here is the Queen Victoria 1 Rupee - the top value:



(And good luck if you can find the spelling error on this value. Gibbons lists it this year at £2750 )