India?

This stamp is so cool in design..
Wonder where its been?lol
Is it orientated right?

Cheers

Yep, it's an official stamp for Hyderabad.

And yep, it is cool in design!

k

(the monogram on the stamp was pertinent at the time,
because it was against religius law to have someone's countenance
on a stamp)


From our SCF member Tony mac

well between you and me gord you should look at bhwalpur and jaipur they also have nice designs

Following up on Rod, here is the complete set, to which your stamp belongs:



The stamps were issued in 1931, printed in Hyderabad from plates engraved in London. They were also overprinted in Persian 'SARKARI' meaning 'government' for official use, like your example.

These stamps were very heavily used, and values like your 4 Pies stamp were printed many times, producing a range of shades



and on two types of paper: ordinary watermarked paper and laid paper.

The rulers of Hyderabad were Muslim (although most of the population were Hindu) and, as Rod said, avoided showing living things on their stamps for religious reasons (the Biblical Second Commandment, which Muslims also follow). Hyderabad only slipped up once, for the 1945 Victory commemorative



which shows a soldier from the Hyderabad contingent of the Indian Army returning to his wife and child.

Nice yarn Tony,
wasn't aware of the laid paper variety,
vert and horizontal?
easy to detect?
Havn't looked at the catalogue as yet.

Can't remember whether it's vertical or horizontal, Rod, but it does have a large sheet watermark as well. Gibbons doesn't price it very highly (a couple of quid), and they don't record it used for the Service stamps. I have the impression it's a bit harder to find than it used to be, and maybe a bit underrated.

Incidentally, the laid paper was also used for the Victory stamps; they're a bit scarcer than the wove paper printings.

Thanks Tony,
I have hinged a lot of these fellers,
and never noticed laid paper.
Rather a shock.