Indian States -- Duttia (Genuine Or Not?)

A collector friend of mine asked me about this stamp, and I thought this site would be perfect to get the proper answer. Hopefully, he will be able to get signed up and post in this thread. But until then, is this Duttia stamp genuine?



Here is a pic of the backside:


Thank you in advance!

k

Afraid not, khj. Poor quality copy.

This is what that ½ Anna stamp should look like:



Note that it should be on green paper, with a blue control mark. The black circular markings are a poor attempt at mimicking the control that was applied to all Duttia stamps before they were sold. The marks aren't cancellations.

Thank you Tony! I will forward the reply to my friend. I had previously suggested to him that I thought it was not genuine, but wanted to make sure because I know little about Indian States.

I do have an additional question of my own -- are ALL black control marks for this stamp (or even ALL Duttia stamps) fake? Because Scott mentions black or blue, instead of just blue.

On these stamps of Duttia (the 1897-8 set inscribed 'DUTTIA') and the next set (inscribed 'DATIA'), the handstamp should always be in blue. The fabulously (almost mythologically) rare earlier issues do have handstamps in other colours - Gibbons records two with brown handstamps. (The cheaper of the two is listed a trifling £6000.)

Here, for completeness, is an example of a favour-cancelled copy of the DATIA 4 Anna, in a strip with three uncancelled copies:



Later on, you do find black controls; they're usually scarcer than the blue. Here is a pair of the last stamp of Duttia, the 1920 ½ Anna, with black controls:



Incidentally, Scott is far inferior to Gibbons for the Indian States ... in most cases. But in Duttia, for many years it listed this postal-fiscal



while Gibbons refused to do so. I gather Scott has now dropped its listing of the stamp. This is very silly: it certainly was used postally, even if my example is strictly fiscal.

Excellent info! Thanks!

I agree, Scott is not only incomplete in Indian States, but less than accurate too many times for comfort. One of the main reasons I have few Indian States sorted in my collection.

Thanks again, Tony!

k

Yep. It is no longer in the Scott Classic.

Very silly: it was one of the few points of superiority to Gibbons in the Indian States!

khj, I have on file scans of the latest Gibbons listings of a couple of States, and I don't mind doing one or two others. If you need them, just email me, and I'll be happy to send them.