The East India Company And Crappy Old Collections

There are many references in many threads to "condition" being all important to the collector. And I am certainly not going to dispute this axiom, especially if you are setting out to purchase a specific stamp. However, I am going to admit that I just love Crappy Old Collections.

There, I have said it. With a smile and perhaps a blush but it's true. They are relatively plentiful, usually dirt cheap (they should be!) and require lots of work and TLC to clean and to sort the material. But they are fun and that's what this whole thing is about, isn't it?

I find material that I have never seen before, though, since it most likely has passed through several hands before being stuck in a lot on ebay, I do not expect rarities or valuable stuff. But there are often items that have a high catalogue value, if only they were not damaged, and these are things that I would never otherwise have seen.

Take the scans below. Someone, somewhere built this collection in an old ledger book. It was just a few pages long but one of them was filled with stuff from India. It was on paper, or stuck in with folded selvedge from somewhere - a couple were even glued (mucilage from the look of it). I suspect a kid who was handed a bunch of stuff by an older relative but who knows.

The condition is dreadful, for the most part, but they are not things I would normally run across and certainly not things that I would set out to buy individually. It's not an area of specialization for me but it's one where I will research the time period, write a short narrative of the postal history for my album and maybe, through people who do know what they are talking about and there are several India specialists in SCF, I will be able to add information about any of these that have interesting histories or postmarks.

Here is what I found on that page in that COC, cost most likely under $2.00 prorated for this page, and with no apologies made for the condition. Can anyone truly say they aren't interesting?

Lovely! I wish I could say I owned such as these (I have one or two).

Very interesting stamps indeed. I have a number of old "cut squares" similar to your first couple of scans that are cut right to the imprint of the stamp. Of course, today we consider that a philatelic "no-no", but back in the day, that method was quite common as I understand it was required that the stamp be trimmed that closely in order to fit into the space provided for it in the albums of that day.

You touched on it in your initial post, but I agree you have no one to please but yourself in terms of collecting stamps of interest to you and you should make no apologies for liking these examples.

Although it may not be worth much in terms of value, you certainly can't beat the price and yet it still gives you hours of collecting enjoyment...so enjoy!

Thanks wt, it is what I do, enjoy. There are areas I specialize in - primarily Canadian related - and if I do drop any serious cash, that's where it goes. You do get to the point where your "serious cash" becomes insignificant in the marketplace and then it gets back to the original point of collecting. Expanding horizons and trying to find those intersting things that catch your eye and spark your curiousity.

That's why I so enjoy this forum. You can post something like this and people simply enjoy looking at it, or comment, or ... There isn't that overwhelming concern with absolute monetary value or the "correct" way to collect. Anything goes.

Backroads, I think you may have hit the jackpot - or at least done very nicely out of your $2 investment

The fourth item, the 2 Anna green, appears to have the B over 147 cancellation of Penang, in the Straits Settlements. Gibbons lists it as SG Z22 at £325.

The 4 Anna red and blue is a reasonable copy, for a cut-to-shape. These aren't my specialty at all (and they are highly specialised), but it looks like the cheapest, SG 23. With full margins, this is £325; Gibbons suggests 3% to 10% for cut-to-shape. Yours is quite a fair specimen, so maybe £10 to £20.

The 1 Anna brown has an RMS cancellation - 'R(ailway) M(ail) S(ervice)'. Not rare, or even scarce, but a nice addition to a railway mail theme.

For the rest, well, as my old granny used to say, If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

I think its a great assortment, especially for the money.

The 4-anna (the octagon), alone, has four head dies and a couple different frames (plus fakes galore). Sure, it is not supposed to be cut to shape, but mine are, too.

Many of your examples have watermark varieties, some of which are nicely valued.

The octagon cancels of the Bengal Postal Circle were issued outside of India in some instances, and some of those have good value. I checked Burma, and didn't find any matches, but there are other examples to check, too.

All in all, I'd have bid on that lot if it came through our club auction.

[edit: I see Tony checked the right list. Nice. ]

Cjd, B147 rang faint bells, but I had to check it in Robson Lowe. He also has a great deal more detail on the 4 Anna red and blue. With a truly huge scan of the stamp, we might be able to pin it down to the correct frame and head die.

Good (early) morning. My scanner is not the best but I can try to rescan the stamp and see what happens. I can do 600 dpi without trouble and, theoretically, 1200 dpi, but I have never been happy with the clarity when I try that. Let me know which stamp(s) you would like to see.

And thank you for the information so far. I must say it's a bit of a surprise. Would these cancellations indicating usage outside of India be mentioned in Stanley Gibbons under India or under, for the one mentioned, Malaya (Penang) or Straits Settlements?

Stamp 9 is a type 7 cancellation of calcutta (Bengal circle)

stamp 5 is a 'diamond of bars' number 1 = bombay
10 bars, I have seen 7 bars and 13 bars
not sure what type yours is.

Here is a much better scan of the stamp you were talking about.



And Rod, thanks for the added P.O. information.

To identify the dies, we really need a close up square of
Her Majesty's hair bun, Is that possible? A square around
her head including the bun?

Stamp 18 is a barred code cancel,
I think it looks like an "R" never seen that,
if it was "R-1" that would have been Rangoon, Burma.

It has been scribed by a postal clerk when
it was adhered to the cover, by two lines,
and "Stamped" was written above it. (Theft prevention)
I think you can see the "ped" of "stamped"
suggesting there was another stamp alongside of that one, to the left.

Don't ask me what use that information is good for :)

Any information is good information, Rod.

Is this what you want or do you need more of the bust?

Very cool and I absolutely agree as I feel the same way! I simply buy what I like and what I can afford. I do, however go WAY over budget on the classic Americans these days but there again, that's what I'm currently into. 1860's through the "1902 issues" I just love those 1902's and only have like 3 and all of them not-so-good specimens but I just adore the way they look but I'll soon fix that as I'm seriously looking to beef them up. I really enjoy reading the plethora of information that arrives on posts like these! Thank you all!

Hmmm, I am going for the die 3a
it lacks the strong shading to the tiara and the chignon,
that cuts out die 1 and 2
then betweeen 3 and 3a the chignon is drawn lighter
hence die 3a.

I am in awe!