Indian States Stash

Knowing the interest of many of our members in the Stamps of the Indian States I thought I'd post the examples I found in my haul from last weekend.
Gwalior, Cochin, Hyderabad, Charkhari, and Travancore.




Nothing staggering I'm sure, but still fun for a novice like me.

Nothing obviously screams rarity there, but ...

You might want to measure the perfs on the last two Hyderabad stamps: any gauge other than 13½ is a very nice find indeed.

Could you do a separate scan of the last (½ Anna) Charkhari stamp, please? It's a fairly slim chance, but it just might be an actual postal cancellation, rather than the common CTO. If it is a postal cancellation, I'd happily offer $10 for it; as a CTO, well, I currently have just over 200 copies CTO.

Travancore, as Rod222 could tell you, is a maze of different watermarks and perf gauges:
The 1 Chuckram green is good perf 12 (£2.75) or compound (£3.75).
The next (actually Travancore-Cochin) could do with a separate scan also. Another very long shot, but it just might have an inverted 'O' in the 'TWO' surcharge. Again, a very nice stamp if it has compound perfs.
The 8 CASH and 4 CASH surcharge stamps are better (£1.25 and £1.50) with compound perfs.
The TWO ANNAS surcharge (Travancore-Cochin again) comes with two different watermarks, but basically perf 12 or compound perfs are good to very good.
The 1½ Chuckrams red is £1 perf 12, otherwise, not up to much.
The 3 Chuckram is good perf 12 (£5) or compound (£1).
The FOUR PIES surcharge is good perf 13½ (£1.25) or compound (£10).
The last ¾ Chuckram is good to very good perf anything but 12 all around.

Now you've dipped a toe into the Indian States waters, why not plunge in properly? It really isn't too scary, you know!

As requested a couple of up close and personal scans.





I'll let you be the judge regarding CTOs and inverted Os.

The two Hyderabads are definitely 13½, so no joy there.
I'll spend some time on the other perfs another day.
Thanks for the info Tony.

Aaaah Travancore, (sigh) look after them well.

Putting them with other states
well, beauty and the beast comes to mind.

Just not sure about the Charkhari CDS. It's certainly much more faint than the normal CTO cancellation, but there isn't quite enough of it there to be certain one way or the other. Here's an example of a postal cancellation on that ½ Anna



and a contemporary cover:



I'm afraid that isn't an inverted 'O' in the surcharge after all. The inverted O is dropped quite significantly below the line - more than in your case. This is one of mine, on the Two Annas surcharge:



And keep a tight grip on your Travancore. If Rod gets anywhere near them ...

Oooh! the dropped "O"
I havn't got that one.
You up for a trade? arm? leg? my neighbours ride on mower?

The mower only if you drive it across yourself. I don't fancy being the First Man to Cross the Nullabor by Mower.

Here's one even the mighty Mr Gibbons hasn't caught up with yet:



He has just about every other gauge of perf in vertical imperf between pairs, but not 13½. Oh well, noone else is perfect.

Very nice indeed, don't you just love pillared selvedge?
Forget the trade, it's time for the charcoal face, pinch bar
and a late night visit.

Thanks for the input, gents.
Haven't decided the fate of these beauties yet, be it sale or self. Not my collecting bailiwick, but certainly tempted to assign them a page in my 'just because' album.

Found more Hyderabad, mis-ID'd as Syria.

Those Hyderabad 1 Anna stamps are one of my retirement jobs. There are so many shades not listed anywhere, there's years of fun ahead.





















And I could go on ...