India 1918: What's Happened Here?

Can anyone explain to me what might have happened to this stamp?



Thanks for looking!

The oil from the cancelling ink has caused the
stamp ink to bleed?

Is that a "used abroad" CDS?
Maybe a Rangoon Burma, Bridge CDS.

I think I may be right
Look at File 054

I agree: just linseed oil bleed from the CDS. Most probably Rangoon Sorting: offhand, I can't think of another PO beginning RAN... and large enough to justify a SORTING CDS.

To be strictly correct, though, Burma wasn't 'abroad' until 1937. In the George V era, it was still formally part of the Indian Empire. After all, if you were to apply that criterion, then Karachi CDSs would also have to be 'used abroad'. This would further devalue 'India Used Abroad'! For instance, this cover





from Srinagar to Peshawar would be travelling to a 'foreign' destination.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. OK, so it's just oil bleed - the most extreme example I've ever seen, however.

Yes, I thought the cancel might have been Rangoon, but then I asked myself, Aren't there hundreds of places in India starting with RAN???

There are hundreds of places starting with RAN..., but not many that are big enough to have a special SORTING CDS. That's why I'd agree with Rod: Rangoon.

Thanks, I satnd corrected.
I'll take a screen shot of this advice
for my "used abroad" folder.