Soruth - A Destination Mystery

Elsewhere I've complained that this site is lacking in philatelic roughage, so here's a cover to occupy the minds of the sleuths:





Here's what I do know, or I'm pretty certain of:
- Soruth stamps were valid for postage only within Soruth State, at least until 20 January 1949, and probably always.
- The stamps are genuine. They're from two different printings of the 1929 Service overprints.
- The undated JUNAGADH postmark looks genuine.
- Official mail, such as this, should normally have the name and initials/signature of the government official who authorised the letter. This letter doesn't.
- The letter is addressed to a recipient in Manavadar, which was in the neighbouring State of Bantva. (Bantva was a small State, ruled by a branch of the Junagadh ruling family, lying between the main body of Soruth territory and an outlying piece of Soruth territory, Saradiya.)
- The Junagadh State Railway carried State mail across Bantva to Saradiya, and stopped at Manavadar Station.

So here are the problems:
- This cover should have been carried by the Indian Post Office. (It defended the right to carry mail between Indian States fiercely.)
- There is no authorising signature.
- The postage rate is high. Until 1943, a standard letter was ½ Anna; after that, 1 Anna. This letter has 2 Annas of postage.
- There is no receiving cancellation, Indian or Soruth State.
- The status of Soruth stamps between 20 January 1949, when Junagadh joined the United State of Saurashtra, and 30 March 1950, when the State Post Office was officially closed, is uncertain. The belief is that Soruth stamps were still only for use inside Junagadh.

So: is this a legitimate piece of Soruth mail, carried perhaps illegitimately outside the State Borders?

Or even better, can anyone come up with evidence that the service was legitimate?

(A note for the confused: Junagadh State referred to itself on its stamps as Soruth or Saurasthra. Not strictly accurate, but there we are )

As you know, I haven't the faintest idea what I'm talking about, but I'll play...

Are mute cancels normal?

It is too bad that there is no tie to the cover with the cancel. Are the smudges at a couple edges of the pair worrisome, in that they don't appear to carry over at all to the cover?

Perhaps the recipient is a diplomat of sorts. I'm sure you've tried various permutations on the spelling of his name.

Since the link to outlying Soruth territory passed through this area, perhaps they had a convention that allowed delivery of mail to their diplomats?

Interesting stuff. There are probably only three people in the world who know the answers. Or perhaps two, if you don't know.

Cjd, I think I've tried all the permutations of the Shaikh's name, but you never know.

The family relationship between the ruling families of Bantva and Junagadh may come into it, but even so, the Imperial PO was very strict about mail going outside State boundaries.

The only exceptions I know of were for Jammu & Kashmir (extraterritorial offices at Sialkot and Amritsar in British India) and occasional exchanges with Poonch (the ruling family was a junior branch of the Jammu & Kashmir ruling family, and the two States bordered each other; but that was in the 1880s and 1890s); Hyderabad official mail (which could be sent to and from British India with Hyderabad Service stamps only) and Travancore and Cochin (which were allowed to exchange mail). The Travancore-Cochin Post Office was, briefly, permitted to use its stamps for mail anywhere in the world, so this cover



to Ireland, franked only with Travancore-Cochin stamps was perfectly proper.

Anyway, hope springs eternal ... Perhaps a descendant of the Shaikh is a member of SCF.

I should have added that the undated cancellation isn't abnormal. It can be found with the date added in manuscript.

It would have been nice if it had tied the stamps to the cover, but the Soruth authorities were more concerned with preventing the re-use of their stamps.

You can lose a lot of time reading up on the histories of these two little states. Interesting stuff.

I spent a few minutes looking for a JSR route map, without success. There is a lot of interest in railroads. I'm surprised that there is not more information readily findable, such as maps and timetables. Perhaps it is out there and just not in English.

If a JSR train starts its run in Soruth, and ends its run in Soruth, it sure seems as though the British would have a hard time policing a policy for a letter that would be delivered along the way.

The information is out there, cjd, but not (yet) on the Web, AFAIK. To remedy that situation, here is a map of Soruth/Junagadh, with the State Railways marked, courtesy of the India Study Circle Soruth Handbook:



Bantva is in the northwest. Manavadar isn't marked of course, but it isn't far over the border.

And here is a timetable for the relevant route in the 1930s, again courtesy of the India Study Circle Soruth Handbook:



As to the policing of the Imperial mail monopoly, AFAIK it was left to the State POs to reject mail improperly posted. The Jaipur State PO and Imperial POs in Jaipur State seem to have been particularly severe on this sort of thing.

If the map is too small, please email me, and I'll send a hopefully larger scan.

Soruth.
Do you know the name of this Prince of Bhavnagar ?
If so, Wiki would like to know
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...ndian_States

http://www.stampsociety.org/article...y-of-gujarat

Bhavnagar State Court Fee Stamps.

To meet the further requirements, the Junagadh authorities sent a request to the authorities of United States of Saurashtra for assistance. They were given permission to buy and overprint surplus one Anna Bhavnagar Court Fee Stamps for both postal and revenue use. The Bhavnagar stamps were already overprinted "SAURASHTRA" and therefore, they were overprinted with a three line overprint in black as U.S.S./REVENUE & / POSTAGE (Ill 3).

Scott #39 1949

Note: Saurashtra, and the the rest of the overprint, were carried out at different times, hence the cross over.

I believe this gentleman's name is Maharaja Raol Shri Sir Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji.
Check the photo on this site (near the bottom of the page):

http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalt...avnagar.html

The wiki list is for people appearing on postage stamps. His portrait is on a Court fee stamp. It only became a postage stamp when overprinted with Saurashtra. The Bhavnagar entry is probably empty because there were no Bhavnagar postage stamps.

I know nothing of Indian postal history, but I notice that the address is on a piece of paper glued to the front of the cover. If you hold it up to a strong light is there another address or indication that it might have been originally sent to some place within the state?

As was mentioned, the stamps are not tied so it is an act of faith that they were used to pay postage for this letter - maybe yes and maybe no.

Given that the recipient seems to be a notable person, it is possible that this letter could have been cancelled at some government office and then someone who was going to the city of the addressee hand carried it outside of the mails.

It is interesting puzzle and I look forward to seeing if it can be solved.

Indeed, that is the gentleman, thanks 22c.

Kimo, I doubt that there is a solution to this little enigma. If the cover was sent outside the State (of Soruth/Saurashtra/Junagadh), then it was against Imperial rules - and noone was likely to own up!

Incidentally, that overprint on the Bhavnagar Court Fee issue is replete with small and larger letters, to the extent that an entirely normal copy is probably scarcer than one with abnormal lettering. If anyone is interested, I have the complete setting mint: it makes an intriguing study. The stamps do, occasionally, turn up on cover, and they were certainly commercially used: