Soruth State - The Cuckoo In The Nest

Collectors will be familiar with overprints on stamps 'borrowed' from other countries, denoting changes of political status. However, borrowing from other countries without any change in status must be rather rarer - these are indeed 'cuckoos'in the nest.

In 1949, Soruth State in India was experiencing something of a postal crisis. It was running out of stamps. Its ruler had tried to join Pakistan in 1947, so the new Indian government wasn't particularly sympathetic to the State's problems. Soruth called in and surcharged all existing stocks of its own higher value stamps, but this still wasn't enough.

In desperation, Soruth turned to the neighbouring Sate of Bhavnagar, and borrowed a supply of 1 Anna (the current letter rate) revenue stamps of Bhavnagar. Soruth overprinted these for its own use, locally and in great haste. As might be expected, this created a field day for philatelists

Here is the basic, overprinted, stamp:



and a cover, showing that it wasn't just created for collectors



(wouldn't have been the first time an Indian State produced a stamp just for collectors This cover travelled from the capital, Junagadh, to the second town in the State, Veraval.)

Having used up all the high values by surcharging them, parcels created a bit of a problem:

Probably needless to say, the printers made some serious errors. Gibbons lists two:

'POSTAGE' omitted:



and the overprint double:



There were 40 positions in the overprint forme ... and at least 14 of them show some of the errors beloved of collectors.

There were missing stops after the letters U.S.S. ('United States of Saurashtra') all over the place. The top row of eight of the setting had no fewer than four missing stops. Here are a few:



From Row 1/3



and Row 1/4



and Row 1/5

There were also small and large letters dotted throughout.

Small 'S' in 'POSTAGE'



(Row 2/1)

Small 'N' in 'REVENUE'



(Row 2/7)

A small 'V' in 'REVENUE' occurred twice:



(Row 3/8)



(Row 5/5)


And there was even a large 'V' in 'REVENUE'



These stamps (SG 60) aren't too hard to find - and you've got quite a reasonable chance of turning up one of the printing errors undetected, too

But in 1949 when all this overprinting took place, Bhavnagar and Saurashtra/Soruth were not neighbouring states - they were one and the same state. The foundation of the United State of Saurashtra (USS on the overprints, although it was more usually known as the United State of Kathiawad) incorporated into a single state both Bhavnagar and the area roughly known as Saurashtra/Soruth, as well as others; strictly speaking Saurashtra/Soruth had previously been an approximate geographical area covering a number of independent states in Kathiawar and before 1948 there had never politically been a Saurashtra/Soruth State any more there had been a State of Scandinavia or a State of the Balkans.

The USS/USK was simply validating stamps previously belonging to one individual constituent for use in the whole of the new state. The new state of Rajastan did exactly the same with stamps of Bundi, Kishangarh and Jaipur.

Quite right at the political level, but at the postal level, Soruth (or Saurashtra or Junagadh) remained distinct. You couldn't have used these Bhavnagar overprints in Bhavnagar.

Just as you couldn't use a, say, Kishangarh Rajasthan overprint in Jaipur or Bundi, or Dungarpur for that matter:

Lovely presentation, Tony.

Thank you. That is interesting information, and I sit corrected to study its implications.

When I have a spare moment, I'll have a look at my Morvi, to see if any were used during the USK/USS period. Of course, Gibbons says that Morvi was merged on the 15 April 1948.

Missing two periods? Row 1/4 ?

I have a feeling I have posted this before, unable to find it, however.

This Saurashtra 1949 U.S.S. REVENUE & POSTAGE SAURASHTRA on Bhavnagar 1940 1A Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavsinhji Gohil (1912-1965) purple court fee typograph (SG 60) comes from sheet position either R3/1(17) or from R8/1(57) which are characterized by the absence of stops after U and the 1st S of U.S.S..

R4/1 is charcterized by the ovpt. with P of POSTAGE being under V of REVENUE.

Rod, if you are interested mail me your e-mail address. I can send you the plating table of the U.S.S. ovpts. of Saurashtra 1949 1A SG 60. I cannot figure out how to send attachments thru the site e-mail.

The unoverprinted base stamp is Bhavnagar 1935 1A Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavsinhji Gohil (1912–1965) Köppel and Manners type 5 purple court fee typograph (K&M 131) (size: 2.8cm×3.7cm) with perf.11, printed on wove paper printed in sheets of 80 (8×10) by Waterlow and Sons, Limited, London, England.

The Gujarati inscriptions in the top panel read Bhavnagar Darbar and in the lower value panel the denomination as Ek Ano (One Ana). At the left of the ruler's profile is printed Court Fee and at the right Ticket in Gujarati.

This 1A denomination was primarily used to pay the basic letter postage 1A for every 29.15gm (2½ tola), the rate in effect from April 1,1943 to March 31,1950 when the Saurashtra State Post merged with the Indian Postal Service.

The stamp appears to have faint impression of either Malaviya type 22/Wood and Meher type PM28 or Malaviya type 25/Wood and Meher type PM29 cds of Junagarh.

Thank you Joy,
email sent.

My collection of Soruth is very sparse, this will make a nice album page.




To which stamp are you referring, Joy ?

I have referred to the postmark types in relation to this specific Saurashtra 1949 1A SG 60 stamp [R3/1(17) or R8/1(57)].

Rod, I have sent you the Saurahtra 1949 1A SG 60 U.S.S. ovpt. plating table as well as the scans of the relevant pages of Chapter IV: Barred Obliterators of "Cochin Postmarks and Cancellations" authored by Guna Balachandra Pai and published by Robson Lowe Limited, London, England (1974) which was due for some time since I did not have your e-mail address.

https://goscf.com/t/50688&whichpage=2#438180

Now say Thank you.

Thank you indeed, Joy.
Havn't had time to peruse just yet, but look forward to it.

As many have said before, the generosity of the Philatelic community is legendary,
I am indebted.

Tony sent me some years ago, the Haiderabad (sic) numeral cancellations 1874-1898
and The Circlular cancllations of Jaipur State.
So my Indian Library is growing nicely.
Rod

Here is the setting of the overprint on SG 60: