Kashmir - The Old Rectangulars

Assuming the reader at least has a general idea of what and where Kashmir was/is, I should nevertheless explain the 'Old Rectangulars' part.

These stamps are referred to as 'Old' in order to distinguish them from the 'New' Rectangulars, issued for both Jammu and Kashmir in 1878, to supersede the individual 'Old' Rectangulars for Jammu and for Kashmir. (The New Rectangulars are a vastly larger and more complex field. I might try to take it on at a later date.)

While neighbouring Jammu was able to get by with only two values, ½ and 1 Anna, Kashmir needed six values, ranging from ¼ Anna to 8 Annas. I say needed advisedly: all six values are reasonably abundant used, to the extent that Gibbons rates the used top value 8 Anna cheaper used than mint. Not a common situation!

The lowest value, the ¼ Anna, was probably intended for postcards. I've yet to see it used that way, or on any postal item for that matter. Still, unused or used, it's fairly common:



This is the complete plate, a strip of five. It formed the top half of the plate, with the bottom row of five being the 2 Anna value. Goodness knows why - but no 2 Annas are known in black, and no ¼ Annas are known in a 2 Anna shade.

Here is a single ¼ Anna unusually without the margins being trimmed off:



And here is what is usually described as a proof strike of the ¼ Anna plate in printer's ink:



These are not terribly uncommon. If your heart is set on one, you'll be able to find it, with a little patience.

Any Kashmir Old Rectangular printed in printer's ink should set the antennae quivering. All the legitimate stamps were printed in watercolour.

The ½ Anna was the workhorse of the set: it paid the basic letter rate.

It comes in a wonderful range of delicious blues, probably made up from Afghan lapis lazuli. (The Afghans had ruled Kashmir for many years, until around 50 years previously.) Here is half a sheet:



If you were a thorough-going masochist, you could probably use this to plate the Kashmir ½ Annas, but I've never attempted it myself

It turns up regularly on cover, most often with a red seal cancellation:



and less commonly with a black seal:



and almost always with some sort of anti-theft device, as on these covers. Correspondents in Kashmir in those days were obsessed with the idea that the servants or the post office would steal the stamps, if it wasn't made clear that the letter had been stamped.

The 1 Anna is known in blue, in error. It's hair-raisingly rare, and I don't have one. The normal shades of the 1 Anna, though, ranged from (as in Gibbons) 'orange'



through 'brown-orange'



(all the examples I have of this shade seem to exhibit oxidation to some extent, so I wonder if it is a legitimate shade)

to 'orange-vermilion'



Here is an example of the complete 1 Anna plate - sadly a reprint, not an original:



Covers of the 1 Anna (and all values except the ½ Anna) are quite scarce. This seems to be from the brown-orange family:




and this from the orange-vermilion family:




The fading on cover seems to be regrettably normal.

Unfortunately, the printers chose yellow for the 2 Anna ...

This is what Gibbons calls 'yellow'



and their 'buff'



And here is a 'buff' on cover:

There was only a single die of the 4 Anna value (as there was for the 8 Anna), but the printers still managed to make rather a meal of it. The basic stamp was in a rather wishy-washy emerald green



said to be arsenic-based

They managed to produce tête-bêche pairs of the 4 Anna



(Similar errors exist for the 8 Anna, but I don't have one.)

Gibbons recognises two rather uncommon shades of the 4 Anna - but at least they're quite distinct from the emerald-green. First is the sage-green:






(This is my only 4 Anna cover, and given its rarity, it's a great comfort to me that it has a clear certificate from Hellrigl, who was one of the experts on Jammu & Kashmir.)

There was also the even rarer 'myrtle-green' shade:



As these two shades seem to have printed far better than the basic emerald-green, it's a bit of a mystery why they're so scarce

Lastly, there was the 8 Anna red. It comes in a range of red shades, but Gibbons only lists it as 'red'



It's worth checking any copies you may have of the Jammu ½ and 1 Anna red, just in case

Used copies often show the rather disfiguring British Indian L (or L-3-5) in bars cancellation.



This shows that the (probably) parcel was lodged through the British Indian post office in Srinagar. It isn't a problem, unless you insist on a neat corner cancel.

So that's the 1867-77 set from Kashmir. Rather strong meat if you're more at home with neatly engraved 20th Century issues from respectable places, but well worth the effort acquiring and studying these stamps.

tonymacg yet another fascinating presentation. Thank you!

Not tempted, are you then, Jenny2U?

Wonderful Tony! I actually prefer the "disfigured" used items!

Great display, I think I'll stick to Poland though....

Well, I tried

For myself, I like the used - and on cover even more so. But finding covers of any but the ½ Anna blues takes great perseverance.

And, of course, it can be hard enough to make out the designs when the stamps are unused.

You really have to look closely to pick this



as a scarce blue printing for Jammu and not the much more common Kashmir ½ Anna (it's SG 52, £650, for the Jammu against SG 92, £10, for the Kashmir. The 'normal' colour for Jammu was red.)

They say there are some faces only a mother could love ... let's just say this is not one of them

Always look forward to your posts, love your dedication.!

A most interesting subject. But, I'm affraid,too complex and expenssive for me.

Well, these old watercolours of Jammu & Kashmir are a bit wild and woolly, but as the Romans said de gustibus non disputandum

One point I should have mentioned when writing about the grey-to-black ¼ Anna stamps is the rarer early ½ and 1 Anna printings in (sort of) black. Occasionally, very very occasionally, you may find one masquerading as a ¼ Anna. Here is a ½ Anna:



These should only occur with the red seal cancellation. The black seal cancellations came too late for these first printings.