Jaipur And Rabat - Stationery Envelopes

Jaipur seems to be a usual stationery envelope, with a printed stamp, from that time (althoug some kind of a reference number will be useful... not sure is the "50" correct on).

But I am not sure is the Rabat one also a stationery envelope or something else?

Filipo, my guess would be a mark for a pre-paid letter or a private mail cachet. Let me dwell a little on the very neat Arabic at the top and see if anything is helpful. I haven't used the language for a few years and I'm a bit rusty!

Thank you, Tim!

This can be any of the following depending on the paper type and knife size.

1. Jaypur 1913 ½A Chariot of Surya gray blue on laid paper envelope with Deschl knife type K8 (Deschl E7d) (13.7cm×7.9cm)

2. Jaypur 1913 ½A Chariot of Surya gray blue on laid paper envelope with Deschl knife type K9 (Deschl E7e) (13.7cm×7.9cm)

3. Jaypur 1913 ½A Chariot of Surya gray blue on wove paper envelope with Deschl knife type K8 (Deschl E7i) (13.7cm×7.9cm)

Deschl knife types K8 & K9 of Japur envelopes



The nearest equivalent is Higgins and Gage B4 though H&G gets the year wrong.

The stamp imprint was printed from die III which is also suggested as the state III of the same die which is also classified as dies I & II.

The imprint is typified by crude printing characterized by blotchy shading under the horses.

This envelope was issued to pay the basic letter postage ½A for 4.37gm (6 masha) weight, the rate in effect from July 1904 to November 19,1942.

The imprint is canceled with Kemmenoe and Batiya type 21 cds of Sawai Madhopur (26.0378°N 76.3522°E), now in Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan.

Ref. 1. The Comprehensive India States Postal Stationery Listing.
Ed. Edward F Deschl.
private, North Bergen 1994
Part I: Native (Feudatory) Indian States Postal Stationery Listing
Chapter XIV: Jaypur; pp.126, 130

2. Priced Catalog of Postal Stationery of the World (Section 9).
Ed. Edward G Fladung.
Higgins and Gage, Incorporated, Pasadena, USA 1968

Thank you very much for this great expertize, Joy Daschaudhuri!

I am afraid that I am unable to find out which knife is used, but I can scan the back side of the cover if that can be useful. There are no any postmarks on the back, so that is the reason why I didn't scan it initially.

Filipo, as for the Arabic text it seems to be explaining about a delayed letter but I'm struggling with the second part of the sentence. I know we have at least one Egyptian member on this board. Maybe he would be able to help?

Still doesn't help with the Rabat stamp, I'm afraid!

Thank you, Tim. Because someone has made a note in pencil that the cover is from Rabat, I suppose that somewhere (probably in the handstamp itself) is mentioned that.

Or this kind of handstamps have been listed in some references, so that somehow helped the annotator to find out the origin and wrote out "Rabat" in pencil.

Filipo, the cachet reads "Post" at the top and "Al Rabat" in the middle. I can't make sense of the lower inscription yet.

The Rabat cover is Cherifien post from the 1890s, run by the Moroccan king between certain cities during the period before the French established their protectorate.

Tim, thank you so much for the help and time spent on this!

Greaden - thank you for the info, I like the local posts.

Is this considered to be a local (hand)stamp or a stationery cover? Is it possibly listed in some catalog?

Maury lists them in their catalog of French African colonies. As far as I can figure out, they are handstamps. Each issuing city had its own design. Octagonal stamps were for commercial mail while circular designs were for mail from the royal court. Each came in five different colors. Most of those I have seen were from Fez.

Don't have that one... :-/

Thank you for all info!

Better scan of Jaipur printed stamp + back side of the cover...

The envelope is no doubt Jaypur 1913 ½A Chariot of Surya gray blue on laid paper envelope with Deschl knife type K9 (Deschl E7e) (13.7cm×7.9cm).

Scan of the back is important even if it does not have any postmark, like in this case to determine the knife type.



Vignette: The center shows the chariot of Surya, a Vedic God of dispeller of darkness, empowerer of knowledge and the power of sight to visual perception.

The chariot is driven by 7 white horses viz., Gayatri, Vrihati, Ushnik, Jagati, Pankti, Anushtup and Trishtup and the charioteer is Aruna.

The wheels of the chariot has 6 spikes, each symbolizing the 6 seasons viz., summer, pluvia, autumn, pre-winter, winter and spring.

Atop the chariot is the banderole which shows the motto of Jaypur state Yato Dharmastato Jayah meaning "Where there is righteousness, there is victory".

The 4 squares in the 4 corners show the numeral ½ denoting the denomination.
The top panel shows the inscription Sawai Jaypur and the left panel the denomination Adh Ana i.e. Half Ana, both in Hindi in Devnagari script.
The value is also in the right panel but in Urdu. This imprint is thus trilingual.

Variants of this same vignette were used by Jaypur in its 1904 1st issue and subsequent 1904 Perkins, Bacon and 1911 Jail Press issues and in 1931 Investiture issue.

Here is a clearer illustration of the vignette of the Chariot of Surya as used in Jaypur 1931 ¼A SG 40.

Thanks again for your expertize, Joy Daschaudhuri.

"Deschl E7e" is a most usual sample of this issue or this cover is more or less scarce?

Wow! what a fabulous piece of information.
A keeper.

Alas, my contribution to Jaipur is ragged and disjointed.
Thanks also to Tony, in the past for his assistance.

Flotsam and Jetsam...........

Not mine


Stamp backstamped by expertiser Yaremdji
(Istanbul Stamp dealer 1885-1925)




Robson= Robson Lowe?
The Rajah of Bhong