India State- Travacore Number 1

From all I can tell this might be #1. It has no watermark and is used. Not great centering. Any thoughts?

I think it is up side down.

First, you need to check the paper type. Is it laid or wove? To do this, hold the stamp with tongs at a high angle to the light and move it around a bit. If you can see what look like small ridges running across the stamp when it's in the vertical orientation then you likely have SG1. If not, then your stamp will be on wove paper. Don't expect to see the weave, as it is usually hard to see.

If it's wove paper, then there are quite a few other alternatives which will all be in Scott or SG. You then need to check the watermark, which is different depending on whether you have the 1904, 1922 or 1926 printings. Then check the colour of your stamp against a colour chart. After this, you may have an answer! As you may be aware, this isn't something which can be done on a web-site as all scanners render colours differently, as do all computers, so don't expect us to offer an opinion of which shade of blue you have. It can't be done reliably.

Then, as Danko has helpfully pointed out, you need to mount the stamp the right way up on your album page...

HTH

I forgot to rotate the pic. The stamp has no watermark and it is laid paper. I do not have SG, so is SG1 different from Scott 1 for this stamp?

Rozie, I would assume so. Numbers beyond that will almost certainly be different.

This is Tiruvitamkur 1888 1 Chakram Padmanabhashanku slate violet typograph (SG 1/Sc 1) with perf. 12, issued on Oct 16,1888, printed in sheets of 80 (10×8) by Tiruvitamkur State Printing Press, Tiruvanantapuram on white handmade laid paper supplied by Dickinson and Company, London, England.

The stamp was designed and the dies were engraved by Dharmalingam Asari.

Since the sheet had the Padmanabhashanku watermark at the center, 25 stamps in the sheet including the marginal rows, did not have any watermark.

It may be mentioned that Tiruvitamkur (that is the correct name of the state) stamps of 1 Chakram denomination, were extensively used to pay the letter postage, both intra-state and to Kochchi state, for the 3rd weight step between 5.83gm (½ tola) and 11.66gm (1 tola).

@TimH



This stamp was canceled with Mus type III Ti (initial of the state name Tiruvitamkur) barred circular obliterator, introduced in 1888 to 90 Tiruvitamkur Anchal Offices. This cancel was gradually phased out from 1911, first from Head AOs and by 1915, it was gone when it was discontinued in the remaining Sub AOs.

So, there is no question of the stamp shown, being from 1922 or 1926 printings.

@TimH



Matching colors of early Tiruvitamkur conchshell issue (as well as Kishangarh CoA stamps) with SG Color Key is the most cumbersome and often futile job as Tiruvitamkur conchshell stamps exist in several uncataloged shades resulted from different printings of same denomination.

Thank you, Joy. Since I too collect these and other stamps of the native states, I'm always glad to have the knowledge that you share. In this case, quite timely.