So Who's Afraid Of The Indian States?

Spock, Spock, the world of philately ended in September 1951, when the Travancore-Cochin PO was finally closed down.

Correction. Philately ended on the death of His Majesty King George the Fifth, 20 January 1936.

The Nasik prints of 1939...superb stuff.

Well, Young Rodney, it baffles me how you could prefer this



to this version of the 1 Rupee



But I've long ceased trying to fathom your taste in philatelic beauty ...

hahahaha

further response would be futile.

(but I bet you drive a Leyland P76)

I once owned a Fiat 500 ...

And now back to life-and-death matters: Rajasthan.

The new state of Rajasthan was formed in 1948 to absorb most of the States of the old British Rajputana. (Bahawalpur had been part of Rajputana, but acceded to Pakistan at separation.) Rajasthan included the former stamp-issuing States of Alwar, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Shahpura and possibly Kotah and Tonk, and the still active States of Bundi, Jaipur and Kishangarh.

Bundi and Kishangarh used a handstamped or machine printed overprint:



(Handstamps on Bundi)



(Machine overprints on Bundi), and



(Handstamps on Kishangarh)

Bundi only overprinted its last set, although it made up for that by using black, violet and blue handstamps as well as black machine overprints.

On the other hand, Kishangarh went trawling through the stocks of remainders, and overprinted stamps from issues dating back to the 1899-1901 set. Generally, the older stamps are scarcer - obviously stocks were much smaller. Many of the more modern stamps are much cheaper overprinted than un-overprinted. The last 5 Rupee (SG 91 of Kishangarh and SG 65 of Rajasthan) mint is catalogued at £750 without the overprint, but £50 with the overprint.

This brings us to an important point about these handstamps. The expertising bodies used to refuse to certify the handstamps, and they may still do. Too easily forged. With Kishangarh, a simple rule of thumb is to compare the values of the overprinted and unoverprinted stamps to work out whether an overprint is likely to be genuine or not. (And of course, if you're in the market for a Kishangarh 1945 5 Rupee, you'd want to be fairly certain that a handstamp hadn't been removed )

Jaipur went its own way with the Rajasthan overprints:



The Jaipur issues could only legitimately be used between 26 January 1950, when they were released, and 1 April 1950, when the State POs were ordered closed. The lesson is obvious: beware of forged postmarks. The 1 Rupee is at £23 mint - and £275 used.

The shutdown of the State post offices wasn't quite as neat and orderly as that might suggest. Here is a quite commercial use of an obsolete Jaipur 9 Pies postal stationery envelope, with British Indian and independent Indian stamps, in November 1950 - 7 months after official closure. And still using Jaipur State cancellations, too.



Genuinely used overprints on Bundi and Kishangarh are for the most part quite scarce. Regard any used items, let alone covers, with suspicion!

couldnt you have stopped them from issuing stamps then I have to spend hundreds to finsih from 1936 to 2010

tony I will get you all of those stamped used for you just send me 2 mnh copies one I will keep the other one I will put on an envelope and send it back to you so it will be a genuine cancel :)

Spock, I shudder down to my boots at the thought

Now, moving right along to some more properly Ugly stamps, Rajpipla was yet another mayfly State. It first issued stamps in 1880, and the State post office was closed down in 1886. It only ever issued three values:



And there you have it: SG 1 to 3.

Although I don't normally intend to deal with postal stationery here, to fill up the space, I might mention that Rajpipla also issued letter sheets



These come up for sale occasionally. If you can't resist them, make sure that they're free of faults, and full length - about a US letter-sized page.

The only other (possible) point of interest is that the current holder of the (now abolished) throne of Rajpipla emerged from the closet several years ago. This caused enormous scandal, and he's been the subject of salacious gossip ever since.

Jammu and Kashmir are begiining to look un-ugly.
Thanks for the Stamp purchases, Spock
received today in excellent order.

Shahpura, like Dungarpur, was only fairly recently admitted to the catalogue. Like Dungarpur, it wasn't excluded for any misdemeanors, but simply because it had been overlooked entirely during its philatelic lifetime.

It first issued stamps in 1914: very basic, type-set things, which now cost a small fortune, and should only be bought with a clear certificate from the BPA. Strange to say, I don't have an example to show.

Shahpura also issued a postal-fiscal in 1932: a 1 Anna revenue stamp that could also be used for postage.



These are much easier to find, but of course, watch out for cleaned off fiscal cancellations.

Shahpura quietly disappeared into the new State of Rajasthan when it was created, but unlike Bundi, Jaipur or Kishangarh, it doesn't seem to have overprinted its stamps for Rajasthan.

Rodney, what a sad comedown from a State whose SG 1



was so gorgeous

thanks for letting me know Rod I will begin listing again.

Sirmoor was rather more action-packed.

It started out quietly enough in 1878 with a 1 Pice green, followed two years later by the same stamp in blue:



Hardly daring designs, though they must have appealed to a few collectors. They're not too hard to find now, though I don't recall seeing a genuinely used copy.

Around 1891, supplies had run out. The State authorities needed more to meet philatelic demand, but what to do? The original lithographic stones had been cleaned off and reused. moment: a dealer's catalogue illustration of the stamps was available, so it was sent to the printers in Calcutta, with a request for more, please. Unfortunately, the dealer's illustration included simulated perforations, so when the new stamps arrived ...



Mint, these are fairly easy to find. Used are also easy to find, though most of the used out there are CTO with a pattern of bars. Stamps actually used, with CDSs, are a bit scarcer.

Forget about finding these, or any other Sirmoor stamps for that matter, on cover, though. The State postmen were under strict instructions to recover all used stamps from the recipients of letters The used stamps recovered in this way were sold on to collectors. This rule must have been pretty rigidly enforced, because used of Sirmoor are generally fairly easy to find, but the very few surviving covers all seem to have been posted to addresses outside the State.

After this little contretemps, Sirmoor decided to aim higher. It ordered a set four values from Waterlow in the UK in 1885:



The 3 Pies brown was replaced in 1888 by the yellow.

There were seven printings of these stamps, producing a number of shades - some rather uncommon. The 3 Pies and 6 Pies also exist in two types each, distinguished by the size and position of the white dots on either side of the value. If you enjoy that sort of thing, this set will provide hours of innocent amusement.