George VI Era Cochin - Mostly Used

The so-called Third Raja series of Cochin straddles the end of George V's reign and extended into George Vi's. (The Third Raja, Maharaja Rama Varma III, reigned from 1932 to 1941.) Elsewhere, I suggested I would show these stamps used, and by and large, the ones that follow will be used.

Initially, the stamps were recess printed by Perkins, Bacon in London. Very attractive stamps they are, too - one might almost call them glamorous, if Spock hadn't copyrighted the word

The 2 Pies, SG 54



The 4 Pies, SG 55, used for the postcard rate



Postmarked 12 Dhanu 1119, equivalent to the 12 January 1944. (Don't be misled by the year dates in Cochin postmarks. They show the Malayalam Era (ME) year, not the CE/AD year.)

And here is a cover showing the 6 Pies (SG 56), the 1 Anna (SG 57) and the 2¼ Anna (SG 60) all used on a (refused and returned) registered cover



The 1 Anna 8 Pies, SG 58



was made redundant not long after it was issued. Mint, it isn't hard to find, but the Gibbons value of £6.50 for used is very unflattering.

The 2 Anna, SG 59, on another registered cover:



I've already shown the 2¼ Anna, SG 60, above.

The 3 Anna SG 61, again on a registered cover



Higher values are hard to find used at all, let alone on cover. Here is the 3 Anna 4 Pies, SG 62



Not a great example, but it has a P perfin. Cochin was the most prolific user of perfins of all the Indian States. 'D' (Dewaswom - the State temple administration) are the commonest; others such as this P turn up occasionally, battered and unloved.

The 6 Anna 8 Pies, SG 63



would have been used mainly on parcels, so you take what you can get in the way of condition. (Though I would like something a liiitle better )

Note the CE year date '50'. 1950 was the last year of the Cochin Post Office. The State never again issued such a high value stamp, and 15 years later, they were still sitting around in stock.

And I don't have a used example of the top value 10 Annas (equivalent to a bit less than a shilling Sterling at the time) SG 64

finally we are seeing some improvement. well done Tony pretty soon you will start disliking used stamps :)

Come, come! Only two of the set were mint, and neither was unhinged. Used on cover for me.

so you destroyed the stamps willingly?

i am putting a lil note in the book

i sincerely hope you dont take mint stamps and hinge them.

Spock, I only did it to keep you away from them. Until yesterday, they were unhinged. But once I decided to show them here, I thought I'd better attach hinges - just in case you couldn't control yourself. They're so ... glamorous, don't you think?

no I told you once they become hinged they lose their glamor its like falling in love with a girl to later realize she is a guy :)

now stop defiling mnh and send them my way

Aha! The Crying Game eh?

No: in the unlikely event that I do have any MUH, they will stay my stockbooks. Unless you make me an irresistible offer, that is.

Mint stamps are just sitting around waiting to perfom the duty they were created for....to deprive them of that is shameful.

On cover stamps are the only ones with their mission completed and still able to tell their complete story.

There is nothing better.

aha the nawab of tonyland falls again to the lure of barwani

as soon as I get my hands on some barwani that you dont have ill extract every mnh from your collection :)

I agree completely. Unfortunately, for my favourite State, Barwani, mint are much more common than used in all but a handful of cases. (If Spock can show me a mint - never mind if it's been hinged - copy of either of the two unlisted first stamps of Barwani, he can name his own price.)

Most values of the ordinary stamps were also overprinted On C(ochin) G(overnment) S(ervice) for official use.

Like most Cochin Service stamps, these are easy enough to find used, though covers can be elusive. (And continuing a regular pattern in Cochin Service stamps, some values are quite common used, but quite expensive mint. The top value, the 10 Annas is priced at £1.50 mint and £1 used, but the 3 Annas is £48 mint and 10p used.)

Here is the 4 Pies, SG O34, correctly used on a postcard from the Government Press:



The 6 Pies, SG O35



and the 1 Anna, SG O36 with a 2¼ Anna, SG O39, paying the registration and acknowledgment of receipt rate:

The 1 Anna 8 Pies, SG O37, saw a lot more use than its unoverprinted counterpart



though finding it correctly used on cover is another matter entirely.

The 2 Annas, SG O38, and 2¼ Annas, SG O39, turn up regularly together, paying the registration rate and acknowledgment of receipt rate, on outsized covers:



I don't have any examples of higher values on cover. Presumably, they were used for the most part on parcels.

Here is the 2 Annas, SG O40

And the three top values:

First, the 3 Annas 4 Pies, SG O41:



The 6 Annas 8 Pies, SG O42:



and the 10 Annas, SG O43



It's a minor mystery to me why the Cochin government made such relatively heavy use of this value, when its citizens seem to have used it so rarely - but there we are.

In 1937-8, the first rumblings of change appeared. Three values of the officials appeared with a different overprint:

The 1 Anna, SG O44



along with the earlier 2¼ Anna, SG O39, showing the difference in overprints

The 2 Anna, SG O45



and the 3 Anna, SG O46



Once again, these stamps aren't especially difficult used. (The most expensive is the 3 Anna, at £2.50.) But mint is another matter: the 1 Anna is at £40, and the cheapest, the 3 Anna, is still at £11. Quite why this should have been, I don't know. At different times, different States seem to have objected to selling their official stamps to collectors. Or perhaps the State authorities simply didn't understand the obsessive-compulsive collector mentality.

why would I sell that? I would just trade it for all the mnh india that you have :)