George VI Era Cochin - Mostly Used

no dont shoot yourself yet. we havent made the will leaving your stamps in my good hands yet :)

The Cat Protection Society gets my stamps if anything untoward happens to me.

but this isnt anything that happens to you. this is what you are trying to do to yourself and I am trying to impress that these are just lil pieces of paper even if they are from barwani

sigh

Then you won't have any objection to the Cat Protection Society getting them, will you? The cats will enjoy playing with them.

certainly not. its not like they are mnh but they wont give it to the cats they will seell it and use the proceeds to do something for the cats and you know there is only one other person interested in those stamps dont you :)

Enough of this idle banter, now. We have more serious things to consider, like ... surcharges!

Well, it wouldn't be Cochin without a few good surcharges

The 4 Pies and 1 Anna on the single umbrella (Rodney) watermarked paper were surcharged, and given the relative catalogue values of the surcharged and unsurcharged stamps, it's obvious most of the printings were surcharged.

The 3 Pies on 4 Pies, SG 92, is a scarce stamp. This one is actually on the sheet watermarked paper (SG 95), but it looks the same, from the front anyway:



The 9 Pies on 1 Anna comes in two forms, SG 92a



and SG 92b



This cover is addressed to Travancore State. It demonstrates a unique feature of the Cochin and Travancore posts. Elsewhere, the British strictly forbade the use of State stamps on mail going outside a State. However, Cochin and Travancore were allowed to exchange mail, without it passing through the British Indian system.

There is also a 1 Anna 3 Pies surcharge on the 1 Anna. Good luck to you if you find it: it's listed used only, at £4250. The theory is that one sheet was surcharged accidentally - and rather less than the full sheet has been recovered

The sheet watermark printings were also surcharged, and most of them are quite common used.

The 2 Pies on 6 Pies exists perf 13x13½ and 11. Neither is particularly common used - unusually for Cochin, used are priced higher than mint (about 5x for the perf 13x13½ and 3x for the perf 11). Here is the perf 11, SG 93a:



And here is a rather philatelic cover, with the perf 13x13½:



along with SG 67, SG 102 and SG 103. At least it does make up the correct 9 Pies rate.

The 3 Pies on 4 Pies exists with the one- or two-line surcharge. Both are common used. Here is the one-line, SG 94 (back again, in its rightful place )



Gibbons records this only perf 11, but the two-line surcharge, SG 95,



only perf 13x13½. Well, maybe ... But you never know with Cochin. I always check the perforations on these stamps.

The 3 Pies on 6 Pies does exist in both perforations. Here is the perf 13x13½, SG 96



Finally, there was a 4 Pies on 6 Pies surcharge, SG 97. An uncommon stamp used (Gibbons prices it at £13), which is why this is such a ratty copy:



It's the only one I have

tsk tsk your standards are falling

Behave yourself, Spock, or I'll do the same as this for Barwani. That'll scare the pants (or other garments, as appropriate) off everybody

The Service overprints were also surcharged, but only on the sheet watermarked printings.

The 3 Pies on 4 Pies exists in both the one- and two-line versions, and perf 11 and 13x13½

Here is the single line version, SG O74



and the two-line version, SG O75



Keep your perf gauge handy: the perf 11 version of this stamp rates £170, and much better mint.

A (relative) few 1 Anna stamps were also surcharged 3 Pies:



SG O76

The 9 Pies on 6 Pies surcharge again exists in both one- and two-line versions:



SG O77, and SG O78 on cover:



And finally for the Fourth Raja, the 1 Anna was also surcharged 1 Anna 3 Pies, once again in both versions



SG O79, and SG O80:

Maharaja Kerala Varma II died in 1943, and was succeeded by his younger brother, as Maharaja Ravi Varma. Having already waited a fair while for his turn, he only survived until 1946.

His reign started relatively quietly, with three values: 9 Pies, 1 Anna 3 Pies and 1 Anna 9 Pies. However ...

The first version of the 9 Pies, SG 98, which appeared in 1944, showed him with mutton chop whiskers, or else an exaggerated cheekbone



It was replaced in 1946 with a Die II, without the whiskers/cheekbone, as SG 98a:



This stamp exists perf 13 or 13x13½. The perf 13 is the good one (£18 used); the one above is the cheaper version (£4 used).

The 1 Anna 3 Pies also exists in both perforations. Here is the cheaper perf 13 version, SG 99



And just for Spock, and any North American readers who've lasted this long:



This is the perf 13x13½ version. The US seller (presumably using some simplified version of Scott) who sold it to me left some serious money on the table. Gibbons rates the perf 13 version (SG 99) at £8 mint - and the perf 13x13½ version at £325 mint.

The 1 Anna 9 Pies stamp, SG 100, is another stamp worth more used than mint:



This is a late use, after Indian independence in 1947, when Cochin and the neighbouring state of Travancore were merged. Travancore had used its own currency, but now surcharged its stamps in Indian currency. Stamps of both States were used interchangeably throughout the newly merged State of Travancore-Cochin. Here, Travancore-Cochin SG 4 is used with Cochin SG 100.

The Service overprints on these were fairly straightforward.

It is said that Die I of the 9 Pies was never overprinted for Service. Here is the Die II, SG O81. It exists perf 13 and 13x13½. There's nothing to choose between them used: they're both 10p jobs.



The 1 Anna 3 Pies, in that hideous magenta, supposedly only exists perf 13, as SG O82



Double overprints are quite common. Gibbons lists them very generously at £12 used. To me, they look more as if the paper had shifted during printing - but Gibbons are very choosy about allowing in double prints and double overprints, so I suppose they must be OK.

The 1 Anna 9 Pies also exists only perf 13, SG O83:



This is also absurdly overpriced at £1 used - 20p on a good day, I think.

none left anything on the table I doubt anyone would pay 500$ for that stamp. anyway its ruining your collection since you hate mnh. ill send you what you paid the dealer send this my way :) ill even throuw in a travancore :)

No, no, that would never do. Sir Rodney owns all the Travancore stamps in the world. Even if they're not yet physically in his collection.