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India

Steve Hiscocks wrote:

My notes:
A document said to record information from an earlier incarnation of the Does anyone know what these differences are?
I have some information below on the Postal Service. The same may apply to the normal postage stamps.
Hiscocks constrained his scope to include only purely telegraphic stamps. The economies of publishing a book
required constraints, including limitations on images. Thankfully with the modern internet I can afford to use
more and better images as well as explore more fully the topic of telegraphy.

Telegraphy in India(PDF) was initiated by William Brooke O'Shaughnessy in 1839 when he erected a highly successful experimental line of 13 miles near Calcutta.
At that time however there was little interest in developing it. In 1847 a new and more progressive Governor– General, James Ramsay, Earl (later Marquis) of Dalhousie (1812–1860),
gave him permission to build a line from Calcutta. The first section of 30 miles was to Diamond Harbour, taking 3 months. That was then extended by a further 52 miles to the sea.
The success of the project allowed the Directors of the East India Company to be persuaded to finance an extension of the line from Calcutta to Agra, Delhi, Lahore and Simla
with a second line from Agra to Bombay and thence to Madras (3200 miles in total). At this point O’Shaughnessy was appointed Superintendent of Telegraphs in India.

An important auction by Stanley Gibbons was held 20 September 2021 of the INDICA Collection(PDF) if India Telegraphs.

A detailed map of the Telegraph lines in India, including Ceylon and Burma, was done in 1894 and is viewable at the (digital) Bodleian Library of Oxford.

1860 - De La Rue on un-watermarked "enamelled" safety paper. Perf. 14

H1   courtesy of www.stampbay.com	H1   Ex Andrew Higson, courtesy of Spink & Son.

H2   from lot 1 of the listing of the Taprobana Collection Auction, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.	H2a   from lot 17 of the listing of the Indica Collection Auction, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons. stamped "ON H M S S ONLY." (On His Majesty's Special Service Only)

The oval cancel reads "CEYLON TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT/PRIVATE". According to Stanley Gibbons "no example known used in India. The three recorded are all used in Ceylon".
On H2a, the Indica lot description quotes Hausburg et al on page 159 as stating "This appears to be of the same nature as the local surcharges which preceded the official issue of service postage stamps."
There is one other known example in the Tapling collection at the British Library.

H3, 4Rp mint with selvedge, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons from lot 126 of their Revenue auction of 21 November 2023.
They say only four unused examples of the 4r recorded.

Hiscocks added the following 4 notes:

An example of the 4 anna used, courtesy of Andrew Higson. The date is presumably in error and should have been 1861.




Remainders (the majority) of the 4a, 1r and 4r stamps were overprinted and used for Court Fees. Images courtesy of Andrew Higson.







The way of cancelling them was very varied. They certainly could not be re-used.

1869 (1 February) - De La Rue on white or bluish wove paper. Perf. 14
Various frames with two heads of Queen Victoria.

1 Ans.   H4	2 Ans.   H5 - courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.	4 Ans.   H6 - courtesy of ibredguy.co.uk.	1 R.   H9 - courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.	5 R.   H12 - courtesy of ibredguy.co.uk.

8 Ans.   H7	2R 8A.   H11	10 R.   H14	25 R.   H17	50 R.   H20
Most of the rest of the set, courtesy of Dr Mark Gibson.

Watermarked Crown over "INDIA". W1

RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH4 H4 1A yellow-green (1878) (190,000) 40.00 4.00 RH4a H4a         green (March/May 1880) 40.00 4.00 RH4b -         watermark inverted 90.00 - RH5 H5 2A maroon (1869) (600,000) 24.00 1.50 RH5a H5a         deeper shade (1881) 40.00 2.00 RH6 H6 4A light blue (shades)(1.2.69) (1,500,000) 16.00 0.50 RH6a H6a         watermark inverted 100.00 8.00 RH6b H6b         on bluish to very blue paper 40.00 4.00 RH6c H6c         dull blue (1881) 32.00 1.00 RH7 H7 8A light brown (shades) (1.2.69) (5,400,000) 12.00 0.40 RH7a H7a         on bluish to very blue paper 40.00 4.00 RH7b H7b         watermark inverted - 8.00 RH7c H7c         imperf (Oct. 1878, Ceylon) - 150.00 RH7d H7d         reddish-brown 20.00 0.80 RH8 H8 1R grey (shades) Die I (1.2.69) (875,000) 200.00 4.00 RH8a H8a         on bluish paper 300.00 10.00 RH8b H8b         bluish grey 300.00 10.00 RH8c H8c         imperf (7.5.69, Bombay) - 150.00 RH9 H9 1R grey (shades) Die II (1869) (15,000,000) 20.00 0.50 RH9a H9a         blue-grey 12.00 0.50 RH9b H9b         double printing (March 1879) - - RH10 H10 2R 8A orange-yellow (shades) Die I (1.2.69) (800,000)   32.00 0.60 RH10a H10a         on bluish paper 60.00 1.20 RH11 H11 2R 8A orange (shades) Die II (1878) (970,000) 40.00 1.00 RH11a H11a         watermark inverted - 10.00 RH12 H12 5R orange-brown (shades) (1.2.69) (875,000) 40.00 0.80 RH12a H12a         vertical perfs. misplaced 8mm to left (Karachi 1871)  - 40.00 RH12b -         watermark inverted - 75.00 RH13 H13 10R dull blue-green(shades) Die I (1.2.69) (475,000) 40.00 0.80 RH13a H13a         deep blue-green 60.00 1.00 RH13b H13b         imperf. - - RH14 H14 10R dull blue-green(shades) Die II (1878) (570,000) 40.00 0.80 RH15 H15 14R 4A bright lilac (Jan. 1870) (67,920) 100.00 4.00 RH16 H16 25R reddish-lilac (shades) Die I (1.2.69) (150,000) 100.00 4.00 RH17 H17 25R reddish-lilac (shades) Die II (1878-9) (250,000) 80.00 1.50 RH18 H18 28R 8A bright yellow-green (Jan. 1870) (79,560) 200.00 2.00 RH19 H19 50R rose (shades) Die I (1.2.69) (50,000) 300.00 5.00 RH19a H19a         imperf. - - RH20 H20 50R rose to rose-carmineDie II (1874) (120,000) 120.00 2.00

Value Die I. Die II. 1R. 2R. 8A. 10R. 25R. 50R. Some of my images are not as good as I would like. For the 1R. and 50R, corner frames are solid or double-lined.  For the 2R.8A. the lines of shading behind the head are thicker on Die I. This reduces the contrast. On Die II there is also shading, particularly at the back of the neck, and it is easier to see the boundary of the head. Also Die I is a very yellow shade whereas most Die II stamps are the later orange shade. For the 10R, Die-II letters and numbers are thicker and the head background lighter due to thinner lines. For the 25R, Die-II has the white ornaments shown, Die-I does not.

14Rp 4 Ans.   H15 28Rp 8 Ans.   H18 The missing ones, courtesy of Mark Bloxham.

Lot 124 of the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021), courtesy of Stanley Gibbons. This shows a pair of H7c (imperf) used in Colombo 11.11.1878.

Lot 2 of the listing of the Taprobana Collection Auction, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons. "A single imperforate sheet was issued at Colombo in about October 1878"

H8c on part of a receipt, cancelled with Bombay 7.5.1869 courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.

Hiscocks added the following 5 notes:

Unfortunately, Hiscocks said nothing about distinguishing the Dies.
He has some helpful arrowed diagrams for all but the 25R. value, but some words would have been useful.
I have tried to describe the differences better above.

1881-82 - Provisionals. 'TELEGRAPH' of various sizes (quoted sizes include stops) overprinted on revenue stamps. White or bluish wove paper, perf. 14

These can be sorted by the height of the overprint:
2½mm - Type 26 (generally high)
2¾mm - Type 28 (generally central, no stop)
3mm - Type 27 (generally high) or Type 29 (generally central, no stop)

The images below are from various sources and have been re-sized to be, as near as I can get, to the same scale for overprint comparison.
The actual width of the overprints can be slightly variable since the typography was done by hand and spacing between letters may not have been consistent.
Warning, Forgeries about: I see many of these that are fiscally used, have forged overprints added, and then are offered for sale as genuine unused telegraphs.
Fiscal usage was often done by embossing with a large ornate design and date plugs. This should not exist on a genuine unused telegraph stamp !
More information on detecting fakes is given below.

Calcutta Overprints (August 1881):
Type 26, 24 x 2½mm overprint including stops - enough to span 17 perforation teeth
Type 27, 28 x 3mm overprint including stops - enough to span 20 perforation teeth


RH21   (Type 26 overprint) courtesy of Tony Brown (anthonybrown55 on ebay).


RH22   (Type 26 - 24 x 2½mm overprint). from Wikimedia Commons


RH24   (Type 26 - 24 x 2½mm overprint). courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions. Sold as S.G. T25
This overprint looks more uneven than the others, with the 'G' slimmer.


Type 26 - 24mm x 2½mm overprint on 4As (not listed by Hiscocks - added as RH27), courtesy of Moses at mystampzone, or on ebay.

Type 27 (28 x 3mm) for comparison (RH26) - a composite of separate left and right halves from RL.

There are some apparent differences in these Type 26 overprint examples. The images are from different sources, using different scanners.
Scanners vary in their accuracy of stated resolution (something not generally specified). Also individual impressions are not always perfect.
But I cannot help wondering if these are all genuine overprints. - Any experts out there care to comment ?

	Type 26 on RH21.
	Type 26 on RH22.
	Type 26 on RH24.
	Type 26 on RH27.

RH23, RH25 and RH26   (Type 27 overprint - 28 x 3mm). Images courtesy of www.stampbay.com

For comparison.
RH26   (Type 27 overprint - 28 x 3mm)	RH32 (Type 26, 24 x 2 ½mm) courtesy Rupert of Strathspey Philatelics who tells me SG price the left half at 25% more than the right.

* I added RH27 due to the example shown.

Madras 1882 overprints: 26 x 2¾mm — no stop (18½ teeth) Type 28.
These tend to be across the face of the Queen. This was very much a French-influenced area.

RH28   - courtesy of Mark Bloxham.

RH28   from lot 166 of the listing of the Indica Collection Auction, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.

RH29   from lot 169 of the listing of the Indica Collection Auction, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.

   
RH30   Note the Pondicherry cancel. Pondicherry was part of French India and in the Madras area. The letter A has a relatively thick left side.
Left two images courtesy of Paul & Les Bottomley. Right image from RL

Bombay 1881 overprints: Type 29 (26 x 3mm), Type (26) (24 x 2½mm)

For comparison.
RH26   (Type 27 overprint - 28 x 3mm)	RH32 (Type 26, 24 x 2 ½mm) courtesy Rupert of Strathspey Philatelics who tells me SG price the left half at 25% more than the right.

Type 29 Image needed.
See Note 5.

Hiscocks added the following 6 notes:

OVERPRINT FAKES.

There are quite a few fakes of these overprints about. Some have clear indications of being fake, but others can be more dangerous.
These Special Adhesive revenue stamps were not used for telegraph purposes other than with these overprints. Used ones should be bisected with the normal inline telegraph cancel.
Fiscal cancels though were often done by embossing with a large ornate design and date plugs. This should not exist on a genuine telegraph stamp !


Here is an example, see the embossing, it even shows date-plugs of 20/9/90, well beyond the time genuine ones were used.
This overprint also shows very ragged edges, in contrast to this genuine one below, but most are more convincing.

I hope this saves some people from wasting their money. These 3 images courtesy of Paul & Les Bottomley.

Another example where the embossed fiscal cancel is clearly visible. These overprints were always in black, no exotic colourations.
The 'T' is 3.2mm tall, the 'H' is 3.7mm tall suggesting a rubber handstamp.

Another example, this with a very obvious fiscal cancel. If not for that. this could have been dangerous, so the overprint needs looking at closely so it can be recognised.
The top of the 'T' is slightly slanted and the serifs slightly splayed. the 'G' is more rounded than usual. The bottom serif on the 'R' slants outwards.
Also, the whole overprint is slanted downwards about 1.2 degrees relative to the stamp

1882 - As the 1869 issue (Die II where applicable) but new watermark with 'fleur de lis' added. White paper, Perf. 14

W2 - with added 'fleur de lis'.

RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH33 H32 1A green 10.00 1.25 RH33a H32a         yellow-green 10.00 1.25 RH34 H33 2A maroon 7.50 1.00 RH35 H34 4A light blue (shades) 10.00 0.50 RH36 H35 8A light brown (shades) 10.00 0.50 RH36 H35a         reddish-brown 10.00 0.60 RH37 H36 1R bluish grey 10.00 0.50 RH37 H36a         slate 10.00 0.60 RH38 H37 2R 8A reddish orange (shades)   20.00 0.60 RH38 H37a         dull orange 20.00 0.60 RH39 H38 5R orange-brown (shades) 25.00 1.25 RH39a -         watermark inverted - 55.00 RH40 H39 10R blue-green (shades) 50.00 1.88 RH41 H40 25R reddish-lilac 62.00 1.88 RH41 H40a         greyish lilac 62.00 1.88 RH42 H41 50R carmine (shades) 75.00 1.25 Hiscocks added the following 2 notes: Note 1. The 14¼R and 28½R values, which had been introduced to meet the                   agreed international rates in accord with the Vienna International                 Telegraph Conference of 1868, were not reprinted on W2 paper. Note 2. Cancellations were mainly as before but some circular date stamp                 cancellations are found after about 1888. All values are occasionally                 found whole, punched, and bearing either a place name or                 'CHECK OFFICE' stamped vertically.

1890 - New designs by De La Rue on white wove paper. Perf. 14
Various frames with single head of Queen Victoria.

1 Ans.   H42	2 Ans.   H43	4 Ans.   H44	8 Ans.   H45	1 R.   H46
H42 and H44 images courtesy of ibredguy.co.uk, H43 from from Wikimedia Commons - all reduced size.

2½ R.   H47	5 R.   H48	10 R.   H49	25 R.   H50	50 R.   H51	5 and 50 R. used examples.
The rest of the set (reduced size as specimens), courtesy of Dr Mark Gibson.					Whole used examples, courtesy of Mark Bloxham.

Hiscocks added the following 3 notes:

1899-1900 Provisionals. Overprinted or surcharged in black. Perf. 14

These were used while awaiting H55 below, which were actually a bit of a disaster because the colour was hard to see and
there was a danger of the stamp being affixed inverted (entailing the fining of the clerk responsible)
The stamps then had to be marked with a red line to prevent it.

H52 Calcutta 2 Rupees overprint on H47.	This is a bit of a puzzle, compare it to H53. It has a similar overprint plus on the right-hand side says 'SPECIMEN ONLY' It is stated to have a boxed advert for Errington and Martin on the back. These stamp importers used near-worthless stamps to advertise their company. They also had a reputation for combatting forgery. Is this a genuine specimen of an unknown essay, or a forgers attempt to discredit them ? If the last, they went to a lot of work for nothing. Anyone have something similar ? Image courtesy of Paul & Les Bottomley.	H53 Courtesy of Grosvenor Auctions.	H54 De La Rue 2 Rupees overprint on H47.

For the sake of interest, here is a range of examples of the Errington and Martin adverts on the back of stamps :

Image courtesy of Paul & Les Bottomley.

Forgers have certainly been at work here.

Calcutta overprint
De La Rue overprint
Forgery overprint

This is presumably intended to look like a double overprint and a 2Rs on 4As.
Images courtesy of Paul & Les Bottomley.
For the sake of completion, here is a comparison of the 'TELEGRAPH' overprint on H53 and the dubious item above, together with the earlier Provisional issue of Calcutta.

A mint RH53a (lot 245 of the Indica Collection Auction courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.

Type 26 on H22. Type 27 on RH26. from 2 separate halves. Known fake on fiscally used 2As. The type used on H53. The dubious type. The straight-legged 'R' is unusual. Note the lack of a '.' on the end.

A complete used RH55, Fort-Sandeman, Baluchistan (lot 257 of the Indica Collection Auction courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.

for this 4A on 1R  see RH69 below. RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH53 H52 2R on 2½R (N0. 47) (4.9.99) (236,960) 125.00 10.00 RH53a -             'RUPLES' for 'RUPEES' at top 800.00 - RH54 H53 2R 'TELEGRAPH' on Foreign Bill purple (see note) (24.2.00) (14,467)   600.00 100.00 RH54a -             watermark inverted 600.00 100.00 RH55 H54 2R on 2½R (N0. 47) (30.4.00) (283,840) 125.00 10.00 Hiscocks added the following 2 notes: Note 1. No. 52 was prepared in Calcutta to fill the gap while No. 55 (below) was being prepared                 by de la Rue. There are many minor varieties. At the same time de la Rue was instructed to                 surcharge such copies of No. 47 as they had in stock to produce No. 54. Stocks of No. 52 ran                   out before No. 54 reached India and No. 53 was produced in Calcutta to meet demand.                 Its life was very short and it is rare: the majority were called in and destroyed                 (except for the 'leakage' of one or two sheets) when No. 54 arrived. Note 2. No. 53 was overprinted on 40 year old Foreign Bill stamps on thick bluish 'enamelled' safety paper,                   watermarked W1. The watermark is hard to see on such thick paper — for printers as well as                 philatelists — and inverted watermarks might well exist for No. 53 as for most                 Foreign Bill stamps of this issue. RH56 - lot 273 RH56a - lot 276 RH56b - lot 282 The above 3 stamps are from the Indica Collection Auction courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.   1890 (14 November) - New design (Angeli Head) De La Rue on white wove paper. Watermark W2, perf. 14 RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH56 H55 2R yellow 150.00 15.00 RH56a H55a        red line printed across lower half. 300.00 - RH56b H55b        red line hand-ruled across lower half.   600.00 - For used 2R brown-orange see H61. Hiscocks added the following 3 notes: Note 1. Copies used whole sell as mint. Note 2. The unfortunate colour made the design difficult to see under the primitive artificial light of the time.                   Since the use of a stamp upside down resulted in the clerk being fined the value of the stamp                 (because it was assumed that any lower half in public hands would be used to construct a                 'new stamp') the offices in Madras and Bombay ruled lines across the lower half in red ink while                   the Calcutta office printed red lines before issue. Note 3. One set of colour trials in various shades of yellow and orange is known (ex de la Rue).

RH56 With the Angeli Head. Taken from page 162 of Hiscocks book.

Given the importance of the red line to ensure that the stamp was the right way up, I was intrigued about how the RH56a below was used.
It has holes through both halves, so certainly there is no chance of re-use, but survival of complete used examples, according to Note.2 below, was due to small offices combining Posts and telegraphs
together and putting all the stamps on the message part. Allahabad was made the Capital City of the North Western Provinces in 1858, so it was not a small place, though it probably had suburban offices.

Court fees (not always stamped) often have 2 holes, though often messy.	RH56a used in Allahabad. All these images are courtesy of Mark Bloxham.	Allahabad lengthwise with triplets of holes.		RH56a used in Lahore. Image courtesy of Stanley Gibbons, click image for listing.
Anything other than holes is generally manuscript.		Bombay, similar to above.
Check Offices generally have a couple of holes and "CHECK OFFICE"		As per Note 2 below, small offices may place the stamp in the message section.
and/or a standard in-line telegraph cancel.		They could be variously oriented and cancelled.

1904 Altered designs.

for King Edward VII. Other details as previous.

Reduced size images, courtesy of Dr Mark Gibson.

RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH57 H56 1A yellow-green 12.00 0.75 RH58 H57 2A maroon 12.00 1.20 RH59 H58 4A light blue 12.00 0.60 RH60 H59 8A brown 16.00 0.60 RH61 H60 1R grey 16.00 0.60 RH62 H61 2R brown-orange   32.00 1.25 RH63 H62 5R orange-brown   40.00 1.88 RH64 H63 10R bluish green   60.00 2.50 RH65 H64 25R bright lilac 80.00 2.50 RH66 H65 50R carmine 100.00 4.00 Hiscocks added the following 2 notes: Note 1. Except in the obvious case of No. 61 it is difficult to distinguish between top halves of the                 1890 and 1904 issues. Darker shades of blue on the 4A usually indicate the earlier issue but                 otherwise one can only be certain if either they bear cancellation dates in 1903 or earlier (this does                 not work in reverse of course) or the cuts are sufficiently low to show the difference imposed on the                 designs by the insertion of the imperial crown over the head of King Edward.                 Many used stamps of these issues cannot be unambiguously assigned and sell for perhaps £0.10. Note 2. Used whole stamps are not particularly rare and sell at a little below mint. They arise because telegraph                   stamps only were used at separate telegraph offices — found only in big towns — where they were                 bisected in the usual way. Elsewhere telegraph and post offices were combined and postage stamps                 were used for inland telegrams, the stamps being stuck only on the message part of the form where it                   would eventually be destroyed after checking. Telegraph stamps were acceptable in whole or part                 payment but would be stuck entirely on the message part like or with the postage stamps.                 Whole used copies thus result from leakage from the checking offices.                 This use of whole stamps below the line continued to be permitted for the 5 to 50R values after the                 abolition of telegraph stamps on 1 April 1908.

Used whole :     2Rp and 10Rp with "CHECK OFFICE / INDIA TELEGRAPHS." with 50Rp used in Bombay. Images courtesy of Les Bottomley.

1904 (July) - Provisionals surcharged in black on Foreign Bill and Telegraph stamps. Perf. 14

RH67 - position 55	RH67a on the left, together with normal. Courtesy of Steven Zwillinger. Steven says that there was one per pane and soon corrected.	*RH67f - 'P' for 'R' Courtesy of Steven Zwillinger. Steven says one per sheet.

Strip of six, positions 52-57. Shows position 53 which has the number 1 omitted and position 55 with two breaks in the bottom bar. That matches the one above-left that I had chosen as a normal one, but there are a lot of flaws here.
position 54 between them has a damaged "T" at the top and nearly all have problems with the letter "R" at top or bottom. Image courtesy of Mark Bloxham.

RH68 from RL	RH69 from RL	RH68 Specimen courtesy of Martin Robinson	RH69 Specimen from Wikimedia Commons

There are differences in the "FOUR ANNAS" overprint due to its trying to follow the curve at the bottom.

RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH67 H66 1A on 4R Foreign Bill, Purple on white to blue (205,508)   15.00 3.75 RH67a H66a        numeral '1' missing in upper half. 125.00 50.00 RH67b H66b        letters of 'ANNA' spaced out in upper half. 50.00 20.00 RH67c H66c        'h' for 'H' in upper 'TELEGRAPH'. 50.00 20.00 RH67d H66d        watermark inverted . 30.00 10.00 RH67e H66e        'C' for 'G' in lower 'TELEGRAPH'. 50.00 - *RH67f -        'P' for 'R' in upper 'TELEGRAPH'. 50.00 - RH68 H67 2R on 8A (No. 59) brown (190,707) 25.00 5.00 RH69 H68 4A on 1R (No. 46) grey (441,082) 20.00 5.00 * RH67f added due to the example shown above.   Hiscocks added the following 3 notes: Note 1. These provisionals arose from a run on low values caused by a change of tariff early in 1904.                 They were printed in Calcutta. Note 2. No. 66, like No. 53, is on the old Foreign Bill of watermark W1 on pinkish white to bluish thick,                 enamelled safety paper. Printing was poor and many non-systematic errors occur in addition to the                   systematic errors listed above. No. 66(a) occurred once in each pane (twice per sheet) but was                 quickly noted and corrected: it is therefore rare. The others also occurred once in each pane. Note 3. These stamps were in use from July to 17 August (1A and 2A values) and 24 August (4A) when                 remainders in the Calcutta stamp office were destroyed. The numbers above are those issued                 (i.e. those printed minus those destroyed).

Lot 333 of the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021), courtesy of Stanley Gibbons. This shows the variability of the overprint, as well as the RB perfin. The perfin die was just a single punch of the two letters, so to speed up the process the sheets were folded along the perforations so that multiple stamps could be perforated in each operation.

Regarding Note 1 above, Steven Zwillinger provides this helpful table for Inland rates:

It is taken from a book by Ilyas Patel & Dhananjay Desai. There is also a pdf doc downloadable with this and more information.

Later the deferred rate was changed to 10 words for the first 4 annas.

Here is a (half size) receipt using these provisionals:


Form F.SA with 7 annas for an Inland deferred telegram from Kalbadevi (Mumbai) with 7 words dated 27-11-04, courtesy of Steven Zwillinger, who also provided the table below.

The surcharged issue was withdrawn and destroyed when additional telegraph stamps were received from England in August 1904.

Postal Service.

An exhibit by Steven Zwillinger of the USA displays an example of this form as well as some pre-stamped forms and Telegraph stamps.
The exhibit specifically relates to the Edwardian issues. Interestingly it mentions that the 1906 Postal Service issue could
be used to pay for telegrams at combined Post and Telegraph Offices, "though none are recorded."
These would get telegraph cancels, whereas in normal use (Customs Duty) these stamps would get purple cancels.


A range of Postal Service stamps with the normal purple cancels.


An example of an 8As used in Calcutta with a black cancel.

Here are some Victorian high values with black cancels:

Image from the listing of lot 355 of the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021), with 2Rs and 3Rs, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons

The 2Rs are all used in Gulmarg, Kashmir. The pair and the 3Rs appear to have normal in-line telegraph cancels.

2Rs used in Secunderabad, courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

5Rs used in Simla, courtesy of Mark Bloxham.

According to secunderabad/history, Secunderabad was exempted from customs duty, so their normal purpose would not have been needed there.

Perfins

Perfins are known on these (though scarce). This one 'B B & R' is an unknown user in Calcutta. Image courtesy of Jeff Turnbull. We would be interested to hear of other examples.

Another from Calcutta, this is Ralli Brothers Perfin No. R 3. This is known on H44, H47, H48 (1890) and H69. Image courtesy of Jeff Turnbull.

In Bombay this Ralli Brothers Perfin is known upright on H46 and H50 (1890) Images courtesy of Jeff Turnbull.

See also the "CanD" Perfins that were used as additional cancels ?

Cancels.

As well as the two diamonds mentioned by Hiscocks, Ceylon and Portuguese India also used these stamps in their early days.
ANURADHAPURA, BADULLA, BATTICALOA, COLOMBO, GALLE, GAMPOLA, JAFFNA / JAFFRA (error), KALATURA,
KANDY, MANAAR, MATALLE, NAWALAPITYA, NEWERA ELLIA, PANADURE and TRINCOMALLEE were in
Ceylon, though be careful not to read 'OMB' as 'COLOMBO' when it is more likely 'BOMBAY'.
GOA was a Portuguese colony, and another colony DAMAUN may also have used them.
I have also listed the Pondicherry diamond under French India.

Madras diamond 1874 on a 2½ Die I		Madras diamond 1872 + ? - a couple showing that the diamonds were in pairs. Courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.			PONDICHERRY on a 25Rs.

Pondicherry diamond 5-4-73.	Pondicherry diamond 18-8-73.	Negapatam diamond 2-7-74.

A less well known one is Negapatam (various spellings) in Tamil Nadu, a former Dutch colony. This one courtesy of AlphaOmegaPhilately on eBay.    (Click on image for listing).

The diamonds are the exotic ones, but it was more usual to have "in-line cancels" with the station name and date.
This is an early example used at Gwalior on 29 April 1869. The 1 Rp stamp is Die I.
 
This back, has an Extract from Rules, with selected numbers from 6 to 46. Images courtesy of AlphaOmegaPhilately on eBay.    (Click on image for listing)

This is 2 years later, still at Gwalior but on 10 April 1871. The 1 Rp stamp is Die II.
 
The back, has the same Extract from Rules, but the cancel is now smaller and is missing the initial "G". Images courtesy of AlphaOmegaPhilately on eBay.    (Click on image for listing)

.
This appears to be the same type of form as the last, but was used at Mundisore which used a distinctive, undated cancel.

It bears a 1 Rupee die 1 stamp, so is probably 1869 or soon after, but who needs to know the year, right !
"SPACE FOR STAMPS" in thick seriffed lettering.    Image courtesy of AlphaOmegaPhilately on eBay.

Another example, used at Mundisore, but with two 8As stamps.

Again it seems to be the same type of form, but the cancel is a little clearer.
Image courtesy of AlphaOmegaPhilately on eBay.

Front and back (half-size) of a typical Inland receipt cancelled 'KARACHI 12-3 08'. This kind of cancel was normal.

Since only the top half should be on the receipt, the 1890 and 1904 series, used halves were normally indistinguishable.
This was a deferred telegram to Bombay for 7 annas, presumably having 13 words. Telegraph stamps were withdrawn shortly after, on 1st April 1908.
According to The Stamp Forum, the telegraph service in India finally came to an end on 15th July 2013.

Royal Exchange (Calcutta / Kolkata) 25 April 1902 (Popularly known as Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Building), from RL.

Lot 133 of the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021), courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.
This shows the special IMPERIAL ASSEMBLAGE cancel of 6.1.77, used at the Delhi Durbar at which Queen Victoria was declared Empress of India.
According to Stanley Gibbons "This strip merited specific mention in Crofton and Corfield’s book ‘The Adhesive Fiscal and Telegraph Stamps of British India’ (page 48)".

In 1885 (12 March) the British arrived in Cairo on what was called the Suakin Expedition, to combat the Mahdi in Sudan.
His force consisted of 2 British infantry brigades, elements of 4 cavalry regiments, including Australian, and an Indian infantry brigade.
It appears that the following hand-stamps were applied for accountancy purposes on telegrams involved in supporting the Indian brigade.
"EGYPT EXPEDITION / 1885." in purple.

 

 

 

It can be seen that these were used in a number of different places. I can see dates of 22/2/85 and 2/3/85. Presumably the receipts were sent to a different location where accountancy was done and the hand-stamp applied.
The last example shows that it was not just telegraph stamps that were involved. These images are courtesy of Abdelrahman Daw, — dawphilately on eBay.
According to Stanley Gibbons Lot 354 of the Indica Collection:
"This cancel was used at railway stations for the Indian contingent of the Expedition, prior to embarkation, and is found used from a number of telegraph offices"

Here is a (half size) Form F.A. Receipt from Amirs Camp.  Amir Habibullah Khan of Afghanistan made a state visit to India in 1907.
A travelling telegraph office was set up to accompany him while travelling around India.

Form F.A with 1 Rupee 7 annas (23 annas, for 29 words at the new rate) for an Inland deferred telegram dated 21-2-07, courtesy of Steven Zwillinger.

For "Bullseye" type cancels, see After Telegraph Stamps.

"CanD" Perfins

Here is an interesting sequence, courtesy of Jeff Turnbull. They involve perfined boxes containing "CAN^D" and a number from 1 to at least 11.
In normal perfin use, they would be expected to be an all stamps to be protected by it. That is not the case here. They are not cancelling all the stamps either, so are they a "cachet" ?
I think they are some kind of an inspectors mark.
Initially I thought that the numbers were allocated to certain areas, but as the evidence accumulates, that does not appear to be the case. The same place can have different numbers at different times.
Also the same number can be used at widely separated places at different times. I am inclined to think that they were allocated to specific inspectors/auditors who travelled around the various cantonments (see the map below).

     
This was used in Meerut, United Provinces (Northwest Uttar Pradesh, near Delhi) probably in 1904 (like most of the batch it was with).

     
This was used in Poona (near Bombay) on 15 January 1903. Also, at an unknown date Poona apparently used number 9 (see below).

 
This was used in Ootacamund (now Udagamandalam, Tamil Nadu), was the summer capital of the Madras Presidency and near Wellington Cantonment and south of Mysore. Used 9 March 1904.

Another one used in Ootacamund, this on 6 December 1902 but with a boxed number ' 3 '. Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

     
Used in Belgaum (near Goa) in the state of Bombay with boxed perfin of Cand / 3

This is probably Wellington, not far from Ootacamund mentioned above. Date unknown, but with a boxed number ' 3 '. Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

     
This was used in Masauli, Oudi (near Lucknow, United Provinces), now Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, on 2 February 1904.
The location of this seems to correspond to the current location of Lucknow Cantonment.

 
Another Belgaum (near Goa) as shown above, but this clearly dated 30-1-03, with a boxed number ' 4 '. Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

     
This was used in Dinapore (now Dinapur), Patna district of  Bengal. Date unknown.

     
Ranikhet, United Provinces (Agra, now in Uttarakhand) on 18 February 1903 with a boxed perfin of  'Cand / 6'.

MHOW (Military Headquarters of War), near Indore is the Oldest Military cantonment in Central India. Used on 2 March 1903 with a boxed perfin of  'Cand / 6'.
Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

This is probably Kamptee, near Nagpur in Central Provinces. Year unknown, but with a boxed number ' 6 '. Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

 
Murree (extreme Northeast Punjab), 3 July 1903 with a boxed perfin of "CAN^D/ 7".


Another number 7, this used at Dalhousie Balun, Chamba, Punjab.

 
Kohat (Peshawar in the North West Frontier) 11 March 1902 with a boxed perfin of "CAN^D/ 8"

Bannu (Peshawar, to the southwest of Kohat) 16 February 1904, with a boxed perfin of '/ 8'.


A very similar one used the next day.

Bannu (Peshawar, to the southwest of Kohat) 7 January 1904 .

"...Pinde Military". I think that allowing for spelling variants, this is a fairly common ending for place names, perhaps even Rawalpindi (see below for a later one).
It's the earliest date that I have seen for these at 7-11-91, with a boxed number ' 8 '. Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

     
Quetta, British Baluchistan used 7 January 1904.

     
Undated Poona (near Bombay) with a (sideways) boxed perfin. There is a single hole from the bottom of the digit, which best matches the position of '9' of Quetta above when overlaid.
One or two of the bottom holes don't quite line up though. I would expect that two places with the same 'code number' would be close together, but these are nearly 1000 miles apart.
It could be that the similarities are coincidental, but whatever digit it is would present similar problems, unless this is a '3' and Neemuch (see below) was actually a 2-digit number.
There could have been a '0', but that would be rather unlikely. More examples might provide more clues. There is no date on this example.
It is possible that the same code was used in different places at different times. Perhaps these were a kind of inspectors mark. I note that many of the stamps have a red tick mark, perhaps a group of auditors were
roaming the country checking that procedures were being correctly followed, each having a different perfin, but then, what would the "CAND" mean? "Cantonment Department" perhaps ?
I had assumed that it was "Cantonment District" but perhaps not.

     
Probably Naini Tal Cantonment. Naini Tal was the summer capital of the United Provinces (Agra, now in Uttarakhand). This was used 7 January 1904.
Tal means lake in Nepali, so it could be another lake in Kumaon or other places near/in Nepal if they had a Cantonment. Not sure if Bhim Tal, Sat Tal or Naukuchia Tal did.

     
Rawalpindi, near Murree in north Punjab but undated. This is unboxed and a different style, but was in the same batch and appears to be related.

Unknown numbers

Madras-Fort, but no date or clear number. Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

Probably Hyderabad and probably dated 19-3-02 but only part of "CA" shows. Image courtesy of Simon Scott of Scott Philatelics

The only place I have found so far matching this is Neemuch, Gwalior, Central India Agency (now Nimach, west Madhya Pradesh). At the moment I do not know what number it was. Virtually all of these "CAND" images are courtesy of Jeff Turnbull. For the sake of interest, I have prepared a map of the North-East part of India, as it was in 1903, showing where these examples were used. Map Key PLACE Number Date 1a Poona, Bombay area Number 1 15-01-1903 1b Meerut, United Provinces (Northwest Uttar Pradesh) Number 1 14-03-1904 2 Ootacamund, Madras Presidency now Udagamandalam, Tamil Nadu Number 2 09-03-1904 2 Ootacamund, Madras Presidency now Udagamandalam, Tamil Nadu Number 3 06-12-1902 3 Belgaum (near Goa) in the state of Bombay Number 3 ? 3a Wellington SouthEast of Ootacamund Number 3 ? 3 Belgaum (near Goa) in the state of Bombay Number 4 30-01-1903 4 Masauli, Oudi (near Lucknow, United Provinces), now Uttar Pradesh. Number 4 02-02-1904 5 Dinapore (now Dinapur), Patna district of  Bengal Number 5 ? 6 Ranikhet, United Provinces (Agra, now in Uttarakhand) Number 6. 18-02-1903 6a MHOW, in Central India Number 6. 02-03-1903 6b Kamptee, near Nagpur in Central Provinces. Number 6. ? 7a Murree (extreme Northeast Punjab) near Rawalpindi Number 7. 03-07-1903 7b Dalhousie Balun, Chamba, Punjab Number 7. ? 8a Bannu (Peshawar in the North West Frontier) Number 8. 16-02-1904 8b Kohat (Peshawar in the North West Frontier) Number 8. 11-03-1902 8c "...Pinde Military" - uncertain location. Number 8. 07-11-1891 9 Quetta, British Baluchistan Number 9 07-01-1904 9? Poona, Bombay area Number 9? ? 10 Tal. Cant: -  probably  Naini Tal Cantonment ? United Provinces (Agra) Number 10 07-01-1904 11 Rawalpindi, north Punjab near Murree Number 11 ? ?1 Neemuch, Gwalior, Central India Agency (Nimach, west Madhya Pradesh) Number ? ? ?2 Madras-Fort Number ? ? ?3 Hyderabad Number ? 19-03-02 Does anyone know the significance of these boxed perfins or have more examples ? Cantonments of particular strategic importance perhaps.

I suspect that these may relate to Cantonments All are at or close to cantonments, but then there were a lot of cantonments. ("CAND" could be Cantonment District). There still are a lot, (62) in India and some in Pakistan, but not now occupied by the British Army. The current ones include Danapur, Meerut, Nainital and Ranikhet.

After Telegraph Stamps .

A notice from T. D. Berrington, Director General of Telegraphs, dated 2nd March 1908 stated:

After the withdrawal of special Telegraph stamps on 1st April 1908, normal postage stamps were used for the purpose.
They can be recognised by distinctive cancels.

The standard 'bullseye' telegraphic cancel. Used in Pondicherry, French India. From RL.

25Rs used in Madras and 5Rs Service used in Simla (now Shimla).

Various codes are used on these : G.T.D. - General Telegraph Department. G.T.O. - General Telegraph Office. S.T.C. - Subscriber Trunk Calling. S.T.D. - Subscriber Trunk Dialling. I.T.D. - International Trunk Dialling. I.T.C. - International Telephone Call.

G.T.D. courtesy of Les Bottomley.

G.T.O. courtesy of Les Bottomley.

The above examples were chosen because they have reasonably clear cancels with little doubt about the initials at the bottom.
Unfortunately it is often not so clear. A badly printed "G" can look like an "S". Also "D" and "O" may be confused, and a broken "O" can look like a "C".   Some examples to illustrate what I mean :

This looks like it was originally made with G.P.O. and then corrected to read G.T.O. so mistakes could be made. Courtesy of Les Bottomley.	This is probably G.T.O., but a snall break could make the "G" into an "S", and a bit more flattening on the "O" could make a "D". Courtesy of Les Bottomley.	Two 15Rp stamps of 1924 used quite possibly in the same place, but 6 months apart. Both have only 2 stops. The first could be taken as "S T.D." The second could be taken as "G T.O.". But are they really different ? It's easy to see what you want to see. Images courtesy of Les Bottomley.

Examples with    "ITD.",    and more obvious    "TEL.",     "TEL"   and    "WIRELESS".     Courtesy of Les Bottomley.

Used Abroad

This Indian Telegraph cancel can be found on stamps of other countries.

Burma.

One from Akyab, Burma, this to Jaffna, Ceylon dated 12 October 1881.

These are on a Traffic Form B receipt. The cost covers sending to two addresses. Image courtesy of Steven Zwillinger.

One from Rangoon, Burma, dated 31 August 1907.

Image courtesy of David Sher.

This was used in Moulmein, South Burma on 6 June 1931. Image courtesy of AlphaOmegaPhilately on eBay (click image for listing).

FORT DUFFERIN / MANDALAY in two lines. This was in British Burma. Image courtesy of AlphaOmegaPhilately on eBay (click image for listing).

Kuwait.

 
Front and back of a Telegraph piece used in Kuwait in 1922.
I suspect that 'M.T.D.' stands for 'Military Telegraph Department', can anyone confirm or deny ?


A year later with a 'KUWAIT' overprint. These are typically on higher denomination stamps.
Similar items can be found for Burma, Pakistan and I'm sure more places.

Afghanistan.

No Form number, but marked "Indian Telegraph" and "Receipt for Inland Telegram".
Marked Class = "State" and sent from Kandahar, Afghanistan on 2 January 1880, to Quetta, British Baluchistan.

This was used during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, hence the red "PASSED" mark.
Image courtesy of Stanley Gibbons (Lot 52 of Sale 5938 of 22nd November 2022).

No Form number, but marked "Indian Telegraph" and "Receipt for Inland Telegram". Only 3 months after the last, but a very different form.
Marked Class = "State" and sent from Kandahar, Afghanistan on 14 April 1880, to Nari Gorge, also in British Baluchistan.

This was used during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, hence the red "PASSED" marks
Image courtesy of Stanley Gibbons (Lot 53 of Sale 5938 of 22nd November 2022).

Mesopotamia / Iraq.

Magil (corruption of Al Ma'qil), near Basra, was occupied in 1916 to protect British oil installations.
Images courtesy of Andrew Higson.

IETD cancel on 2Rp at Basrah. Strange date though ! Image courtesy of Mark Bloxham (click image for listing).

IETD cancel, "EZRAS TOMB" - Al-Uzayr, Iraq, on the Tigris River. "Venerated by Turk and Christian alike, it was by mutual arrangement guarded from injury." Part of Sale 5938, Lot 595, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.

   
Indian cancels on Iraq stamps. The British Occupation overprints are on Turkish stamps
as the area had been Mesopotamia, part of the Ottoman Empire up until the first World War. The British had re-named it Iraq.
The 6An and left-hand 8An, courtesy of Les Bottomley, are dated in April 1919 and have normal cancels. The right 8An is dated 28 August 1920, with IEFD, a year in which
Indian troops had been needed to suppress a rebellion against British rule.
The cancel on the right 8An is inscribed AMARAN / I. E. F. D. TELEGRAPHS

Tibet.

Used 26 April 1903 in Chumbi, Tibet.
Image courtesy of Stanley Gibbons (Lot 817 of Sale 5938 of 22nd November 2022).

Bhutan.

Bhutan is a bit of a special case. Historically it had been very much "off the grid", but political pressure to change prompted the king to modernise the country.
10th October 1962 brought the opening of the Postal Service in Bhutan, with the Department of Posts and Telegraphs being placed under the Ministry of Communications.
Telegraph forms of India were used.

A sending form A, sent from Phuntsholing to Calcutta, 16 May 1969. The charge in local currency (not Rupees) was 6Nu90 written at top-left, for 23 words.

The front has a 4Nu postage stamp, the rest is on the back, shown below.



The back refers to "... provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951". Images courtesy of vgstamps2015 on eBay (click an image for listing).

A couple more telegraph forms used in Bhutan are shown on the Miscellaneous page.

Service Telegraph Stamps.

Queen Victoria double headed issue (date and watermark unknown) Illustrated by C.S.F.Crofton (1905).
Handstamped "ON THE PUBLIC SERVICE ONLY" known (so far) on 8As and 10R only.

RH70   Lot 134.	RH71   Lot 135.	Type 57 from Hiscocks' book Pg165

RH70 and RH71 are from the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021) of Stanley Gibbons (available as a PDF download)
These examples both have multiple strikes, making them appear to be cancels rather than overprints.
Hiscocks' illustration appears to be taken from the 10R example. It may be that there are no other examples.
I would really like to hear from anyone with another example, or further information on these.

1908(?) Stamps of 1904 overprinted 'OHMS' in black.

RH72 to RH76   courtesy of Steven Zwillinger.

Hiscocks added the following note:

Railways.

A Form F. A. telegraph receipt from Patiala to Atari in the Punjab dated 14-11-88.
It has an attached 'MEMO' with the same datestamps and the words "This telegram being addressed to a place where there is
no Government Telegraph Department Station, is accepted under Inland Rule 20 for transfer to the Railway Telegraph."


I had assumed that, as in most countries, the Railways and Telegraphs were intimately connected, but in India the Government Telegraph
system was organised at a time when the railways were just getting off the ground as a private venture. According to this infrastructure web-page
the Government bought all the railway tracks at the beginning of the 20th century. Clearly though the Railways had their own Telegraph System independently.
Anyone know anything about that ?
This was sent as Urgent Private class, twice the normal rate. The 7 Rupees would have paid for 72 characters plus 4 words.
Image courtesy of Steven Zwillinger.

Police Departments.

Madras Police Department.

Purple handstamp with "Madras Police Dept."
Clearly it pre-dates the Edwardian ones listed below. Rather than being much earlier, I suspect these were old stock being used up before the normal issue.
This stamp is now part of the Stanley Gibbons Indica Collection Auction (Lot 188).


RH78 courtesy of Stanley Gibbons.

Bombay Police Department.

Hand-stamped in various colours "BO. POLICE DEPTT" (Type 59)
(Reading up or down.)

Victorian issue (old stock being used up first ?)

RH82 - lot 186 of Indica Collection, late September 2021. Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons

Edwardian issue.

RH89 - (H78) lot 344 Indica Collection Late September 2021 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons						RH91 - (H80) lot 345 Indica Collection Late September 2021 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons
RH93 - (H82) lot 346 Indica Collection Late September 2021 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons						RH94 - (H83) lot 347 Indica Collection Late September 2021 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons This was stamp used to illustrate Type 59
RH97 - (H85) part of Lot 540, Sale 5938 22 October 2022 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons						RH95 - (H83) part of Lot 540, Sale 5938 22 October 2022 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons
RH96 - (H84) lot 348 Indica Collection Late September 2021 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons						RH99 - (H87) lot 349 Indica Collection Late September 2021 Courtesy of Stanley Gibbons

The listing of the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021) of Stanley Gibbons mentioned above is available as a PDF download
The more recent (currently pending) Stanley Gibbons Auction (Sale 5938 of 22 November 2022) is also available as a PDF download.

Hiscocks added the following 2 notes:

Overprinted "BOMBAY / POLICE DEPARTMENT." upwards in black.

Type 60 as in Hiscocks book page 166
RH107 - (H95)
RH108 - (H96)
RH109 - (H97)
RH110 - (H98)

The colour images above are from lot 342 of the listing of the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021) of Stanley Gibbons available as a PDF download
Colour images courtesy of Stanley Gibbons

Hiscocks added the following note:

Central Provinces Police Department.

Overprinted similar to above, but for the Central Provinces Police Department.

Type 60A from image below
RH114 - (H102)
RH115 - (H103)

The colour images above are from lot 343 of the listing of the Indica Collection Auction (28 September 2021) of Stanley Gibbons available as a PDF download
Colour images courtesy of Stanley Gibbons

*H101 was actually omitted from the catalogue, it jumps from 100 to 102.
I have assumed it was a typo and that the 4A was intended to be there.

Hiscocks added the following note:

and also:

Some used examples courtesy of Steven Zwillinger:

He has two examples of receipts using these stamps:





These are both official use on F.A. forms marked with Class of 'State Defd' (Defd standing for Deferred, low priority) with Postal cancellations of 1907.
They are also both from Chhindwara to Pachmarhi with 33 annas charged for 33 words. The top is dated 2 June 1907, the bottom is dated 14 October 1907.
Chhindwara was in an area called "Central Provinces" at the time.

These images of used examples are all courtesy of Steven Zwillinger.

Jammu & Kashmir State Telegraph Stamps.

Steve Hiscocks wrote:

My notes:
The treaty of 1878 follows the erection of the line between Gilgit and Srinagar in 1877 by the Indian Telegraph Department, on behalf of the Maharaja of Kashmir.
Perhaps surprisingly, Steve's introduction makes no mention of the many Provisional overprints. I have tried to replace his black and white
images with colour ones and have done that for quite a few, but not all. I have in the process found new ones, which suggests that I will
find a lot more new ones before finding all the ones that he illustrated.
I would really welcome scans of more provisional overprints to try and complete this.
The first stamps were in sheets having 12 rows of 5 stamps. The 1941(?) issue mostly ended up being overprinted for fiscal use.
The monarchy was abolished in 1952 and Sir Hari Singh died on 26 April 1961.
His death may account for a new stamp, and/or the fiscal overprinting. John Barefoot also describes a Telegraph stamp similar to the last,
still inscribed 'TELEGRAPH' but with a lotus plant in place of a monarchs head. There is some very useful information at kashmirstamps.com

1884(?) Handstamped on locally made (white or buff) wove paper, no watermark, imperf.


The denominations are given in Persian. This table may be helpful.

2 Annas.   H1a Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	1 Anna.   H1b Courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht	2 Annas.   H2 Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

2 Annas.   H2a Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	2 Annas.   H2b Courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht	4 Annas.   H3 From Wiki Commons.

2 Annas.   H4 Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	8 Annas.   H4a Courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht	1 Rupee.   H5 Courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht

1 Rupee.   H5a Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	1 Rupee.   H5 Forgery, see Note 4 below From Wiki Commons.	2 Rupees.   H6 Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

5 Rupees.   H7 Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswalt	5 Rupees.   H7a Courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht

10 Rupees.   H8	25 Rupees.   H9
Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal   (each has only 2 known examples)

These stamps were bisected in use, like the Indian telegraph stamps. Examples shown below.
They were cancelled by manuscript or an oval hand-stamp in black or purple.
Used copies, especially on piece are very rare.

RH # Hisc. Desc. Mint Used RH1 H1 1A green 10.00 50.00 RH1a H1a         yellow-green 10.00 50.00 RH1b H1b         bluish green 10.00 50.00 RH1c H1c         olive green 20.00 100.00 RH2 H2 2A brown 10.00 50.00 RH2a H2a         dark brown 10.00 50.00 RH2b H2b         greyish brown 10.00 50.00 RH3 H3 4A ultramarine 15.00 50.00 RH3a H3a         royal blue 15.00 50.00 RH4 H4 8A brownish yellow (shades)   25.00 75.00 RH4a H4a        brownish orange (shades)   25.00 75.00 RH4b H4b         greyish yellow 25.00 75.00 RH4c H4c         olive yellow 25.00 75.00 RH5 H5 1R scarlet (shades) 30.00 75.00 RH5a H5a         rose 30.00 75.00 RH5b H5b         dull redish brown 30.00 75.00 RH6 H6 2R dark greenish slate (shades) 50.00 100.00 RH7 H7 5R chocolate 75.00 150.00 RH7a -         brown 75.00 150.00 RH8 H8 10R vermilion - - RH9 H9 25R violet - -

The only known example of a used pair of the 1R forgery. Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.

Hiscocks added the following 5 notes:

My notes: The second forgery mentioned in Note 4 was apparently produced from an illustration in Moen's Catalogue of 1885/6.
Nos. 8 and 9 mentioned in Note 2 is now illustrated above. Each has only two known examples.

A puzzle.

These stamps were normally torn in half when used so I am assuming these pink markings are an overprint or surcharge of some kind. Anyone recognise them or have information about them ? Images courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

Forgeries.

I have only seen references to forgeries of the 1 Rupee stamp as mentioned by Steve Hiscocks in note 4 above.
However it is apparent that, although that may have been true at one time, it is no longer true.
There are now some in circulation that are simply the wrong size, shrunk by 10% to 20%, and at least one in the wrong colour too.

Normal (300dpi):
34mm across frame.

Shrunk (300dpi):
	30mm across frame
At the top is a pair of 1 Anna and a 5 Rupee that as far as I can tell are genuine. Below these are stamps at the same scale of 300dpi, 1 Anna, 4 Annas, a 5 Rupees in the correct colour and another 5R in green. All are significantly smaller. Perhaps they were copied from examples on the internet without knowing the correct size, and reproduced. As always, buyer beware !

The 5Rs on the top row and the one in green are courtesy of Paul & Les Bottomley.

1887(?) As above but on thin cream laid paper.

Hiscocks added the following note:

Here are some used examples on piece, courtesy of Stanley Gibbons. (Scaled as close as I can to 300dpi)

2As at the top, 1A and 1R at the bottom. Despite poor condition, these might at least help to identify forgeries.

Here are three more used examples on piece, courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal showing some different types of cancels known.

Woodblock on 2 x 1 Anna and 2 Anna.


Intaglio Oval in violet ink on 2 x 4 Anna, 1 Rupee and 2 Anna.


Intaglio Oval in black ink on 4 x 2 Anna.

Here are a few more on loose stamps, again courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal, showing a variety of cancels.
   

1897 Printed by de la Rue on white wove paper. No watermark. Perf. 14.

1896 De La Rue unadopted essay, 1 Rupee.	Type 2, ½ Anna. - RH22	Type 2, 1 Anna.	Type 2, 2 Anna.	Type 2, 4 Anna.
Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Type 2, 8 Anna.	Type 2, 1 Rupee.	Type 2, 2 Rupee.	Type 2, 5 Rupee.
Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal		Courtesy of  Rarities Stamp Auctions

RH # Hisc. 1897 (no watermark) Description Mint Used RH15 H15 1A bright blue and carmine (5,200) 100.00 40.00 RH16 H16 2A bright reddish violet and olive brown (5,400)   100.00 40.00 RH17 H17 4A rose carmine and olive brown (5,400) 100.00 40.00 RH18 H18 8A yellow and light blue (10,240) 75.00 30.00 RH19 H19 1R yellow orange and reddish violet (5,360) 100.00 40.00 RH20 H20 2R brown and light blue (5,600) 100.00 40.00 RH21 H21 5R bluish green and carmine(5,520) 150.00 50.00

Used examples (4A & 1A) on part form courtesy of Iain from Anglo-Indian-affairs on ebay. Though an impressive cancel, they seem hard to get a meaningful date from. LEH is the capital of Ladakh, a large area within Jammu & Kashmir. The dates were apparently according to an ancient Tibetan Lunar calendar, which probably explains why they are hard to match against the Western date. Subtract 56.7 from the year.

Telegram Receipts.

Used 28/3/1908 with stamps of 4As, 1A and 8As on 5Rs for a total of 13As. Image courtesy of David Wild

Used 10/4/1908 with stamps of 8As on 5Rs, 4As and 2As for a total of 14As. Image courtesy of David Wild

In 1910 the regulations changed, doing away with the bisection of the stamps. However, though the new series started to be issued in 1911, the 4 Anna was not issued until 1912 and the 2 Rupee not until 1921. Images courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal. Remember to subtract 56.7 years from the date on these.

1899 As above but watermarked multiple rosettes (W1). RH # Hisc. Description Mint Used RH22 H22 ½A blackish olive and blue green (30,800) (1909)   50.00 40.00 RH23 H23 1A bright blue and carmine (73,240) 50.00 40.00 RH24 H24 2A bright reddish violet and olive brown (86,280) 50.00 40.00 RH25 H25 4A rose carmine and olive brown (86,080) 50.00 40.00 RH26 H26 6A violet and sage green (26,000) (1909) 100.00 80.00 RH27 H27 8A yellow and light blue (25,280) 100.00 80.00 RH28 H28 1R yellow orange and reddish violet (10,280) 80.00 60.00 RH29 H29 2R brown and light blue (5,280) 100.00 80.00 RH30 H30 5R bluish green and carmine - - Hiscocks added the following 3 notes: Note 1. In Nos. 15 to 30 the frame colour is given first and the colour of the side and lower tablets second. Note 2. The 'numbers printed', in brackets above, are from the de la Rue records. Those for the 1897 issue                 (Nos. 15-21) are probably correct but it must be remembered that they include any subsequently                 overprinted for provisionals. Those for the 1899 issue are probably incomplete and must be                 regarded as minimum numbers. The records show no printing of the 5R value on watermarked paper                   but this stamp is known watermarked overprinted as provisionals indicating at least one further                 printing. It has not however been reported without overprint on watermarked paper and is therefore                 not priced in that state above. Note 3. Used prices are for upper halves. Used whole stamps have not been recorded. The most usual form                 of cancellation is a large black shield containing the office and date on the samvat system —                 i.e. 57 years ahead of common usage. My Note: Research by Sandeep Jaiswal indicates that the 6A value was never issued. Similarly the entire stock of the 5R was overprinted with 8 Annas (see below).

1906-1909(?) Provisionals. Stamps of 1897 and 1899 surcharged as indicated in black. Other details as above.

Type 3 RH31, the overprints appear to be approximately the same top and bottom, though the last "A" is a bit variable and the vertical alignment of some of the letters are a bit wrong. Sandeep Jaiswal knows of three other mint examples, but nowhere near enough for plating.	Type 5 RH33, courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	Type 6 RH35, courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Type 4 (RH32)  No serifs used Courtesy Malcolm of Richardson & Copp.	Type 5   (RH33) With Serifs used	Type 5A   (RH34 top) Mockup wider overprint	Type 6   (RH35) used

Hiscocks lists only one type of the Two Anna, but when recently looking closely, the alignment between the top and bottom words are different on each.
Here is 3 from a piece shown below and the one above, with the alignment magnified below them :

The green line shows the alignment of the "ANNA" relative to the first point of the "W". The "FOUR ANNAS" probably has similar variability. There are at least 16 different 8 Annas overprints, fairly easily distinguished with mint examples. The same is probably true of all the overprint values.

Type 7A   on 1R (RH36) used	Type 7  on 2A (RH37 top) This is 14mm wide. RH37a is similar but 15mm.	Type 7A   on 2A (RH38 top) used
Note the different alignment of the "FOUR" with "ANNAS".   Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

The 8 Annas overprints have only three known different top parts, but many different bottom parts. Since used stamps are the top part, this presents difficulties.

Type 8, 9 or 10 ? This has no serifs and thick, squat lettering. Unfortunately several types are like this but with differences in the bottom half.	Type 12? (from piece dated 10/4/1908) This is quite narrow and matches Type 12 best.	Type 15A ? This has serifs but is it Type 13, 14, 15 or a new one ? The '8' looks like Type 14, but the 'S' does not. This could be Type 15A (see below)

With Steve Hiscocks original images being reduced size in black and white half-tone,
it is not easy to distinguish between some of them, especially with only top halves.
As mentioned in his notes below, there are also some that were not listed.

The left image is courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht. The other two images, courtesy of David Wild, include at least one new one.

Small-thick '8 ANNAS' without serifs at the top

Type 8   RH40 Large letters at the bottom courtesy of Stamptrain on Ebay.	Type 8   RH40a 'I' of 'EIGHT' above left leg of 'N' courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Type 10 'E' of 'EIGHT' to left of 'N' of 'ANNAS'.	Type 9 'E' of 'EIGHT' above 'N' of 'ANNAS'.	Type 9A 'E' left of 'N' of 'ANNAS', 'T' near 'S'.	Type 11   RH43 'I' within 'N' courtesy of Auktionshaus Christoph Gärtner	Type 11   RH43a 'I' over leg of 'N' courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Large '8 ANNAS' at the top with serifs

Type 12 RH44 from Hiscocks book page 170 (I above centre of N), together with a new example. The Hiscocks example has the overprint placed unusually high but the relative spacing matches. Colour image courtesy of gerland6 on Ebay.   (click colour image for listing).		Type 12 RH44a courtesy of Stamptrain on Ebay. I right of centre of N	Type 12 RH44b I left of centre of N courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	Type 12A Similar to the last 2 but the 'EIGHT' is slightly wider and over to the left RH44c courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Very Large '8 ANNAS' at the top with serifs, "ornate" script at bottom.

Type 13 RH45 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	Type 14 RH46 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	Type 15 RH47 courtesy of Stamptrain on Ebay.	Type 15A RH48 not listed by Hiscocks, courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	Type 15A RH48a - 'EIGHT' to the right, courtesy of Auktionshaus Christoph Gärtner

I Don't know how many of these there were on a sheet, but there are at least 16 different types, so perhaps a multiple of that.

1911 New design based on upper half of previous issue. Paper as before. Perf. 14.

Type 16 - ½A RH50 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.	Type 16 - 1A RH51	Type 16 2A -RH52 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.

Type 16 4A - RH53 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.	Type 16 6A - RH54 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.	Type 16 8A - RH55 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.

Type 16 1R - RH56 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.	Type 16 5R -RH58 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

Hiscocks added the following 2 notes:

My Note: I have seen a 4As stamp overprinted for use as a Special Adhesive, so the quantities given by Hiscocks may not all have been used as Telegraph stamps.

Beware of similar fiscal stamps being sold as Telegraph stamps. Look for the word 'TELEGRAPH'.

1929 Local Provisional issue. Surcharged in black on the previous issue.

1A on 2A(RH24) - RH59	12A on 6A(RH26) - RH59
Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

1930 Provisional. Surcharged in black on No. 56 by de la Rue.

Type 17 - 12A on 1R(RH56) - Proof of RH61

Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Hiscocks added the following 3 notes:

My Note: Locally printed provisionals as mentioned in Note 2, are now known and illustrated above.

1934 New design (Sir Hari Singh). Recess printed by de la Rue on white wove paper. Watermark W1. Perf. 14.

Type 18 - 1A - RH62	Type 18 - 2A - RH63	Type 18 - 4A - RH64	Type 18 - 8A - RH65
Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Type 18 - 12A - RH66	Type 18 - 1R - RH67	Type 18 - 2R - RH68	Type 18 - 5R - RH69
Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

Hiscocks added the following 2 notes:

1941(?) New design (Sir Hari Singh). Typographed on white wove paper. No watermark. Perf. 13¾.

1 Anna.   H68 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.	2 Anna.   H69 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.	4 Anna.   H70 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.	8 Anna.   H71 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

12 Anna used.   H72 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.	1 Rupee .   H73 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.	2 Rupee.   H74 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal.

Type 19. Used examples are very rare.

RH # Hisc. Type Description Mint Used RH70 H68 19 1A blue 60.00 - RH71 H69 19 2A chocolate 75.00 - RH72 H70 19 4A dull green 75.00 - RH73 H71 19 8A orange-red 75.00 - RH74 H72 19 12A orange-yellow   75.00 - RH75 H73 19 1R violet 250.00 - RH76 H74 19 2R carmine 375.00 - RH77 H75 19 5R black 450.00 -

The fact that the 1Anna at least was overprinted to make Receipt stamps suggests that they saw little use. Some were also overprinted for use as Special Adhesives. A later type was created for the 1 Rupee though. See also note 4 below. Image courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht

Hiscocks added the following 5 notes:

The reference of Note. 5 says simply "It is not known whether this is a telegraph stamp or some sort of revenue stamp
— perhaps for the payment of a radio license."

1950s or 60s(?) John Barefoot lists a new design similar to last but with a different centre.
Typographed on white wove paper. No watermark. Perf. 14.



This is a mockup of what I will call Type 20 based on the description.
I will replace it as soon as I have a proper image.
Some of these were overprinted for use as a Special Adhesives.
Also a similar type was inscribed Special Adhesive at the bottom.

The monarchy was abolished in 1952 and the last ruling Maharaja, Sir Hari Singh died on 26 April 1961.

OFFICIAL TELEGRAPH STAMPS

The denominations are given in Persian. This table may be helpful.

1 Anna.   RH79 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	2 Annas   RH80 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht	4 Annas   RH81 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht

8 Anna.   RH79 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal	1 Rupee  RH83 courtesy: Sarfaraz of traditional-india	2 Rupee   RH84 courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal

5 Rupees.   RH85	10 Rupees.   RH86	25 Rupees.   RH87
Courtesy of Sandeep Jaiswal   (the last 2 are only known examples)

Hiscocks added the following note:

1887(?) As above but on laid paper.

PATIALA STATE TELEPHONE STAMPS

Steve Hiscocks wrote:

My notes:
A few have had to be added, I have marked them with a red asterisk (*). I have had to re-number because of that.
I have added 'RH' numbers ('Revised Hiscocks') to accommodate new entries. I may still need to add others.

I. Stamps for public use.

Overprinted 'Telephone' of type 1 on Queen Victoria postage stamps of 1891-96. White wove paper except where indicated. Watermark W1. Perf. 14.

RH1	RH2	RH3 from Wiki Commons.	RH4	RH5

* I added RH5 due to the example shown.

On King Edward VII postage stamps of 1903-06. Other details as above.

RH6	RH7	*RH8	RH9 courtesy Steven Zwillinger.

* I added RH8 due to the example shown.

On King George V postage stamps of 1912-26. Other details as above.

John Barefoot also lists a 6As in this series. This is listed by Hiscocks as H27.

On King George V postage stamps of 1928-34. Watermark W2.
'INDIA POSTAGE & REVENUE'

RH12	RH13	W2

On King George V postage stamps of 1935-37. Other details as above.
'INDIA POSTAGE'

RH16	RH17 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.	RH18

On King George VI postage stamps of 1937-38. Other details as above.
( 'PATIALA STATE' )

RH19 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.	RH20 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

On King George VI postage stamps of 1943-47.
Type 7 is overprinted simply 'PATIALA'.

RH21	RH22 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

On King George VI postage stamps of 1943-47. Other details as above.

RH23	RH24	RH25

RH26	RH27	RH28

Overprinted 'Telephone' as in type 16. On King George V postage stamp of 1912-26. As for Nos. 5-9.

Image courtesy of Leo (Leorevenue on ebay).

II. Stamps for Official Use.

Overprinted 'Telephone/Service' of type 9, etc.

On Queen Victoria postage stamps of 1891-96. As for Nos. 1-4.

RH30	RH31

On King Edward VII postage stamps of 1903-06. As for Nos. 5-7.

#10, RH32	#10, RH33	#10, RH34	#10, RH36 Courtesy of Steven Zwillinger	#10, RH37 Courtesy of Steven Zwillinger

On King George V postage stamps of 1912-26. As for Nos. 8 and 9.

#11, RH38

On King George V postage stamps of 1928-34. As for Nos. 10-13.
'INDIA POSTAGE & REVENUE'

#12, RH40	#12, RH41	#12, RH42

On King George V postage stamps of 1935-37. As for Nos. 14-16.
'INDIA POSTAGE'

#13, RH43	#13, RH44	#13, *RH45	#13, RH46

* I added RH45 due to the example shown.

On King George VI postage stamps of 1937-38. As for Nos. 17 and 18.

#12, RH48 from Wiki Commons

On King George VI postage stamps of 1943-47. As for Nos. 21-26.

Overprinted 'Service/Telephone' of type 15 (small type).

On King George V postage stamp of 1912-26. As for Nos. 8 and 9.

RH53 taken from Wiki Commons.

On King George V postage stamps of 1928-34. As for Nos. 10-13.

Overprinted 'Service/Telephone' of type 16 (Larger).

On King George V postage stamp of 1912-26. As for Nos. 8 and 9.

Type 16, RH56 - The stamp on the right I think is genuine. The stamp on the left, has full yellowed gum, changing the apparent colour. I think the overprint is forged. The 'T' in 'TELEPHONE' slopes down on the left instead of the right and the serifs on the 'l' are more pronounced.		Type 16, RH57

These stamps should not be available mint, though they may have been used without cancelling.

On King George V postage stamps of 1928-34. As for Nos. 10-13.

Overprinted 'Telephone' of type 1 on official postage stamps.

On King Edward VII official postage stamp of 1903-10. As for Nos. 5-7.

For the moment I am having to take most of this from page 177 of Hiscocks book.
Type 18 is from Wiki Commons.

On King George V postage stamps of 1928-34. As for Nos. 10-13.

On King George VI official postage stamps of 1940-45. W2. Perf. 14.

#19, RH61 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht	#19, RH62 courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht

Hiscocks added the following note and illustration:

An example with a pair of H24 stamps.

Form B.S.P.P—No.65—28-6-05—32,000.


The Patiala system was later extended to the East Punjab. This half-size example for a 3 minute private call with a mix of Edward VII and George VI stamps,
was used at the Sangrur Telephone Exchange in Jind State. It is dated 5.9.06 which equates to 5 September 1949 using the local calendar.
It is headed "Post and Telephones Department Patiala & East Punjab States Union."
Image courtesy of Steven Zwillinger.

Official Forms were not always used


This was from Sunam in the Punjab, west of Patiala. Below the "Not to be Phoned" line was the cost calculation, 12As 6pies, and the recipient details.



This was paid with a mix of Edward VII and George VI stamps,
Image courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

A similarly hand-made form.


This was from Bhathinda to the "Officer in charge" and was on Government Service. Below the "Not to be Phoned" line was the cost calculation, 9As, and the senders details.
This was paid with a mix of Victorian and George VI stamps,
Image courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

Comments, criticisms, information or suggestions are always welcome.

Please include the word 'Telegraphs' in the subject.

Last updated 15th. February 2024

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