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I have brought these prices up to date and added currency selection.     I have also made some additions and used 'RH' numbers (Revised Hiscocks) for them.   The original Hiscocks numbers are preserved. CheckList         Setup

 

NEPAL.

Steve Hiscocks wrote in 1982: The stamps used for telegraphic purposes in Nepal have not to my knowledge been included in any previous listing of telegraph stamps. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that they should be included. From 1881 to 1907 the postage stamps of Nepal were produced from locally made plates, occasionally on European wove paper but usually on local handmade papers of varying qualities. They were ungummed and imperforate. In 1907 new and much better quality postage stamps produced by Perkins, Bacon & Co. of London were introduced. The locally printed stamps went out of use and the few remaining stocks were withdrawn and stored. The telegraph/telephone system was introduced in Nepal in 1917. In fact all messages were transmitted by telephone and the system must have been rather like that used in Patiala State (India). It was decided that prepayment would be made by stamps to be cancelled with specific telegraph / telephone cancellations (see Note below No. 12). From the beginning only the old type postage stamps were used (presumably because they were much cheaper than the imported engraved postage stamps). Telegraph stamps were used in large quantities (although relatively few were preserved after use) and the original withdrawn old-types postage stamps would have been used up very quickly: large blocks or even full sheets of these low value stamps were regularly used. Thereafter new printings were made — initially from the old plates, the condition of which deteriorated considerably, later from recuts and finally from a completely new die which is easily distinguishable. In many cases these printings for telegraphic use can be unambiguously distinguished from the earlier printings for postal use by die or colour and in these cases prices are given for mint as well as used. In cases where confusion is possible prices are only given for those bearing the distinctive telegraphic cancellations. It should be stressed that the use of these stamps for postal purposes in the 1917 to 1930 period was not permitted except on one or two exceptional occasions when such use was essential because of a temporary dearth of 'proper' postage stamps. They are thus true telegraph/telephone stamps. In 1930 the production of these 'special' stamps ceased and ordinary postage stamps came into use although with the same or even more weird and wonderful cancellations.

---

My notes:
1917 to 1930 Printed by Chapakhana Press, Kathmandu, in sheets, usually of rough native paper of variable thickness and hardness.
These were printed from the plates of old postage stamps (superseded in 1907) for telegraphic purposes, and the impressions are poor to very poor.
Initially the old stocks were used up, then new printings were made from the old plates.
Later the plates were 'recut' and later still the new 1 Anna die was produced.

These old plates were made with individual clichés for each stamp (originally 64 stamps).
These clichés could occasionally fall off, needing to be replaced. They were occasionally replaced upside-down leading to tête-bêche pairs.
In the case of H5, a 4 Anna cliché was replaced by a 1 Anna cliché (upside-down) at the top right corner of the sheet.
The new 1 Anna die did not have individual clichés and hence did not produce tête-bêche pairs

In use, messages were written on a form and the price calculated at 3/4 Annas per word. Stamps were glued to the back and cancelled.
The message was sent verbally by telephone and the receiving office transcribed them for delivery.

Hiscocks only priced the unused stamps in cases where they can be 'unambiguously distinguished' from the earlier postal use by shade or die.
I have added prices for the other mint stamps as well (marking them in red), but it is for the collector to decide what to collect.
Prices for used stamps, are for those with telegraph cancels. Be aware that some shades of these stamps were only used for the earlier postal purposes.

There are many forgeries about, particularly of H2,   -   I will try to get details of these.
According to nepalstamps.com, there are at most about 122 genuine mint copies of H2 and less than 400 used (H&V setting 6).
Nepalstamps.com have a specialised section of their website on the Nepalese telegraph stamps.

No watermark, no gum. Imperf.

½ Anna, Hiscocks Type 1 (H1a)   -   Position 57/58 tête-bêche pair	½ Anna, Hiscocks Type 1 (H1a) Position 42 'Double blister flaw'.	½ Anna, Hiscocks Type 1 (H2) I'm told this is a forgery.

 

1 Anna, postally used	1 Anna worn, Hiscocks Type 2	1 Anna recut, Hiscocks Type 2 - H3d

 

2 Anna shades, Hiscocks Type 3

 

2 Anna shades, Hiscocks Type 3

 

Examples of 2 Anna shades   -   courtesy Max of Tilford stamps.

 

4 Anna shades, Hiscocks Type 4
Early European paper, courtesy Raj Sukhani of Sukhanistamps. Postage only.	A couple of mine on native paper, telegraphically used.

An example of the 1A green (H5/H5a) at the top right corner surrounded by 4A stamps (H11f).

 

The shades are very variable, particularly the 2As and not a good guide to the face value.
The value is at the top of the right-hand panel, and bottom of the left panel, though it is not always clear and is also a bit variable.

1 Anna (Type 2)	1 Anna (Type 5)	2 Annas	2 Annas	2 Annas	4 Annas

 

RH #	Hisc.	Type	Description	Mint	Used
RH1	H1	1	½A black (1917-1928)	20.00	1.00
RH1a	H1a		tête-bêche (pair)	70.00	4.00
RH1b	H1b		grey	20.00	1.00
RH1c	H1c		grey tête-bêche (pair)	70.00	5.00
RH1d	H1d		grey-black (1929-1930)	7.00	-
RH1e	H1e		tête-bêche (pair)	30.00	-
RH2	H2	1	½A orange-vermilion (1917)	1000.00	180.00
RH2a	H2a		tête-bêche (pair)	-	1000.00
RH3	H3	2	1A blue (shades)	12.00	2.00
RH3a	H3a		tête-bêche (pair)	50.00	8.00
RH3b	H3b		deep blue	15.00	2.50
RH3c	H3c		deep blue tête-bêche (pair)	60.00	10.00
*RH3d	-		deep blue re-cut	12.00	2.00
*RH3e	-		re-cut tête-bêche (pair)	50.00	8.00
RH4	H4	2	1A pale emerald (error) (1917)	-	100.00
RH4a	H4a		tête-bêche (pair)	-	400.00
RH4b	H4b		deep emerald	-	150.00
RH4c	H4c		tête-bêche (pair)	-	600.00
RH5	H5	2	1A yellow green (shades) (error) (1930)	300.00	-
RH5a	H5a		se-tenant with No. 11f (pair) [see note]	450.00	-
RH6	H6	3	2A aniline carmine	17.50	7.00
RH6a	H6a		tête-bêche (pair)	60.00	24.00
RH6b	H6b		brown-red (shades)	15.00	6.00
RH6c	H6c		tête-bêche (pair)	45.00	18.00
RH6d	H6d		venetian red	17.50	7.00
RH6e	H6e		tête-bêche (pair)	60.00	24.00
RH7	H7	3	2A lavender	15.00	6.00
RH7a	H7a		tête-bêche (pair)	45.00	18.00
RH7b	H7b		lilac (shades)	15.00	6.00
RH7c	H7c		tête-bêche (pair)	45.00	18.00
RH7d	ƒH7d		grey-blue (shades)	38.00	15.00
RH7e	H7e		tête-bêche (pair)	115.00	45.00
RH8	H8	3	2A rose-mauve (shades)	18.00	7.00
RH8a	H8a		tête-bêche (pair)	50.00	20.00
RH8b	H8b		red-purple (shades)	18.00	7.00
RH8c	H8c		tête-bêche (pair)	50.00	20.00
RH8d	H8d		claret	15.00	6.00
RH8e	H8e		tête-bêche (pair)	45.00	18.00
RH8f	H8f		magenta (shades)	18.00	7.00
RH8g	H8g		tête-bêche (pair)	50.00	20.00
RH9	H9	3	2A maroon	10.00	4.00
RH9a	H9a		tête-bêche (pair)	30.00	12.00
RH9b	H9b		brown-purple (shades)	10.00	4.00
RH9c	H9c		tête-bêche (pair)	30.00	12.00
RH9d	H9d		chocolate	18.00	7.00
RH9e	H9e		tête-bêche (pair)	54.00	30.00
RH9f	H9f		brown (shades)	18.00	7.00
RH9g	H9g		tête-bêche (pair)	54.00	30.00
RH10	H10	3	2A sepia (1929-1930)	12.00	4.00
RH10a	H10a		tête-bêche (pair)	45.00	15.00
RH10b	H10b		red-brown (shades) (1929-1930)	9.00	3.00
RH10c	H10c		tête-bêche (pair)	30.00	10.00
RH10d	H10d		chestnut (1929-1930)	9.00	3.00
RH10e	H10e		tête-bêche (pair)	27.00	10.00
RH10f	H10f		orange-brown (shades) (1929-1930)	9.00	3.00
RH10g	H10g		tête-bêche (pair)	27.00	10.00
RH11	H11	4	4A green (shades)	10.00	4.00
RH11a	H11a		tête-bêche (pair)	70.00	28.00
RH11b	H11b		blue-green (shades)	15.00	6.00
RH11c	H11c		tête-bêche (pair)	105.00	42.00
RH11d	H11d		bright emerald (shades)	25.00	10.00
RH11e	H11e		tête-bêche (pair)	175.00	70.00
RH11f	H11f		yellow-green (1929-1930)	10.00	4.00
RH11g	H11g		tête-bêche (pair)	70.00	28.00
RH11h	H11h		deep green (1929-1930)	15.00	6.00
RH11i	H11i		tête-bêche (pair)	105.00	42.00

My Notes: The Scott catalogue (2007) gives the same illustration (the 1 Anna) for the 1A, 2A and 4A leaving people to judge the value by the shade.
Given the range of shades, this has led to mistakes of identification being made, typically bluish 2A stamps described as 1A stamps.

*I have added H3d and H3e since, though Hiscocks mentions the re-cut 1A stamps, he did not list them as such. I thought them worth adding.

H4 is only known used and H5 (a 1A cliché in a 4A plate) is only known unused.

ƒH7d was originally 'grey-black (shades)' - I have never seen any, or any described as such. There are however grey-blue shades so I assumed it was a typo.

Steve Hiscocks only priced the unused stamps in cases where they can be 'unambiguously distinguished' from the earlier postal use by shade or die.
I have added prices for the other mint stamps as well (marking them in red), but it is for the collector to decide what to collect.

 

Hiscocks added the following 2 notes:

Note 1. No. 2 is probably an error of colour, it is in fact in the colour which was used for the                 impressed post-card stamp.

Note 2. No. 5a occurs because a single 1A cliché was inserted in error into the 4A plate                 (position 8). It was inverted, so se-tenant pairs of the 1A & 4A are always tête-bêche.

 

1928 to 1930 New die (type 5) with smaller lettering and larger centre (8 x 10½mm compared with 6¾ x 9mm).
The corners are very distinctive. Other details as before.

1 Anna, Hiscocks Type 5, H12	1 Anna, Hiscocks Type 5, H12a	1 Anna, Hiscocks Type 5, H12b

 

RH #	Hisc.	Type	Description	Mint	Used
RH12	H12	5	1A greyish blue (shades)	10.00	2.50
RH12a	H12a		deep blue (shades)	10.00	2.50
RH12b	H12b		indigo	12.00	3.00
RH12c	H12c		ultramarine (shades)	15.00	5.00

The Scott catalogue illustrates this upside-down.

Hiscocks added the cancel illustrations below and the following 3 notes:

Further information can be found at nepalstamps.com.

Note 1. All the above stamps were issued imperforate. Spurious 'pin-perforated' copies are                 occasionally found.

Note 2. The used prices above are for good copies cancelled with the telegraph/telephone                 cancellations illustrated (6,7,8,9). Of these:                 Type 6 was used at Kathmandu at the Head Office throughout the 1917 to 1930 period.                 Type 7 at the Chisapani Sub-Office and                 Type 8 and similar at the Birganj Sub-Office throughout the period.                 Type 9 was used at Amlekhganj from 1927 to 1930.                 A very few of these stamps were used postally. The postal cancellations are mostly circular and are                 very rare on telegraph stamps.

Note 3. Mint prices are only given when the mint stamp can be distinguished by colour or otherwise from the earlier                 postage stamps of the same type.

My note: I read a reference to "trial pin-perforations mentioned by E.A.Smythies (Vignola collection)."
He was the person that found a number of sheets left over in the Kathmandu Treasury and first discovered H5.
The Scott catalogue lists them with a modest premium.
A premium of about 50% would seem reasonable, since they are fairly scarce but have uncertain status.

Where Hiscocks gives the use of these cancels up to 1930, they actually continued in use up to at least 1959 for telegraphic use of postage stamps.
See below for some examples.



Map of the four offices courtesy of Edward Gosnell.

 

 

Examples.

Half Anna imperf. and pin-perf., courtesy Max of Tilford stamps

 

1 Anna re-cut, Hiscocks H3d/e	2 Annas tête-bêche pair	2 Annas tête-bêche pair - pin-perf.	4 Annas tête-bêche pair (annotated!)
One of mine - spot the inverted cliché	Courtesy Raj Sukhani of Sukhanistamps	A couple of mine.

A note about the pin-perforations: The first postage stamps of 1881 were on gummed paper and perforated.
It is unlikely that any of these would have been in storage in 1917 when the telegraph line was established.
However from 1898 to 1901 pin-perforated stamps were available upon request. It is a matter of conjecture as to whether any would be in storage.
The stored stamps were used up very quickly and new stamps were printed. The Telegraph offices had no need for perforated stamps, and they were still valid for postage.
The 2 Anna pair shown above has a Amlekhganj cancel, that office did not open until 1927. It is likely that the perforations were added later.

 

This is a strip of 2 Anna stamps. Anyone using a Scott catalogue would probably call it 1 Anna because of the colour !   (courtesy Raj Sukhani of Sukhanistamps)

 

A 2 Annas tête-bêche pair   and a 4 Anna   -   courtesy Max of Tilford stamps.

 

As mentioned, the original plates were made up of individual clichés that occasionally became detached and had to be re-attached.
The fact that they were sometimes put back inverted, and the fact of occasional damage gave rise to
different settings of stamps and sometimes different states of the same 'H&V' setting.
Early work on this subject was produced (in Italian) by Wolfgang C. Hellrigl and Frank Vignola and
published by the 'Nepal and Tibet Philatelic Study Circle' (1 May 1984) as "The classic stamps of Nepal" (215 pages), ASIN: B0000ECG89

The sheets were originally of 64 stamps in 8 rows of 8.
For the purposes of identifying individual stamps, position 1 is at the top-left corner,
position 8 at the top-right and so on down the sheet to 64 at bottom-right.

The first printings of the half Anna were in the rare Orange-Vermilion shade with H&V setting 6.
	Setting 7 has positions 1, 6, 7, 8, and 57 inverted.
	Setting 8 has positions 6, 7, 8, and 57 inverted.
	Setting 9 has positions ? Flattened base cliché posion 6.
	Setting 10 has positions 6, 7, 8, 25 and 57 inverted. Flattened base cliche moved from position 6 to position 1.
	Setting 12 has positions 1, 6, 7, 8, and 57 inverted and developed 'double blister' flaw on position 42.
	Setting 13 has positions 1, 6, 7, 8, 25 and 57 inverted (with 'double blister' flaw).
	Setting 14 has positions 1, 6, 7, 8 and 25 inverted. 57-64 removed. bottom of 50 damaged (with 'double blister' flaw).

Given the variability of shades in these, I am uncertain
how the black, grey and grey-black printings may be distinguished. A single sheet appears to contain a range of shades.
Sometimes a single stamp will too.


This sheet (courtesy Raj Sukhani of Sukhanistamps) has inverted clichés at positions 1, 6, 7, 8, 25 and 57. This is [presumably] Setting 11.



This sheet (courtesy Raj Sukhani of Sukhanistamps) has inverted clichés at positions 1, 6, 7, 8, 25 and 57. This is [presumably] Setting 11.



This sheet (courtesy Raj Sukhani of Sukhanistamps) has inverted clichés at positions 1, 6, 7, 8, 25 and 57 and also has the 'double blister' flaw.
This is Setting 13.



A closeup of row 6 starting at H&V position 41 shows the 'double blister' flaw on 42 and associated flaws on 44 and 45. Setting 13 and 14.


This block of 12 (courtesy Raj Sukhani of Sukhanistamps) again shows the 'double blister' flaw on 42 and associated flaws on 44 and 45.

 

2A block of 12 from top-left corner, with 4 tête-bêche pairs. Kathmandu cancels.
(showing inverted clichés at positions 1, 8, 13 and 14)

	↓
→
→
		↑	↑

 

2A setting 29, block of 52(nearly) from a sheet of 56 (half size), with 6 tête-bêche pairs. Birganj Sub-Office cancels.
(showing inverted clichés at positions 8, 14, 15, 18, 19 and 48, with 1 and 9 missing.)

 

 

Here is a typical form of the period, half-size, courtesy of Richard Frajola :

Richard says "A typical example of a telegraph form, here bearing the Chisapani cancellation. The stamps were glued to the backs of such forms, and cancelled."

The numerals are a bit variable, but here is a cross-reference courtesy of Richard Frajola. Nepal used a lunar calendar. The 12 months varied between 28 and 32 days, with each Sambat year beginning around 13th/14th April and almost 57 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar. To convert (approximately), subtract 56 years, 8 months and 17 days. The form on the left is dated 2000/11/11 (Year/Month/Day) which makes it 24 February 1944. This would have used the (gummed) stamps shown below.

 

See also Richards' Nepal Calling, 1917 to 1930 PDF document.

 

According to Hiscocks: "In 1930 the production of these 'special' stamps ceased and ordinary postage stamps came into use
although with the same or even more weird and wonderful cancellations."


This is a half-size block of 10, 4As stamps of the 1929 set courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.

There was a set of four values (2p, 4p, 8p, 16p) in 1907 similar to this, but with only 5 characters in the bottom panel reading "Gurkha Sirkar" with a date of 1964 (local calendar) in the bottom corners.
This 1929 issue has 7 characters reading "Nepal Sirkar" and is dated 1986. This set has 6 values of this size with additions of 24p and 32p, together with larger 1R and 5R values.
There is a later 1935 issue (perf.14) with the date changed to 1992 and just the 6 low values. Then 1941-46 another series to 1R, redrawn and with perforations in the range 11 to 12.

An interesting note, the original Perkins, Bacon & Co (London) sheets were 10x10 sheets. During World War II supplies ran out in Nepal, and 4-wide sheets of 28, 36 or 40
were made by producing copper plates from photographs of original sheets. these were then line perforated. These were of very variable quality.

 

Here is a later form using Official stamps.

I'm not sure of the date of this, but it bears 2R58p in Official stamps of 1959. The set of these has small stamps of 2p, 4p, 6p, 8p and 12p, and large stamps of 16p, 24p, 32p, 50p, 1R and 2R.
This is also used in Chisapani. The stamps bear the Arms of Nepal and there is also a similar cachet. Image courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht.


Another three of these stamps courtesy of Rolf Lamprecht. I was unsure of the cancel, but Richard Frajola did some investigating and told me it is described as :
"Drawing of previously unrecorded Okhaldunga tel/tel cancel" in 1988 Congress book article on Nepal Telephone / Telegraph stamps by Lester Michel. http://fuchs-online.com/ntpsc

If anyone can provide scans to help with this, I am happy to give appropriate credit.

 

Comments, criticisms, information or suggestions are always welcome.

Please include the word 'Telegraphs' in the subject.

 

Last updated 17th. June 2023

©Copyright Steve Panting 2012/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23 except where stated.
Permission is hereby granted to copy material for which the copyright is owned by myself, on condition that any data is not altered and this website is given credit.