Posts Tagged ‘early stamps’

In previous years, in India, small copper tokens (called tickets); valued at 2 annas (1/8th of a rupee) were generally the medium of payment for postage. Single letters of up to 2-1/2 tolas (29 gm) were charged at the rate of 2 annas for every 100 miles.

Sir Bartle Frere of the East India Company became the Chief Commissioner of Sindh in 1850. Sir Frere was a great admirer of Sir Rowland Hill and the Penny Postage System he had introduced in Great Britain. Frere improved upon the postal system of Sindh by introducing a cheap and uniform rate for postage, independent of distance travelled. In 1851 the runners were replaced with an efficient system using horses and camels, following routes through Scinde province, generally along the valley of the Indus River. The mail was carried quickly and efficiently, connecting government offices and post offices from Karachi through Kotri and Hyderabad up to Shikkur in the north.

With the help of the Postmaster of Karachi, Sir Bartle issued the first postage stamps in Asia – embossed pieces of paper with a circular design in red, white or blue, of ½ Anna denominations. They carried the merchant mark of the East India Company. They were used in the Province of Sindh and also on the Karachi-Bombay route.

The first stamps of India came to be known as “Scinde Dawks”, as they were issued in the Province of Sindh. “Scinde” was how the British spelt the province of Sindh and “Dawk” is the anglicized spelling of the Hindustani word “Dak” or Post.  And so, to this day, India’s first stamps are referred to simply as The Scinde Dawks!

By contrast, the Scinde Dawk (the red stamp in the series) may exchange hands at prices as high as UK Pounds 2500 (US $ 5,000).

The Scinde Dawk stamps are rare classics of philately world.

Forgeries of these rare stamps are plentiful. The most easily detected fakes are not embossed on paper. Other crude fakes show a misalignment of the second letter ‘A’ of ANNA with the ‘K’ of DAWK; and in other fakes the ’1/2′ is not separated from the central heart shaped emblem. So, Philatelists Be care full about these Forgeries.

Issued on June 14, 1851, Canada’s 12-penny black features a portrait of the youthful Queen Victoria, a reproduction of a full-length painting by Alfred E. Chalon. This 12d was the high value of Canada’s first three stamps. The 12d denomination, instead of 1 shilling, was used because the value of a shilling differed in various parts of North America at that time. In most of New England, the shilling was equal to l0d, while in New York it was valued at 7d. The 12d denomination left no room for monetary confusion.

The 12d issue was printed by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson (forerunner of the American Bank Note Company) on vertically laid paper. This poor quality paper irritated both the mailing public and postal authorities. The 12d stamp saw little use, not only because of its high denomination, but because it’s adhesive and paper did not adhere well to envelopes. Thus, the issue was on sale for just a few years, with only 1,450 being sold.

In 1857 the remaining unsold 49,550 12d stamps were withdrawn and destroyed. It is believed that somewhere between 100 and 150 examples of this 12d black exist today, but this is only conjecture.

On April 30, 1974, a single was purchased by Andy Kosztandy, manager of the Postal Stamp Department of Charlton Numismatics, Ltd., for $17,000 at a J.N. Sisson’s auction in Toronto. A mint corner marginal pair was acquired by the Canadian National Postal Museum in Ottawa in 1975. It is valued at $125,000.

In 1977, Stanley Gibbons International sold an unused pair for £51,000 during its Canadian ‘Consort’ auction in London.

A New York collector purchased a single for $90,000 during a Greg Manning auction in 1978, and an unused single brought $75,000 at a Robert A. Siegel auction in 1980. A record $126,500 was paid by a Canadian collector for a single at the Greg Manning London International Rarity Auction conducted May 10, 1980.

The country every stamp collector wanted to begin was Great Britain, since it was the world’s first country to issue adhesive stamps. There are collectors all over the world who want at least one copy of the Penny Black simply because it is the world’s first stamp.

The Penny Black and Penny Post were the brain child of Sir Rowland Hill often called the father of modern post office. The introduction of Penny posts revolutionized the letter service making it possible to send a letter anywhere in Britain for a pre-paid postage. In 1837 Sir Rowland Hill, a school master, published a pamphlet entitled “Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability”. In this he claimed that the true cost of delivering a letter from London to Edinburgh was only about 1/36 of a Penny. If the post office charged one penny postage on every letter, more people would write letters and the post office would make more profit. Helped by wide spread public support Hill eventually persuaded the post office to adopt his plan.

Until Rowland Hill introduced his reform the postage on a letter was usually paid by the person who received it, not by the person who posted it .The postman had the task of collecting the postage when he delivered the mail. Hill proposed that letters be prepaid either in cash at the post office or by prepaid letter sheets and envelopes and almost as an afterthought “a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamps showing that tax had been paid and covered at the back with a glutinous wash which the bringer of the letter might by applying a little moisture attach to the back”.

There was initially much reluctance for such a proposal as postage rates were rather high. During the early part of the 19th century postal charges rose rapidly and by the year 1814 a letter cost four pence for a distance of seven miles. Over seven miles and under fifteen miles the charges were six pence. At that time a labourer’s wage was four pence a day. Further, members of parliament were entitled to free postage, which was much misused.

However as the public support for Rowland Hill’s suggestions grew, he was appointed to the Treasury on 16th September 1839 to begin work on postal changes. First reform was the introduction of uniform Penny Postage on 5th December 1839, which was reduced to one Penny on 9th January 1840.

The Treasury invited the public to submit suggestions for the design of the gummed labels which Hill proposed that the Post Office should issue at one Penny each.

More than 2600 suggestions were submitted but only 49 related to adhesive stamps. One suggestion from Benjamin Cheverton of Casinden Town answered the fears of Treasury officials that unscrupulous printer might may be able to forge the labels and so defraud the Post Office. Cheverton suggested that the labels should bear “a female head of great beauty” because a portrait would be more difficult for forgers to copy than any other design. Awards for innovative suggestions were made to Benjamin Cheverton, Henry Cole, Charles Whiting, James Bogardus and Francis Coffin.

It was Rowland Hill’s own suggestion which was developed into the finished design. It was the profile of Queen Victoria, based on a portrait made when she was an eighteen old princess. It was also used on a medal designed by William Wyon, which was struck for the occasion of Queen’s first official entrance into the city of London in 1837.

Perkins Bacon & Petch Co, London who had been given the contract to print the adhesive stamp, commissioned the artist Henry Corbould to make a number of profiles drawing of the young Queen based on the Wyon medal. Charles and Frederick Health, father and son, engraved the Queen’s portrait for the production of the plate which contained 240 impressions.

The Penny Black, the first ever adhesive postage stamp was issued on 1st May 1840 though it became valid for postage on 6th may 1840. A usage before this date is known. It was issued in sheets of 240 (rows of 12). It had a water mark of a small crown, and was black in colour. These stamps were not perforated and had to be cut and sold. The ink used for the printing consisted of lamp black in linseed oil. The gum was applied hot with brushes. Whose colour varied and in some sheets were almost colourless. Total plates used were eleven (Nos 1 to 11). About 72 Million stamps were issued and remained valid for usage till 1841.

Of the 72 million copies of Penny Black which were sold, only 16800 were from plate II, which comes to just 700 sheets. These are the rarest of the Penny Black. Over ten million copies were printed from plate la / 1b. Yet even a medium poor copy of a plate 1 stamp is expensive. Strips of Penny Black are scarce and blocks very scarce.

Hill’s stamp system was eventually adopted in some form by every country starting with Brazil in 1843. It revolutionized the postal system in the world. As a bonus it also kicked off the world’s most popular hobby philately.

The history of India’s postal system begins long before the introduction of postage stamps. The Atharvaveda records a messenger service. Systems for collecting information and revenue data from the provinces are mentioned in Chanakya’s Arthashastra (3rd century BC).

For centuries it was rare for messages to be carried by any means other than a relay of runners on foot. A runner ran from one village or relay post to the next, carrying the letters on a pole with a sharp point. His was a dangerous occupation: the relay of postal runners worked throughout the day and night, vulnerable to attacks by bandits and wild animals. Later Ramayana and Mahabharata, two of the greatest epic, mention of the transmission of messages.

A large establishment for the transmission of messages is recorded for Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta in 322 BC. Ibn Batuta, the Moroccan traveler to India in 1310 AD had detailed the mail system of Sultan Mohammed bin Tughlaq. Massive reorganization of this system took place under Sher Shah Suri. It was developed and maintained under the Mogul and later rulers.

The traders, whom the rulers allowed the use of royal mail at times, felt the need for regular message service as the first priority of royal mail could be for the rulers only. Big traders have known to operate postal services from 14th century AD that also accepted mail from others for a fee. During 17th century AD several postal systems under the patronage of various rulers and traders were in vogue. The East India Company first used these services for exchange of mail between their trading centers in India.

The Company decided to setup their own postal service ‘Company Dawk’ in view of the increasing trade activity and their requirement of intelligence of military nature. In 1688 the first post office of the Company Post was established at Bombay/Madras. Lord Robert Clive, the Governor of Bengal in his second term, ordered for ‘better regulations of the dawks’ in 1766. Warren Hastings, the first Governor General of Bengal with supervisory powers over Bombay and Madras, reorganized the system and opened the service to public in 1774. A Postmaster General was appointed and metal tickets or tokens were issued to pay for the postal charges.

The presidencies of Bombay and Madras followed suit.

In 1835 a Committee was set up for unification of customs and postal system of all the presidencies. The result was the first Indian Post Office Act of 1837. It not only provided for uniform rates and routes but for the uniform designs and other specifications of the postmarks for each category of post office.

A Commission was setup in 1850 and submitted its report in 1851 that resulted in the post office act of 1854.  On this basis the Indian Post Office was established on October 1, 1837. It took three years primarily due to one of the recommendations of the Commission for introduction of adhesive postage stamps as the Company insisted on producing the stamps in India and Indian authorities wanted it printed in England. Under the provisions of this act the monopoly of carrying mail in entire area of British possessions in India were granted to Indian Post office and office of the Director General of Post Offices of India was established. Mr. H P A B Riddle, till then the Postmaster General of North West Presidency, was appointed the first Director General in May 1854. The adhesive stamps were introduced on October 1, 1854 on all India basis.  Meanwhile in 1852 adhesive postage stamps were issued for use within the province of Sind, now in Pakistan. These were the first adhesive postage stamps in Asia.

In 1866 the postage stamps for government mail were introduced by overprinting ‘Service’ on ordinary postage stamps.  This innovation became widely adopted by other countries in later years.

The Convention States are those which had postal conventions (or agreements) with the Post Office of India to provide postal services within their territories. The adhesive stamps and postal stationery of British India were overprinted for use within each Convention State. The first Convention State was Patiala, in 1884, followed by others in 1885. The stamps of the Convention States all became invalid from 1st January 1950.

The Feudatory States maintained their own postal services within their territories and issued stamps with their own designs. Many of the stamps were imperforate and without gum, as issued. Many varieties of type, paper, inks and dies are not listed in the standard catalogs. The stamps of each Feudatory State were valid only within that State, so letters sent outside that State needed additional British India postage.

The First Stamp of Independent India was issued on the 21st of November, 1947.  A victory issue in 1946 was followed in November, 1947 by a first Dominion issue, whose three stamps were the first to depict the Ashoka Pillar and the new flag of India (the third showed an airplane).

Queen Victoria Talking About Philately