Postage stamps and postal history of India

File:India stamps041004 150yr.jpg

150 years of India Post - 4 October, 2004.

The postage stamps and postal history of India are complicated by the patchwork of British and local rule prior to partition in 1947.

• For the states with their own stamps, See:
  Main article: stamps and postal history of Indian states
• For current information on India Post, See:
  Main article: Indian Postal Service

Postal history of India

The usage of the stamps began on 1 July 1852 in Scinde/Sindh district, with the use of an embossed pattern on paper or wax. The shape was circular, with "SCINDE DISTRICT DAWK" around the rim, leading to the common name "Scinde Dawk". The paper was either white or blue, and the wax version on red wax, but all had the same value of 1/2 anna. They were used until October 1854, and then officially suppressed. These are quite scarce today, with prices from US$700 to $10,000.

Elephant head watermark of early Indian stamps.

1854 was the year of the first issue for all of India. The stamps were issued by the East India Company, which first printed a 1/2a vermilion in April but never sold it to the public, then put four values (1/2a, 1a, 2a, 4a) on sale in October. All were designed and printed in Calcutta, featuring the usual profile of Queen Victoria.

A new set of stamps, with the queen in an oval vignette inside a rectangular frame, and inscribed "EAST INDIA POSTAGE", was printed by De La Rue in England (who produced all the subsequent issues of British India) and made available in 1855. These continued in use until after the British government took over administration of India in 1858, and from 1865 were printed on paper watermarked with an elephant head.

4 annas, 1866

In 1866 new designs for 4a and 6a8p stamps were issued, but 6a stamps were improvised but cutting the tops and bottoms from revenue stamps, and overprinting "POSTAGE". Another four new designs appeared one at a time between 1874 and 1876.

A complete new set of stamps was issued in 1882 for the Empire of India that had been proclaimed in 1877. The designs consisted of the usual Victoria profile, in a variety of frames, inscribed "INDIA POSTAGE". The watermark also changed to a star shape. These stamps were heavily used and are still quite common today, the lower denominations selling for minimal prices in used form. (In fact, almost all stamps of India from this point exist in great numbers.)

20th Century

(1) Kind Edward VII, One rupee, (1902)

High values - 2, 3 and 5 rupees were introduced in 1895, and in 1900 existing designs were reprinted in new colors.

In 1902 a new series depicting King Edward VII ⁽¹⁾ generally reused the frames of the Victoria stamps, with some color changes, and included values up to 25 rupees.

The 1911 stamps of King George V were more florid in their design. In 1919 a 1 1/2 anna stamp was introduced, inscribed "ONE AND HALF ANNA", but in 1921 this changed to "ONE AND A HALF ANNAS". In 1926 the watermark changed to a pattern of multiple stars.

(2) 1 anna 3 pies, (1932)

The first pictorial stamps appeared in 1931 ⁽²⁾. The set of six, showing the fortress of Purana Qila and government edifices, was issued to mark the government's move from Calcutta to New Delhi. Another pictorial set, also showing buildings, commemorated George's Silver Jubilee in 1935.

Higher-value stamps of the King George VI issue of 1937 depicted forms of mail transports. A new issue in 1941, constrained by the demands of the war, consisted of rather plain designs using minimal amounts of ink.

A victory issue in 1946 was shortly followed by a first Dominion issue, whose three stamps were the first to depict the Ashoka Pillar and the national flag of India (the third showed an airplane).

India Post post-independence (1947)

File:Stamp India 1949 2a Nataraja.jpg

(3) Nataraja, (1949)

File:Stamp India 1964 15p Aurobindo.jpg

(6) Sri Aurobindo 15np, (1964)

A memorial to Mahatma Gandhi was issued 15 August 1948, and followed up exactly one year later by a definitive series depicting cultural heritage, mostly Hindu temples and gods ⁽³⁾. An issue on 26 January 1950 commemorated the inauguration of the Republic.

Definitives included a technology and development theme ⁽⁴⁾ in 1955, a series all showing the same map of India ⁽⁵⁾ in 1957, denominated in naye paisa (decimal currency), and a series with a broad variety of images ⁽⁶⁾ in 1965.

File:Stamp India 1955 6p.jpg (4) Power looms, (1955)

File:Stamp India 1958 25np map.jpg (5) Map of India, (1958)

Stamp Gallery

• A commemorative postage stamp on "Mahatma Gandhi: Man of the millennium", 2 October, 2001
  A commemorative postage stamp on "Mahatma Gandhi: Man of the millennium", 2 October, 2001
• A Commemorative stamp of 1988 to mark 150 years of The Times of India.
  A Commemorative stamp of 1988 to mark 150 years of The Times of India.

See also

• stamps and postal history of Indian states
• Indian Postal Service
• Philately