Faridkot: the Rajas, Their Stamps and the State Post

Faridkot, a Cis-Sutlej Punjab state, had handstruck local stamps from 1879, joined the convention post with overprinted Indian stamps on 1 January 1887, and closed its State post on 31 March 1901.

The state behind the stamp

Faridkot was a small Cis-Sutlej state in the Punjab, ruled by a Brar Sikh house from a capital of the same name. In 1911 its area was given as 642 square miles and its population in 1901 as 124,912. It bordered the British district of Ferozepore to the west and north-east and Nabha to the south. The Rewari–Ferozepore railway crossed it, with a branch from Kotkapura. These are boundaries and railways of that time, not the route of any one letter.

The rulers

A ruler’s reign and the dates a stamp was issued or valid are different kinds of evidence.^[7][8]

Reign	Ruler	Note
1874–1898	Raja Bikram Singh	Ruler during the local stamps and the beginning of the convention
1898–1906	Raja Balbir Singh	Ruler in the closing years of the convention post; palace additions of 1899–1902
from 11 February 1906	Raja Brij Indar Singh	Accession date as given by Barnsdall in 1907; after the State post had closed

The Rajas of Faridkot in the postal period.^[7][8][9]

Two postal eras

Faridkot’s stamps fall into two chapters. The first post used stamps made in the State and struck by hand, a one folus and a one paisa, both a quarter anna, from about 1879 (the date is disputed). From January 1887 a postal convention with the Imperial post replaced them with British Indian stamps overprinted FARIDKOT STATE, and SERVICE for official mail. The State post closed on 31 March 1901 and the Imperial post took over on 1 April. A third group, labels redrawn from the local designs from 1888, is not postage at all.^[1][2][26]

Convention stamps overprinted FARIDKOT STATE (above) and SERVICE (below). Christoph Gärtner, 46th auction, lot 6541. [11 — Convention stamps overprinted FARIDKOT STATE (above) and SERVICE (below). Christoph Gärtner, 46th auction, lot 6541.^[11]

Chronology

Date	Event
1879, 1880 or 1881	First local stamps: Haverbeck gives 1879, Evans 1879 or 1880, the Gazetteer 1881
November 1882	Two blue designs, the oblong and the upright, reported to collectors
April 1883	A blue square design illustrated
1884	Red half anna models made from an older die, never issued (the State Postmaster)
March 1884; October 1885	A Lahore envelope and a reply card with Faridkot local and Indian postage
June–July 1886	Convention proofs passed in June; first supply in July
1 January 1887	The convention post begins
5 January 1887	P. Sheridan signs the notice on exchange, parcel prepayment and inland conditions
November 1887	A modified paisa design reported to collectors, after the local post had ended
from 1888	Photographically redrawn labels of the local designs
1893	The carmine-and-green rupee replaces the grey
September 1900	Printings of the ordinary three pies and twelve annas; reported October 1900 and February 1901
31 March 1901	The State Post Office closes
1 April 1901	The Imperial post takes over

The stamps

The issues and their values, from the research checklist. The red half anna model and the later labels are listed for comparison; they were not issued for postage. Official stamps are described in the convention chapter but not listed here.

Period	Issue	Values
1879 onwards in Haverbeck; first-issue year disputed	Original local one-folus handstamp	1 folus (= 1 paisa = ¼ anna), ultramarine
1882 onwards in Haverbeck; reported November 1882	Original local one-paisa handstamp	1 paisa (= ¼ anna), ultramarine
1884 model; dated 1877 in design	Half-anna model (essay / proof)	½ anna, red
1887–1901; values verified to 1897	Queen Victoria, FARIDKOT / STATE	½ anna, 1 anna, 2 annas, 3 annas, 4 annas, 6 annas, 8 annas, 1 rupee, grey
1888 onwards in Haverbeck	Photographic redrawings of the local designs (reprint / collector label)	1 folus; 1 paisa; ½ anna designs
1893	Queen Victoria, bicoloured ordinary rupee	1 rupee, carmine and green
Late convention values; reported 1900–1901	Late Queen Victoria convention values	3 pies, 12 annas

Sources

[1] H. D. S. Haverbeck, “India: The Stamps of the Feudatory States—Faridkot”, The Collectors Club Philatelist, vol. XXXV, no. IV (July 1956), pp. 239–242 and 256.
[2] C. Stewart-Wilson, British Indian Adhesive Stamps Surcharged for Native States, Part I (Calcutta: Philatelic Society of India, 1897).
[4] William E. Steiner, India—Convention States, album pages, pp. 14–15.
[6] StampWorld, Faridkot, 1887–1900 Queen Victoria group.
[7] District Administration Faridkot, Government of Punjab, “Raj Deori”.
[8] British Library, Visual Arts, X.249, 3(58), “H. H. Raja Balbir Singh Bahadur, Raja of Faridkot”.
[9] W. Percy Barnsdall, “Countries of the World: Faridkot”, Gibbons Stamp Weekly, vol. VI, no. 22 (whole no. 152), 30 November 1907, pp. 337–339.
[10] Grosvenor Philatelic Auctions, auction 107, 24 May 2016, p. 111, lot 873.
[11] Christoph Gärtner, 46th auction, Asia, 25 February 2020, lot 6541 (photograph p. 26, description p. 95).
[18] E. B. Evans, “The Stamps of Faridkot”, reprinted in The Philatelic Journal of India, vol. XLIV, September 1940, pp. 143–146 and 158–161, with additional notes by L. E. Dawson.
[26] Unsigned “Notes”, The Philatelic Journal of India, vol. V, no. 3, March 1901, p.64.
Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), “Faridkot”.