British India Before Stamps: Letters, Charges and Postal Marks
How letters travelled and postage was accounted for in India before 1854, and how to read the marks and sums on a letter without a stamp.
Foundations and Early Issues
The post before stamps, the Scinde Dawk of 1852, the lithographed and typographed stamps of 1854, essays and proofs, the first De La Rue stamps and the change from Company to Crown.
-
-
The Scinde Dawk, 1852: Asia’s First Adhesive Postage Stamps
A half-anna provincial experiment in Sindh: three fragile forms, red, white and blue, the argument over who made them, their postmarks, forgeries and the recall that was not carried out.
-
The Half Anna Blue, 1854: From a Copper Die to Printing Stones
How the everyday half-anna letter stamp of 1854 was lithographed in Calcutta, from a copper die through transfers to stones of ninety-six, and what its dies, margins and covers tell a collector.
-
The One Anna Red, 1854: Dies, Substituted Transfers and a Block Rebuilt
The lithographed one-anna red of 1854: its three dies, the substituted transfers on its stones, and how Sir Eric Studd rebuilt a block of four from two pairs cut from a cover.
-
The Two Annas Green, 1854: The Typographed Stamp of the First Issue
The two annas green was the one stamp of 1854 printed by typography, not lithography: its dies, frame lines, paper and a pair on a letter to London.
-
The Four Annas Bicoloured, 1854: Head, Frame and the Inverted Head
India’s first two-colour stamp: a blue head printed into a red frame, its head and frame dies, its settings of twelve and twenty-four, and the errors that separate printing made possible.
-
The 1854 Lithographs: Stones, Transfers and Plating
How repeated flaws, multiples and sheet margins link a single stamp of 1854 to the stone it was printed from, and how to build a reconstruction others can check.
-
Early Essays, Proofs and Unissued Designs, 1852–1854
The designs that came before India’s first stamps, from a pencil sketch of 1852 and the lion and palm tree to an eight-anna stamp never issued, and the later impressions that can be mistaken for them.
-
The First De La Rue Stamps, 1855–1864: Unwatermarked Paper
London typography replaced the Calcutta stamps: the contract of 1854, the papers, the green two annas that may never have been issued, and how to build a study of the first De La Rue stamps.
-
Company and Crown: How the Post Changed after 1858
The end of East India Company rule in 1858 did not change the stamps at once: EAST INDIA POSTAGE stayed in use until 1882, while the post’s laws, accounts, official mail and rates changed on their own timetable.
