French India

From pre-stamp Pondicherry to Free French overprints and the separate transfers to India: the stamps, offices and journeys of the French establishments.

French India: Stamps and Postal History

Five French settlements in India, one stamp programme and several postal networks, from the first English offices to the transfer to India in 1954.
French India: Places, Administrations and How to Collect Them

Five separated settlements shared one stamp programme, while their letters entered different Indian and overseas networks.
French India Before Stamps: Pondicherry, Occupation and Prepayment

Stampless letters show a working post, several kinds of charge and international links long before French India had a stamp of its own.
British Offices in French India and the Exchange of Mail

Indian stamps, British office marks and French addresses can all belong to the same genuine journey through the French settlements.
French Colonial Stamps and the 1892 Navigation and Commerce Issue

Before 1892 only the cancellation shows a stamp was used in French India; the Navigation and Commerce issue put the territory’s name on the stamp.
The 1903–1904 Shortages: Surcharges, a Converted Fiscal and Cash-Paid Mail

When values ran out in 1903–1904, French India surcharged old stamps, turned a revenue stamp into postage and let some letters go with the postage paid in cash.
The 1914 Brahma and Temple Pictorials and the Red Cross Stamps

In 1914 French India’s stamps changed from a shared colonial design to local subjects: Brahma on the low values and a Pondicherry temple on the high ones.
Caches, Fanons and Roupies: French India’s New Currency, 1923–1929

In the 1920s French India’s stamps changed from centimes and francs to caches, fanons and roupies, first by surcharge and then in new printings.
Exhibitions and Charity: French India’s Stamps of the 1930s

Colonial exhibitions, the New York World’s Fair, the radium appeal and the Revolution anniversary: French India’s 1930s common-design stamps.
Free France, 1941: the FRANCE LIBRE Overprints

French India joined Free France in September 1940; from February 1941 old stamps were overprinted FRANCE LIBRE, many of them for sale to collectors in London.
The 1942 Lotus and Airmail Stamps, and the Vichy Issues

Free France’s London-printed lotus and airmail stamps of 1942, and the Vichy stamps prepared in French India’s name but never sold there.
FRANCE TOUJOURS, 1943: an Authorised Overprint

The FRANCE TOUJOURS overprints of 1943 were authorised by a government order of 6 March 1943 and applied to older definitives and exhibition stamps.
French India Postage Due Stamps

French India’s postage dues: French dues surcharged in local currency, the 1929 À PERCEVOIR design and the 1948 TIMBRE TAXE series.
After the War: Pictorials and Airmails, 1944–1954

Red Cross, Éboué and Chad-to-Rhine issues, the 1948 Indian sculpture pictorials, the Chidambaram temple stamp and French India’s last issues.
French India Postal Stationery: Envelopes and Cards

Envelopes and cards with printed postage from Karikal, Yanaon and Mahé, and why the whole object is worth keeping intact.
Reading French India Covers: Postmarks, Routes and Rates

How to read the marks, routes and charges on French India letters, from PAID in 1845 to a wartime airmail cover of 1945.
French India Joins India: Chandernagore, 1950, and the Four Settlements, 1954

Chandernagore passed to India in stages from 1949 to 1954; Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahé and Yanam were handed over on 1 November 1954, the legal transfer completed in 1962.