Travancore~one for Tony Mac.

One question.
If Travancore had cheaper postage / rates than the rest of India
(or at least of British India) , were they not obliged to use
the rates / stamps of British India for mail going outside of their
own territory (i.e. other Indian States or international)?

Blair

An excellent question, Blair. The short answer is yes.

The long answer is yes, but there were exceptions. Leaving aside the
Convention States, Travancore and Cochin had an agreement to exchange
mail with each other (I don't knowingly have an example of this, but
I've been meaning to check my Cochin covers) and Hyderabad had an
agreement with the British Indian authorities to allow Hyderabad
government mail to pass without British Indian postage, and for the
British Indian Post Office to accept Hyderabad government mail to
Hyderabad franked only with Hyderabad official stamps. I have a
couple of examples of the former

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...Indoreback.jpg

This one going to Indore, shortly after the Indore State PO closed
forever, and

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...SGO49cover.jpg

going to Bombay

Otherwise, mail from the States had to carry British Indian stamps, or
both State and British Indian stamps. These combination covers are a
fascinating area, and they give rise to some fine specimens. Here is
an example I recently picked up from Orchha State, used on a British
Indian ¼ Anna postal stationery card:

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...coverfront.jpg

(I hope I've remembered which of the options in Photobucket you can
actually see. I daresay Rodney will deliver another smart rap across
the knuckles if I've got it wrong again.)

Tony

Yes,
it's funny how homo erectus has lost his skills over time,
We are not comfortable without an apron and a microwave.
Well gone are the days of clubbing the cook over the head, and dragging her
to your cave.
Quink!?
You are so baby boomer.
With us, it was the nib and inkwell,
we had it so rough we would pray for a clip over the ear, and sent to bed
with a lard sanger.



IIRC was it not the early post of Pitcairn written on some sort of leaf?
I'll have to ransack the trusty database.




"Asia-translation"
As for writing on leaves, well ... earlier, I got out the trusty
Parker 51 and bottle of Quink and tried writing on a gum leaf. Not a
great success. There must be an art to it, which I haven't yet
mastered. Or perhaps gum leaves make unsatisfactory notepaper.

Tony

A shoe box? A shoe box? WE had a hole in the ground ...

Actually, my reference to the Parker 51 and bottle of Quink was to
make it easier for younger members to follow. But if we're going to
do it properly, it should be a split reed and (I've no idea what was
used for ink, but some of it was pretty acidic).

Tony Agonistes

rodney wrote:
Yes,
it's funny how homo erectus has lost his skills over time,
We are not comfortable without an apron and a microwave.
Well gone are the days of clubbing the cook over the head, and dragging her
to your cave.
Quink!?
You are so baby boomer.
With us, it was the nib and inkwell,
we had it so rough we would pray for a clip over the ear, and sent to bed
with a lard sanger.



IIRC was it not the early post of Pitcairn written on some sort of leaf?
I'll have to ransack the trusty database.




"Asia-translation"
As for writing on leaves, well ... earlier, I got out the trusty
Parker 51 and bottle of Quink and tried writing on a gum leaf. Not a
great success. There must be an art to it, which I haven't yet
mastered. Or perhaps gum leaves make unsatisfactory notepaper.

Tony

A hole in the ground? God you had it lucky, you wussy so and so,
when I was a kid, for shelter, we would crouch behind a stout tree,
and nibble the bark for sustenance.
To get warm, we would stand out in the rain hoping we would get struck by
lightning.

"Asia-translation"
A shoe box? A shoe box? WE had a hole in the ground ...