Umritsar Markings 1866-76
Of the currently extant covers that crossed the Kashmir and Jammu borders in the 19th century, those to or from Amritsar constitute the majority. While it has been reported that a sometime Native extraterritorial post office operated for Jammu at Kaţrā Ahluwāliān in Amritsar, there are no special State markings that explicitly attest to that. (The same may be said about Lahore). Sialkot is a similar case, but differs by virtue of the rare Native Duplex obliterator that is known for Sialkot. So varied and prevalent are Amritsar postmarks on Jammu and Kashmir covers that even illegible postmarks on covers can be of help in establishing time-ranges.
Certain varieties of Amritsar datestamps that first appear on Kashmir mail were already in use before the advent of the Native stamps. The following type, which exists in a number of cuttings, first appeared in late summer 1865.
° British serifed-UMRITSUR datestamp. This detail was taken from the first known cover, 23 March 1866. There is a picture of the full cover on our page dealing with the ½a circulars. The British marking was struck upon arrival on 29 March to which was added in manuscript the “javab” notation seen here, dated 13 zelqa'de [1282] ~ 30 March. Other examples in different cuttings are gathered together here out of chronological sequence for comparison:
° Some cuttings over time: The tell-tale differences in the lettering occur rather strongly in the forms of the -SU-combination viewed as a unit. The squashed moths at the bottom could also do with a zoological classification. The type was used primarily as a despatch marking, usually in black, and as an arrival marking, usually in shades of red, which come in a broad range from deep reds to light reddish-orange. They persist in one cutting or another to summer 1872 in red and as late as summer 1875 in black.
° UMRITSUR hexagon. Struck here in red for 20 July 1866, this is the first attested use in Kashmir, but is known on other mail before the advent of native stamps. Though scarce, it is sporadically attested to about the end of 1869. It is also reported (Hellrigl) in black on 16 December 1875.
° UMRITSUR POST OFFICE 1ST DELIVERY (and 2ND and 3RD). There is now a new earliest dating for the 1st-delivery type of 22 January 1872 (not the example shown above, which is an August delivery). The second image is an August 1874 dating, and is the latest recorded for the 2nd-delivery type. The third image is the only example we have seen of the 3rd-delivery type; it was delivered on Christmas Eve 1873.
° The 1.DELY UMRITSUR. The scruffy example on the upper left dated March 9 is seen on a Srinagar to Amritsar cover dated in manuscript 14 moharram [12]91 ~ 4 March 1874, and is thus a candidate for first sighting. The example on the upper right, from (some) April, shows better what seems to be the same cutting. The example underneath is a different cutting (this from an October 1875 cover). Note the spacings between the D and E, for example, and how the T lines up under the E. There is also a second delivery type (no third, so far as we know). As for a latest dating of the 1st delivery, August 1876 is definitely a possibility for a number are known from late July 1876, even though this date is already past that of the first sightings of the new AMRITSAR spelling in June of that year.
° The 2.DELY UMRITSUR cds. This is first reported for this date 11 September 1874, a detail from a cover in the Hellrigl collection. Since the 1st delivery type is already attested for March, we might be on the lookout for possible summer sightings.
Here is a late example (18 May 1876) of the 1.DELY UMRITSUR type on one of its last runs before the AMRITSAR type in the new spelling started to show up: