Postmarks: British Ladâkh (Leh)
Britain’s first offices were at Srinagar in Kashmir from spring 1867 and at Leh in Ladâkh from autumn 1876. The first Leh marking was a circular datestamp that could be used with a separable 3/L-3 obliterator:
° First LEH datestamp. This marking is attested for more than seven years between October 1876 and March 1884, and is thus found with State watercolors, oilcolors, and both Jammu- and Srinagar-printed New Rectangulars. The possibility has arisen that there are at least two different cuttings for this early type, where, most notably, a dot may or may not appear after the end of the name (together with other differences in the lettering.) More examples of better images than we currently have access to are needed to decide the point. (With thanks to Phil Lunn for the alert.) Despite its longevity, this marking is curiously scarce and must be assiduously distinguished from the more commonly-seen cutting that immediately superseded it in 1884 (image downscreen.) The scan is a detail from a March 1882 cover in the Bard collection.
° 3/L-3 obliterator. This marking appeared with the first Leh cds in spring 1876 and both are occasionally seen on the same cover, at least up to late summer 1882 when the obliterator was abandoned. The scan on the left is a detail from a cover ex Mix and the other is the schematic drawing taken from Séfi & Mortimer. To go by Renouf’s description of these implements, the 3 at the top, assuming it refers to Leh, means that Leh was a non-disbursing office subordinate to Sialkot, which is designated by the 3 in the lower line. The L stands for Lahore, the head office for the Punjab Circle.
° The Leh Square L-bar. While Séfi & Mortimer report this marking from as early as 1880
in registration usage, A.S. Bard puts the first attestation with a Leh/Gilgit cover (not a registered)
from March 1882. The square L-bar is known for a couple of years more, to spring 1884. It was
much used on the Leh bisects of April & May 1883.
March 1884
° Second LEH datestamp. This type, which appeared in March 1884 and lasted beyond the closing of the State posts, is distinguished from the earlier version by the slightly smaller lettering situated slightly higher in the circle, and usually by the presence of the year. The early type never has year dates, while the later type often does, as in the scan. The year is missing for 1886, 1888, and sometimes in 1885; the example of the type given on Staal p 138 does show an 1885 dating.
August 1885
° The LEH Registration cachet. This R-class is known from August 1885 to 1900. The merchant notation in the corner of the image is for Poh 1943 ~ December 1886.