Postage Due Seals
This little cutie on the left was a postage due seal known for more than a
decade, starting in the pre-stamps period—a sighting in March 1863 where it finds itself
obliged to obliterate the Jammu frank itself. The sampling of postage-dues here is the beginning
of an orientation, and for the present we are just gathering the data. For the split-box cachet (first
image below) there may be different cuttings of a given class, of which there are six basic
formats for the designation of the amount owing:
| ► Class 1 | 1 ANNA | Sialkot 1874-78, Srinagar 1891-190? |
| ► Class 2 | (blank) ANNA | Srinagar 1875-86, Sialkot City 1878, Domel 1891 |
| ► Class 3 | 1 A | Srinagar? 1878-79 |
| ► Class 4 | ONE ANNA | Srinagar 1886-93, Gilgit 1892-93, Tavi/Jummu 1891-94 |
| Class 5 | (blank) ANNAS | Gulmarg 1889, Baramulla 1891 |
| Class 6 | (blank) (blank) | Leh (unique 31 July 1885) |
Class 1
Three different cuttings from the Sealkote/Umritsur era, with serifed unit, from the mid-'70s, the first November 1874, the cover August 1874.
Another Sialkot serifed cutting from November 1878 in the New Rectangulars period. Is it different from the green item above? If it is, well, here it is, and if it is the same, here it is still .
Sialkot with the unserifed unit, 20 January 1878. The stamp is an oilcolor.
Class 2
On left, February 1878 at Sialkot City. On right, a different later cutting, Srinagar; we have so far seen these only between January 1884 and somewhere in 1886.
Class 3
Notes in India Post 36 76 2002 and 37 66 2003 alert one to this variety of British postage-due seal for which the last three letters -NNA are missing from the usual ANNA. An early dating for the narrow-H KASHMIR cds and this anomalous postage-due seal may be April 1878. This seal is (always?) seen to accompany the narrow-H type, but not conversely, for see next image. So far we have seen only pen-cancelled stamps from this type of cover—the originating office in Kashmir (possibly Srinagar itself) is here unknown.
Above: The Narrow-H KASHMIR cds that is not accompanied by the anomalous seal mentioned above. Either 1878 or 1879.
Class 4
On left, the ONE ANNA of Srinagar, known between 1886 and 1892. On the right, the Gilgit, from 1892. The greenish hue is an artifact of the scanner used, for we see the same effect on unrelated markings on scans from the same internet source.
Native Office Postage Due
Srinagar Postage Due Seal masūl bākī. It is known, if sporadically, over the entire 1879-90 period. Staal-Sharma restrikes attest to the existence of other cuttings, but whether some of these are known on cover, we do not know. Image above: Detail KB371 Sturton Sale. .
Sialkot Postage Due Seal masūl bakī. This seal was partner to the Sialkot Duplex used the native-state extraterritorial mail agency between 1879 and late 1888. There are no Staal-Sharma restrikes of this version, the implement being missing from the museum collection.