Saturday, January 20, 2007

Poonch - An amazing rarity




A cover in its entirety to Choya Sadan Shah via Kahuta with the unique pair of Poonch SG1 (with one stamp sideways). The Queen Victoria half-anna postal stationary with the SG1 pair on reverse were posted from Poonch where the Poonch stamps were cancelled by manuscript. Cancelled further at the Imperial Post Office at Kahuta (Sep 8) and bearing the intaglio Poonch seal (four lines of Devnagiri) - a sorting mark/cancellation applied by the Jagir Post Office also at Kahuta where the item was forwarded to its destination - in this case to Choya Saidan Shah where it was cancelled Sep 9 (the date slugs are inverted on the cover).



  • Pairs of Poonch first issues are extremeley rare. This cover bears the second such pair recorded. An SG2 regular pair (not with error and on piece) was exchanged between Duke Philipp von Ferrari and Tapling for a Mauritius Mint Post Office 2d (the used Mauritius stamp is catalogued at ₤550,000, the mint is not priced).




  • While the SG2 pair is an extra-ordinary item , it does not get accorded the status of ‘var’, ’error’ or ’2a’ as they are just plain multiples – unlike tete-beche’s or pairs with one stamp sideways (semi tete-beche) - which are considered to be a variety or an error.



  • This particular (and unique) item was documented by Douie in his article in Philatelic Journal of India in 1932. Auctioned n the 1940's remained completely buried for 60+ years and is still not in any catalogue.



  • An item of amazing rarity and significance, an unique error, of the first issue; moreover, on an entire cover used in combination with a British India postal stationary in very fine condition.

    2006 expertization by the BPA (and signed by Dr Philip Kinns)

Forgeries - Nawanagar

Most images are from items for sale at auctions / ebay.