Rare Item From Bamra

Deschl E4 locally postmarked (P1) 27 December, 1890 , with the British India stamps cancelled at Sambalpur, and with Calcutta arrival cancellation on reverse. With clear 1981 RPSL certificate.

Genuninely used (i.e. mail that required Bamra postage for travel through the postal system, delivered with an arrival cancel, and is adequately/correctly franked) Bamra postal stationary is exceedingly rare (so far just four are known). This cover besides being one of four genuinely used has the distinction of being the earliest postal history item (stamps and postal stationary) known. The cover is addressed to a dealer of stamps ; as were other genuninely used correspondence from Bamra that have survived. The first such recorded correspondence was on 21st April, 1890 to Messrs Stanley Gibbons indicating the existence of a postal system and enclosing samples of issued stamps.

Note that in the Handbook of Indian Philately , in the section on Bamra written by Benns, it is said that the earliest date recorded for Bamra cancels is 21.2.1891.