Postage stamps and postal history of India/Sandbox

[[image:India stamps041004 150yr.jpg|right|thumb|250px|150 years of India Post - [[4 October]], [[2004]].]]
The '''[[postage stamp]]s and [[postal history]] of [[India]]''' are complicated by the patchwork of [[United Kingdom|British]] and local rule prior to [[Partition of India|partition]] in [[1947]].

* For the states with their own stamps, See: {{main|stamps and postal history of Indian states}}
* For current information on India Post, See: {{main|Indian Postal Service}}

==Postal history of India==
The usage of the stamps began on [[1 July]] [[1852]] in [[Scinde]] district, with the use of an embossed pattern on paper or wax. The shape was circular, with "SCINDE DISTRICT DAWK" around the rim, leading to the common name "[[Scinde Dawk]]". The paper was either white or blue, and the wax version on red wax, but all had the same value of 1/2 [[anna]]. They were used until October [[1854]], and then officially suppressed. These are quite scarce today, with prices from US$700 to $10,000.

[[image:Watermark_elephant_head.jpg|left|frame|Elephant head watermark of early Indian stamps.]]
1854 was the year of the first issue for all of India. The stamps were issued by the [[British East India Company|East India Company]], which first printed a 1/2a [[vermilion]] in April but never sold it to the public, then put four values (1/2a, 1a, 2a, 4a) on sale in October. All were designed and printed in [[Calcutta]], featuring the usual profile of Queen [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]].

A new set of stamps, with the queen in an oval [[vignette]] inside a rectangular frame, and inscribed "EAST INDIA POSTAGE", was printed by [[De La Rue]] in England (who produced all the subsequent issues of British India) and made available in [[1855]]. These continued in use until after the British government took over administration of India in [[1858]], and from [[1865]] were printed on paper [[watermark]]ed with an [[elephant]] head.

[[image:Stamp_India_1866_4a.jpg|right|120px|thumb|4 annas, 1866]]

In [[1866]] new designs for 4a and 6a8p stamps were issued, but 6a stamps were improvised but [...] the tops and bottoms from [[revenue stamp]]s, and [[overprint]]ing "'''POSTAGE'''". Another four new designs appeared one at a time between [[1874]] and [[1876]].

A complete new set of stamps was issued in [[1882]] for the [[Empire of India]] that had been proclaimed in [[1877]]. The designs consisted of the usual Victoria profile, in a variety of frames, inscribed "INDIA POSTAGE". The watermark also changed to a star shape. These stamps were heavily used and are still quite common today, the lower denominations selling for minimal prices in used form. (In fact, almost all stamps of India from this point exist in great numbers.)

==Postal history of Indian states==
During [[British Raj]] in India, the two main categories were the ''convention states'' who had agreements with [[British India]] regarding mail, and the ''feudatory states'' who ran their own posts, and whose stamps were only valid within their borders.

The convention states all used contemporaneous stamps of India, [[overprint]]ed with the name of the state, in [[Latin]] letters or [[Indic]] letters or both, depending on state and period. The stamps of the convention states all became invalid from [[1 January]], [[1950]].

India had a great many feudatory states, but not all issued stamps. In some states the stamps served a legitimate purpose, but in others the stamps were issued more to please the ruler's vanity, and normal mail was franked with British India's stamps.

For more details, refer to the list of the [[#List of Convention and Feudatory states|Convention states and Feudatory states]] later in this article.

==20th Century==
[[Image:Stamp India 1902 1r.jpg|thumb|left|100px|(1) Kind [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Edward VII]], One rupee, ([[1902]])]]
High values - 2, 3 and 5 [[rupee]]s were introduced in [[1895]], and in [[1900]] existing designs were reprinted in new colors.

In [[1902]] a new series depicting King [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Edward VII]] (1) GeneRally reused the frames of the Victoria stamps, with some color changes, and included values up to 25 rupees.

The [[1911]] stamps of King [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]] were more florid in their design. In [[1919]] a 1 1/2 anna stamp was introduced, inscribed "ONE AND HALF ANNA", but in [[1921]] this changed to "ONE AND A HALF ANNAS". In [[1926]] the watermark changed to a pattern of multiple stars.
[[Image:Stamp India 1932 1a3p.jpg|thumb|right|100px|(2) 1 ''anna'' 3 ''pies'', ([[1932]])]]
The first pictorial stamps appeared in [[1931]] (2). The set of six, showing the fortress of [[Purana Qila]] and government edifices, was issued to mark the government's move from [[Calcutta]] to [[New Delhi]]. Another pictorial set, also showing buildings, commemorated George's [[Silver Jubilee]] in [[1935]].

Higher-value stamps of the King [[George VI of the United Kingdom|George VI]] issue of [[1937]] depicted forms of mail transports. A new issue in [[1941]], constrained by the demands of the war, consisted of rather plain designs using minimal amounts of ink.

A victory issue in [[1946]] was shortly followed by a first [[Dominion]] issue, whose three stamps were the first to depict the [[Ashoka Pillar]] and the national flag of India (the third showed an airplane).

==India Post post-independence (1947)==
[[Image:Stamp India 1949 2a Nataraja.jpg|thumb|left|100px|(3) [[Nataraja]], ([[1949]])]]
[[Image:Stamp_India_1964_15p_Aurobindo.jpg|thumb||right|100px|(6) Sri [[Aurobindo]] 15np, ([[1964]])]]
{{sect-stub}}
A memorial to [[Mahatma Gandhi]] was issued [[15 August]] [[1948]], and followed up exactly one year later by a [[definitive series]] depicting cultural heritage, mostly [[Hindu]] temples and gods (3). An issue on [[26 January]] [[1950]] commemorated the inauguration of the Republic.

Definitives included a technology and development theme (4) in [[1955]], a series all showing the same map of India (5) in [[1957]], denominated in [[naye paisa]] (decimal currency), and a series with a broad variety of images (6) in [[1965]].

{|-
|[[Image:Stamp India 1955 6p.jpg|thumb|100px|(4) [[Power looms]], ([[1955]])]]
|[[Image:Stamp India 1958 25np map.jpg|thumb|100px|(5) Map of [[India]], ([[1958]])]]
|}

==Stamp Gallery==
<gallery>

</gallery>

==List of Convention and Feudatory states==

;Below is a list of Convention states and Feudatory Indian states (which were running their post and stamps):

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse;"
|'''Convention states'''
|colspan="3"|'''Feudatory states''' (starting - ending years)
|- valign="top"
|
* [[Chamba]]
* [[Faridkot]] (formerly feudatory; convention from 1887)
* [[Gwalior]]
* [[Jind]]
* [[Nabha]]
* [[Patiala]]
|
* [[Alwar]] ([[1877]]-[[1899]])
* [[Bamra]] ([[1888]]-[[1893]])
* [[Barwani]] ([[1921]]-[[1938]])
* [[Bhopal]] ([[1876]]-[[1932]])
* [[Bhor]] ([[1879]]-[[1901]])
* [[Bijawar]] ([[1935]]-[[1937]])
* [[Bundi]] ([[1894]]-[[1941]])
* [[Bashahr]] ([[1895]]-[[1900]])
* [[Charkhari]] ([[1894]]-[[1943]])
* [[Kochi, India|Cochin]] ([[1892]]-[[1933]])
* [[Dhar]] ([[1897]]-[[1898]])
* [[Datia|Duttia]] ([[1893]]-[[1916]])
|
* [[Faridkot]] ([[1879]]-[[1900]])
* [[Hyderabad state|Hyderabad]] ([[1869]]-[[1949]])
* [[Idar]] ([[1939]]-[[1944]])
* [[Indore]] ([[1886]]-[[1941]])
* [[Jaipur]] ([[1900]]-[[1947]])
* [[Jammu and Kashmir]] ([[1878]]-[[1886]])
* [[Jammu]] ([[1866]]-[[1877]])
* [[Kashmir]] ([[1866]]-[[1867]])
* [[Jasdan]] ([[1942]]-[[1942]])
* [[Jhalawar]] ([[1887]]-[[1887]])
* [[Kishangarh]] ([[1899]]-[[1928]])
* [[Las Bela]] ([[1897]]-[[1904]])
|
* [[Morvi]] ([[1931]]-[[1935]])
* [[Nandgaon]] ([[1892]]-[[1893]])
* [[Nawanagar|Nowanuggur]] ([[1877]]-[[1893]])
* [[Orchha]] ([[1913]]-[[1939]])
* [[Poonch]] ([[1876]]-[[1884]])
* [[Rajasthan]] ([[1949]]-[[1949]])
* [[Rajpipla]] ([[1880]])
* [[Sirmur]] ([[1879]]-[[1899]])
* [[Saurashtra (region)|Soruth]] ([[1864]]-[[1937]])
* [[Travancore]] ([[1888]]-[[1946]])
* [[Travancore-Cochin]] ([[1949]]-[[1950]])
* [[Wadhwan]] ([[1888]]-[[1889]])
|}

==See also==
{{commonscat|Indian stamps}}
* [[stamps and postal history of Indian states]]
* [[Indian Postal Service]]
* [[Philately]]