Indian Princely States - Jammu & Kashmir A Selection from the Dan Walker Collection June 12, 2018

22 Stuart Godfrey communicated his discovery to Masson who, having subsequently found these red impressions stampedon nativepaper andusedas adhesives, wrote to the “Philatelic Journal of India” (Vol. IV, p. 185) as follows: Impressions were also taken in the ordinary red watercolour of the Jammu Old Rectangular stamps [...] the same seal being thus used both as a die and an obliterator. Captain Godfrey was assured by old officials that the obliterating seals were used to frank letters when Post Offices thus ran out of stamps, and he has envelopes hearing clear seal-impressions, and no stamps, which would support this assertion. But it seems to me that when impressions are taken on separate pieces of paper, in the colour of the correct stamp. and these are obliterated in the usual way, then they cease to be frank, and are raised to the status of postage-stamps. This communication of Masson’s needs some comment. He was scarcely accurate in his description of the colour as “ the ordinary red watercolour,” for the shade is certainly not to be found in any watercolour- rectangular of Jammu: and, moreover, watercolour printing had entirely ceased in July, some three months previously. Masson’s statement that the impressions in red were first taken “on separate pieces of paper” need not be taken too literally. They would, no doubt, have been applied to whole sheets, which were subsequently cut up as required. No mention is made of the denomination represented by the impressions, but this would unquestionably have been that of the ½ anna of which, being by far the most in demand, there would be most likely to be a shortage. SG 86 (Lot 10110) It is impossible to cavil at Masson’s contention that these curious provisionals fulfil every condition needed to definitely establish them as true postal adhesive stamps. His collection contained six examples on entires, and a single copy was found classified among his watercolour- rectangulars. Of the entires, only one gave the year (1877), and the different dates were, respectively, 18th September; 8th, 18th and 26th November, and 2nd December two of the covers having shown the same date. A further copy has been seen by us in the Earl Collection, and one other in that of Mr. R.B. Yardley, the President of the Royal Philatelic Society. Other used copies exist, but no unused example is as yet known. Our problem is now to explain why a temporary shortage of ½ anna stamps—as must be pre-supposed—should be met by a sudden reversion to watercolour printing and native paper at a period when, as we have shown, European papers were freely purchasable in the open market and oil-colour stamp-printing in full swing. The explanation must, in our opinion, lie in the fact of the urgency having been so great that the provisionals were produced in the native post office and not by the Jammu printer since time did not permit of application being made to the latter. In support of this theory we offer the following points for consideration: Native paper and watercolour had, at this time, both been discarded by the stamp-printer, but both would, almost certainly, have been ready to hand at the post office. Native paper was being freely used for official stationery, and, as the post office was, in fact, actually using black-watercolour for the seal-obliterations, it may well have been employing a rose- watercolour for other Official purposes. If urgency of supply had been as acute as we suggest, the seal-obliterator would have been urgently needed in the post-office for stamp cancellation and could not, therefore, have been spared for dispatch to the stamp-printer for use with normal paper and oil colour of the period. These arguments appear to us to afford fairly conclusive proof that these curious provisionals had their origin in emergency printings made at the native post office.