Post office · Burma
Rangoon
- Handstamps
- 6
- Recorded
- 1858–1859
- Rare
- 5
Rangoon has 6 pre-1854 hand-struck postal markings dated 1858–1859 recorded in this census. Each figure links to its covers, rarity and provenance.
Rangoon handstamp summary
All recorded markings at a glance — click any row for full details and covers.
Rangoon— postal history & markings
Rangoon's five markings all belong to British Burma, administered in this period through Bengal, and every one — FP 1 through FP 5 — is rare. The office worked mainly in black, with a single red strike. As a Burmese office, Rangoon lies outside the Hammond Giles catalogue of British India proper, and its marks are recorded here directly from surviving material. That every strike is rare makes the small record of this principal port — the great commercial gateway of lower Burma — especially valuable to document: a complete run of scarce handstamps from a corner of the eastern empire seldom met on cover.
Frequently asked — Rangoon postal history
- What are the pre stamp covers of Rangoon?
- Pre stamp (pre philatelic) covers of Rangoon are folded letters and envelopes that passed through the Rangoon post office before India's first adhesive stamp of 1854, so postage was shown entirely by hand-struck postal markings and manuscript rates. Rangoon was a post office of the Burma, British India, and this census records 6 distinct postal markings used there, dated between 1858 and 1859.
- How many handstamps are recorded for Rangoon?
- 6 hand-struck postal markings are recorded for Rangoon in this census, of which 5 are graded rare or better. Each mark carries its Hammond Giles catalogue figure number, colour, date range, evidence-based rarity grade, and links to every surviving cover recorded with it.
- How do I identify a Rangoon postmark or cover?
- Compare your cover against the reference impressions on this page — each figure shows the mark's design, ink colour and recorded date range. If your Rangoon cover bears a mark that matches a figure, open that figure's page to see every recorded example with provenance. If it matches none, it may be unrecorded: submit photographs through the form on this page and the editors will review it for inclusion in the census.
For background on the material itself, see the guides to the handstruck stamps of India, the pre covers of India and the pre stamp covers of India, which explain how marks like those recorded at Rangoon were struck, catalogued and graded for rarity.
Also searched as: Rangoon, Rangoon handstruck stamps, Rangoon pre stamp covers, Rangoon postal history.
How to cite
“Rangoon, Burma — pre-1854 handstruck stamps & covers,” Hand Struck Stamps, https://handstruckstampsindia.com/burma/rangoon (accessed 8 September 2026).
Updated: 8 Sept 2026
An unrecorded mark from Rangoon?
If you hold a cover or strike from Rangoon that does not match any figure above, submit it below. Approved additions appear here as new entries in the census — every submission is reviewed first.
Same presidency
Other post offices in the Burma
Explore the pre-1854 postal history of other Burma post offices — each page lists its recorded handstruck markings, dates and surviving covers.