Scan or Photo Courtesy of Siegel Auction Galleries
Date
9 May 1773
Description
Chicacole, 1773, "CHICACOLE/POST FREE" Handstamp (Giles A). Clear strike of two-line boxed handstamp with manuscript "9th May 1773" date above on piece of a cover front with some content on back about a child's baptism, intact part of address indicates official nature of letter, this is the only recorded example of the "CHICACOLE/POST FREE" handstamp--little can be found about this marking, which was unrecorded in the original Giles book but is listed in the Giles Supplement (p. 11), giving the date sometime between 1775 and 1800, indicating he was aware of this marking, but unsure of usage period--this marking predates the Calcutta postal markings of 1775 by two years.
Auction
(2014)
Sale 1286, Lot 19
Same office
Other recorded marks at Chicacole
4 marks4 other pre-1854 postal markings of Chicacole are recorded in the census. Compare their figure numbers, dates and colours to identify the mark on your cover.
About this record
This 9 May 1773 pre stamp cover of British India bears the Chicacole HG 1 handstamp of the Madras Presidency, a mark with 1 example recorded in this census — the only surviving cover with this mark recorded so far. It has appeared at auction with Auktionen Gaertner, (2014); Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Sale 1286, lot 19.