March 1796 Tanjore HG 1 Cover

March 1796

Siegel - INDIA, Tanjore, 1796, "Tajore" Handstamp (Giles 1). Bold straightline strike with manuscript "6th march" date and "Postpaid 11fa" rate on 1796 folded letter addressed to William Dick in Calcutta, Calcutta Mar. 22 arrival backstamp (unrecorded in Giles), some minor strengthening along folds, Very Fine and noted as rare by Giles, seldom found in this quality, used during the Maratha period and prior to 1799 when the territory (not the city itself) was ceded to the East India Company Cavendish - TANJORE - RARE EX-TERRITORIAL PERIOD “Tanjore” MARK WITH NEWS OF CAPTURE OF CEYLON; 5 Mar. 1796 EL from “Tanjour” to Calcutta with a mainly fine rare “Tanjore” (HG1; “Rare”) on the front endorsed Post paid 11 Fas.” and “6th March 1795” all nicely placed on the front; also with a mainly very fine double-oval Calcutta “G.P.O/MAR[22]/BgPg[5]” (HG11a; early usage) on the top flap. The letter is from a British soldier recently returned from taking part in the Capture of Ceylon and a shipwreck; “Our Flank Company were on the late Expedition at Trincomalee...One great misfortune...was my being [shipw]racked on Board the Diomede, Man of War, when she was going at the rate of 9 Knots an Hour - we fortunately lost no lives, but every thing else in the ship was lost...all went down.” [H.M.S. Diomede sank in Trincomalee harbour on 2 Aug. 1795 during the Invasion.] Rare early Ex-Territorial period cover PHOTO - see page 31.

"Magnolia" Michael Manning