Scan or Photo Courtesy of Cavendish Philatelic Auctions Ltd
Census record COV-2526 is a 1 August 1833 pre-stamp cover of British India bearing the Delhi HG 1 handstamp of the North Western Provinces, a mark graded “Scarce” in this census — one of 19 surviving covers with this mark recorded. It has appeared at auction with Cavendish Philatelic Auctions Ltd, THE MICHAEL MANNING FRPSL Collection of Indian Postal History, lot 100, (2015).
Date
1 August 1833
Description
DELHI - SCARCE 1st-TYPE “Pt Pd” OVAL MARK WITH RARE LONDON RED BOXED “INDIA LETTER”; Colourful Aug. 1833 E (paper wmk. 1830) from Delhi to Scotland with a very fine bright red oval “DELHI/Pt Pd [14as]” on the top flap slightly overlapped by London/Edinburgh backstamps and part of a very fine rare orange-red boxed London “INDIA LETTER” (Rob.In.9; very seldom seen, thought to have been used for mail from smaller ports without any India Letter mark of their own, because the normal “INDIA LETTER/LONDON” types were used for letters landed at London itself throughout the 1830s alongside this much scarcer mark); charged “1/1” then “1/7” and then “1/9” (4d India Letter rate plus 1s-5d inland rate) which must have been for a distance above 700 miles, which means the letter travelled at least 50 miles before it reached London, because
Auction
THE MICHAEL MANNING FRPSL Collection of Indian Postal History, Lot 100, (2015)
Provenance
MANNING