Guide
How to search the census
One search box does four different jobs. Press ⌘K (or Ctrl K) anywhere on the site — then search by post office, by Giles figure number, or by the type of mark. Here is how each works.
Type a post office name — its handstamps appear as you type.
1 · Search by post office
Start typing any town — Agra, Calcutta, Bangalore — and matching offices appear instantly, each with a thumbnail grid of its recorded handstamps. Modern spellings and colonial variants resolve too, so Bengaluru finds Bangalore and Kolkata finds Calcutta. Browse the full list on the all post offices page.
2 · Jump to a specific handstamp
Add a figure number after the office name to go straight to it — Bangalore HG 1, Madras HG 5. Spacing and case don’t matter (hg1, HG 1 and hg-1 are equivalent), and an exact number wins — “HG 1” never pulls in HG 10 or HG 11. Press ↵ to open the first match. The Giles HG numbering guide explains what these designations mean.
3 · Find a figure across every office
Type just the code — no office name — and you get every office that struck it. SD 1 was used at only three offices; HG 1 at hundreds. Click “View all N offices →” to open a full page comparing that mark, office by office, with census counts.
Browse by figure number
4 · Browse by type of mark
Type the name of an impression or classification — intaglio, Mysore, ex-territorial — and every mark of that kind appears across the whole census, with the office and figure for each. Useful for studying a technique or a territory rather than a single office.
Browse by mark type
Keyboard shortcuts
| ⌘K / Ctrl K | Open or close the search from anywhere |
| ↑ / ↓ | Move between results |
| ↵ Enter | Open the highlighted result (or the first figure match) |
| Esc | Close the search |
Not sure what a term means? The glossary explains the mark types and abbreviations used throughout the census.