I suspect that this could be Indian Native States - the writing looks Hindi or Gujerati, but could be any one of the South Asian languages -it certainly is not Arabic ( could be Farsi ?)
Can I point you at Stampboards. com ? There is a thread called "Banging the Drum for the Uglies" which is all about these issues ( and the postal history thereof ). The guy who is the leading light there must be one of the all-time experts, and he has knowledge of oriental languages to boot. Also there are a number of residents from the sub-continent lurking there.
I don't normally point people to other chatrooms, but with all due respect to those here - I think this is a little too esoteric for the residents here.
Malcolm
Malcolm,
No need to apologize for trying to assist another collector with an answer to his query. That's what SOR is all about.
Mike
It is Indian - the language is Devnagari. These tend to date to the 18th century, give or take. The head man of each village in some of the states were expected to send in regular reports to the capital. There would be a network of messengers who would pick up, carry and pass on these messages until they made their way to the government. The seal was held by the head man and was the authentication that this was official business.
In some states these were preserved in state archives until independence when they were sold off to dealers. Hence they are, in spite of their antiquity, very very common.
Malcolm is right - Tony McG will be able to say which state it is from.
I found this unusual item in a stack of covers hidden in a box, I bought at an auction. I am trying to find out some background information of this cover. I hope someone can help me with this one.
I have seen similar octagonal 8 centimos Sherifan stamps on letters that were transported by North African mule and camel trails.
The script however is not Arabic on this one, a friend of mine suggested Nepalese. Can anyone provide me with some more information?
Thank you so much,
re: Near East caravan post?
I suspect that this could be Indian Native States - the writing looks Hindi or Gujerati, but could be any one of the South Asian languages -it certainly is not Arabic ( could be Farsi ?)
Can I point you at Stampboards. com ? There is a thread called "Banging the Drum for the Uglies" which is all about these issues ( and the postal history thereof ). The guy who is the leading light there must be one of the all-time experts, and he has knowledge of oriental languages to boot. Also there are a number of residents from the sub-continent lurking there.
I don't normally point people to other chatrooms, but with all due respect to those here - I think this is a little too esoteric for the residents here.
Malcolm
re: Near East caravan post?
Malcolm,
No need to apologize for trying to assist another collector with an answer to his query. That's what SOR is all about.
Mike
re: Near East caravan post?
It is Indian - the language is Devnagari. These tend to date to the 18th century, give or take. The head man of each village in some of the states were expected to send in regular reports to the capital. There would be a network of messengers who would pick up, carry and pass on these messages until they made their way to the government. The seal was held by the head man and was the authentication that this was official business.
In some states these were preserved in state archives until independence when they were sold off to dealers. Hence they are, in spite of their antiquity, very very common.
Malcolm is right - Tony McG will be able to say which state it is from.