ph_2005_003 - postal himalhimalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/postalhimal/pdf/ph... ·...

Postal HimalQUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE NEPAL AND TIBET PHILATELIC STUDY CIRCLE

NTPSC Homepage (courtesy of Rainer Fuchs) http://fuchs-online.com/ntpsc

Number 123 3rd Quarter 2005

Postal Himal is a quarterly publication of the Nepal & Tibet Philatelic StudyCircle. Membership subscriptions run from January through December ofeach year. Dues should be paid in local currency at the prevailing exchangerate to the Society representative in your area.

Great Britain

USA

Europe

One Year

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Three Years

£33

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Life Member

£250

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Dr. vVolfgang C HellriglMr. Colin T. HepperMr Leo Mal1ynMr. Richard M. Hanchett

Past President:Secretary:Auctioneer:Editor:

British Philatelic Federation Affiliate #435Editor: Mr. Richard M. Hanchett

6 Rainbow C01ll1Warwick, RI 02889-1 I 18USAPhone (40 I) 738 0466email: editorofpostalhi mal@coxnet

American Philatelic Society Affiliate # 122

Mr. Colin T. Heppercn Calle Miguel AngelEl Sueno - Fase 1El Chaparral03184 TorreviejaAlicanteSpainPhone & Fax 34 96 678470 Iemail: [email protected]

The Board ofDirectors:President: Prof. Armand Singer, [email protected] President: Mr. Dick van der WaterenTreasurer: Mr. Colin T. HepperMembers at large: Mr. Christopher Kinch, Mr. Alan Warren

Secretary:

Representatives:Europe: Mr. Colin T. Hepper - see address aboveNepal: Mr. Surendra Lal Shrestha, G. P. O. Box 72, Kathmandu, epalUSA Mr. Roger Skinner, 1020 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA 94024, USA

Life Members Mario C. Barbiere, Jeremy Brewer, GeotTrey Flack, P. Gupta, Richard M. Hanchett, Wolfgang C Hellrigl,William Janson, Kenneth Javonovich, G. Lenser, Leo Mal1yn, R. Murray, Peter Planken, Barbara Praytor,Surendra Lal Shrestha, Roger Skinner, Dick van der Wateren, Alfonso G Zulueta Jr.

New Members: 80 Christer Olsson, Munkebacksgatan 248, 416 53 Goteborg, Sweden

Change of Address: Boon Tan, 1916 Applegate Lane, Edwardsville, IL 62025 USA

Dropped for Non-Payment ofDues:

Lost Members (Anyone knowing the address, please send it in)

Publishing Schedule: Issue124 - 4th Quarter 2005\25 - 1st Quarter 2006126 - 2nd Quarter 2006127 - 3rd Quarter 2006

Cutoff for Articles[ ovember 19, 2005February 24, 2006June 02, 2006September 0 I, 2006

Into MailDecember 03, 2005March 18, 2006June 20, 2006September 16,2006

TABLE: OF CONTE TS

Officer's CornerEditor's RamblingsChinese Imperial Post-TibetHimalayan PhantasiesAnswer to a QuestionBook Review

Armand E SingerRichard M HanchettDanny WongWolfgang HellriglLaiTY BowlesColin Hepper

I\27

1212

Tibet to North BorneoChomorak Postmark

epal Post OfficesNews from Kathmandu

Wolfgang HellriglDerrick DawsonColin HepperSurendra Lal Shrestha

13141516

Officer's CornerLast year I did a short monograph on the essaysand proofs of Tibet. No sooner did it appearthan a new find of proof material hit the market.New buyers of the monograph (published byGeoffrey Flack) can expect an additional pageot two chronicling this rather remarkable find.Available soon. Why not ask Geoffrey to sendthe extra sheets if you already have a copy?Bob Gould and I expect to have a second editionof our mountaineering cover catalog availableby the end of the year (George Alevizos,publisher). It will include a greatly expandedlisting on non-Everest climbs, some additionalEverest items, corrections, a few color pages,

Editor's Ramblings

I have had an email from Alan Warren,confirming that our meeting at Washington 2006will be held on Monday, May 29 from 9:00 AMuntil 12 noon. We do not yet know what roomwe will have. For any member who wishes tomake a presentation at our meeting, computerprojection, slide projection and overheadprojection equipment will be available. If youwould like to make a presentation, please emailAlan Warren ([email protected]) or postal mailhim (P 0 Box 39, Easton PA 19341-0039 USA)to let him know what kind of projectionequipment you will need and how long you willtake for your presentation. Once our time limithas been filled up, it will be to late toaccommodate you, so please let him know assoon as possible.

Also please note that some of the hotels close tothe Convention Center are already filled for thefirst weekend. If you are planning to attend,please make your hotel reservations early!!!

revised numbering, etc.Next May 27 - June 3 will see the greatinternational stamp exhibition (4,000 frames) inWashington, D.e. We will have a meeting andhope to have at least two exhibits accepted fromamong our circle. We expect a goodly showingof members, statewide and abroad.As of now, this is the event to schedule as itseems the philatelic adventure in Tibet andNepal, planned by Danny Wong for 2006, willnot take place. If I get further information to thecontrary, it will appear in future issues of PH.

Armand E. Singer

And while you are making you plans, pleaseremember that London 2010 will soon beoccurring, and we will, our course, have ameeting there. If anyone knows of any otherupcoming international exhibitions that any ofour members are planning to attend or to exhibitat, I would be happy to publish the paIticulars ifyou will communicate them to me.

This issue contains the first part of a three-partarticle by Danny Wong on the Chinese ImperialPost in Tibet. The second part will appear in PH124 and the third part in PH 125. This marks thefirst time that color has been used on a cover bythis editor. Do you like it and would you like meto continue to use color even if it eventuallyraised the cost of a subscription? Please note thatthere is no plan to raise the subscription cost. Letme have your opinion.

Please note Colin Hepper's new email address onthe inside front cover.

Remember:Washington 2006, starting 27 May 2005 - NTPSC meeting Monday, 29 May 2005 0900-1200LONDON 2010, date unknown but usually in May. There will be a NTPSC meeting

Postal Himal No. 123 1 3 rd Quarter 2005

CHINESE IMPERIAL POST IN TIBET

Yatung Customswas establishedin 1894, as aresult of AngloChineseConvention onTibet and India,which openedTibet to tradewith BritishIndia. Thecommunicationbetween YatungCustoms andBeijing wasprimarilythrough post viaIndia. In thebeginning, allposts and parcelswent through thecare of theCalcutta Branchof the Hongkongand ShanghaiBankingCorporation,with whom theCustoms

Yatung Customs and the Post Office

Until 1911, the imperial postal service wasmanaged by Customs, run by expatriatemandarins. In Tibet, the bond between the PostOffice and the Yatung Customs was veryintimate.

Danny Kin-chi Wong

agencies in Dangar, Zhanbo, Xiangtang, Guideand Xunhua. Figure 4 is a 1910 cover fromSining to USA.

With the 1904 Younghusband Expedition andthe establishment of British Post Offices inTibet, China felt the pressing need to extend herpostal service there.

D;ltH1J4o"'YHho~"'Che:1:Jd(l .... (huq9!<''';j.1 Der 1903... 5na"9hai. H Dec. 4S11Hl(jhi !;PO. 1" Dcc-~YO~Oh:HT)~ i9 Pee. -JoNcw York, 9 )~n. 190..1

, - .100.-..... ..... "" --

After the imperial post came into being in1896, it gradually expanded its geographiccoverage from coastal cities into the inland.The first Post Office serving a Tibetan town wasopen in Tatsinlu (Datsindo, or Kangting) in1902, with a postal agency in Luding, prior tothe Younghusband Expedition. Then itfollowed the Kham-Tsang Road westward toBatang in 1909. In Yunnan, Atuntse and WaixiPost Offices were open along the Yunnan-TibetRoad. Figure 1 is a 1903 cover from Datsindo,the earliest recorded imperial cover from aTibetan town. Figure 2 is a 1909 cover fromWaixi, Yunnan. The few surviving covers fromthese remote locations were mainly sent byffilsslOnaries totheir homeabroad, testifyingto their pioneerspirit.

For Tibetantribal regions innorthern Sichuan,a Post Office wasopen inMaozhou, seat ofgovernment, in1903, withagencies in Lifan,Waizhou,Xinglong andSongpan. Figure3 is a 1910official coverfrom Maozhouusing combinedservices of yi-zhan (I-chang)and the PostOffice. InQinghai, SiningPost Office wasopen in 1907, Figure 1followed by

Postal Himal No. 123 2 3rd Quarter 2005

maintained banking facilities.In 1896, an Indian Post Office was opened in

Gnantang, Sikkim, a day's journey fromYatung. Letters were relayed from there for abrief period until it was closed late that year.Then, arrangement was made with Indian Postthat all letters and parcels to Yatung and Tibetwere to be relayed through the Post Office inRenok, Sikkim. A mailbag was to be readyevery day in Renok, and once every three daysex-Dmjeeling, for pick up by messenger fromYatung for onward delivery. Receipt ofregistered mail was to be signed by themessenger dispatched by the Commissioner ofYatung Customs.

In a 21 December 1896 letter to the IndianPost, Hobson, the Commissioner of Yatung

Post Office, and he was also willing to provideservice to the public.

After the 1904 Younghusband Expedition, theBritish opened a Post Office in Yatung. TheMessenger from Yatung Customs was no longernecessary, and the British Post Office deliveredall mails to Chinese and Tibetan recipients inYatung to the Customs for onward delivery.Figure 5 is a 1909 cover sent from Chinathrough India to Tibet care of the YatungCustoms. Interestingly, it bears the cachet"CONTROLLER DES POSTES CHINE" onreverse.

Little wonder that in 1910 the first YatungPost Office was located within the premises ofYatung Customs, and the Commissioner wasappointed first superintendent of posts for Tibet.

......................- -- """" Opening of postal services in Tibet

In December 1903, Younghusband led aBritish India team into Tibet to settleborder disputes, which later turned into amilitary expedition that pushed all the wayinto Lhasa, and dictated terms that furtheropened Tibet to trade with India. Afterwithdrawing from Lhasa, the Britishmaintained their garrison in Gyantse, andoccupied Chumbi Valley. Post Officeswere established in Chumbi (Yatung),Phari and Gyantse. The Qing governmenthad to negotiate with the British toimprove their terms, which resulted in the1906 Anglo-Chinese Convention on Tibet,and the 1908 Regulation governing tradebetween India and Tibet.

Figure 2 On 21 April 1908, one day after thesigning of the Regulation, the chiefChinese negotiator telegrammed theForeign Ministry, "now that theRegulation is signed, the British agreed toclose their Post Offices once the Chinese

Customs wrote that he had more or less taken offices are operative. Please therefore proceedthe function of a postmaster. All cables and with preparation". The Imperial Maritimeletters, be it to Lhasa Amban or shopkeepers, Customs, reporting to the Revenue Office, waswere distributed by him. He duly signed responsible for the national postal services then.receipts for those registered letters and paid for The Foreign Ministry immediately requested thepostage dues. People regarded his office as a Revenue Office to make such preparation.


Figure 6 is the original instruction from the should be protected by local officials. Once theRevenue Office to Acting Inspectorate-General Chinese Post Offices were established, the twoof Customs, Mr. R E Bredon, stating that per countries would discuss measures to withdrawparagraph 8 of the Regulation, the British Trade these couriers. The Customs was requested toAgents had the right to maintain couriers to put forward a proposal on the opening ofconvey mails between Tibet and India, and they Chinese Post Offices in Tibet, in the spirit of the

Regulation and to protect China'ssovereignty.Mr. Bredon then instructed the actingCommissioner of Yatung Customs towork out an action plan. YatungCustoms' proposal of establishing PostOffices in Lhasa, Yatung, Gyantse andGartok was duly approved in 1909.Mr. Deng Weiping (Tang Waiping) wasappointed postal inspector of Tibet inSeptember 1909. He set off to Lhasa bysea in October and showed up at theYatung Customs on 17 December.Incidentally, while he was in Yatungstudying post routes and postalarrangements, the Dalai Lama fledLhasa on 13 February 1910 to Yatung.

. Deng arrived in Lhasa on 26 March.The Lhasa Amban decided that yizhanwere also to transmit postal matters,with a monthly subsidy of 108 teals ofsilver from the Post Office, and nopostal couriers would be necessary.Altogether 18 yizhan stations wereengaged. In return, all official mailswere to be registered, and delivered freeof charge by the Post Office. As a finalpreparation, 10 Chinese yizhan soldierseach from Chumbi (Yatung) andShigatse plus about 100 Tibetan militiawere given postal training in Lhasacommencing 12 June.On 16 June 1910, the Lhasa Ambandeclared the opening of the Post Office(in Lhasa). The opening of the YatungPost Office followed within days.Gyantse Post Office was open on 18September, Shigatse on 3 October, andPhari shortly after.

Figure 3


Figure 6

Figure 4


Figure 5

Pjn9qf~ci,.lhe!i 119 (18 il> ~qy> FiJ'st month 1909)

-'W Ch-inkl,Uig (10 Fc:", -~ Sh'1flgklf thf!le:,5~ PO (11 Fcb)-.. Shanslh ! Fl:ench PO (i1 feb) - .. Yokoh4m~ J f.hr5eiUc p.;tt;jt~ehot 1;2 Fe!.'

Y'1tLll)~ B~itj h PO (6 M,,:-)

Y=ttlJ419 Chinese P 0 ('"CD'Jtroil~t ,",cs Pest "Cbin~<i)

Part 2 of this article will appear in PH 124 and PaIt 3 will appear in PH 125 - editor


HIMALAYAN PHANTASIES

Wolfgang Hellrigl

This article originally appeared in Fakes Forgeries Experts No. 7 May 2004. It is reprinted withtheir kind permission. - editor

A philatelist who collect Nepal and other Himalayan countries can expect to find some of the mostunusual and fascinating items that postal history has to offer. However, he must constantly be onhis guard, because forgeries and fakes are part and parcel of many a tempting offer, either fromdealers at auctions or on eBay. This article proposes a typical selection of spurious Nepalese itemsthat demonstrate the great inventiveness of the Himalayan fakers.

Figure 1 .

The support for this fake is a genuine cover of1902 that bears three genuine postmarks on thereverse. Originally, the front must have borne asingle 1 anna stamp that was later removed. Inits place, the faker added four genuine stamps: a4 anna green, a 2 anna purple and a tete-bechepair of Yz anna black. The stamps were thencancelled with a cleverly forged killer.However, the Yz anna and 2 anna stamps arefrom the later printings, of c. 1917. Moreover,traces of the removal of the original stamp arestill visible under the tete-beche pair. Althoughthe rate is realistic (7 annas is the correct rate fora double-weight registered letter), no genuinecommercial combination of Yz anna with otherdenominations is known.


This cover bears a pair of a dangerous forgery of the V2anna black, photographically reproduced from an originaland offset-printed on native paper. Incidentally, the sameforgery was used for printings in orange, in an attempt toimitate the rare orange-vermilion variety of this stamp.The forged stamps were added to a genuine cover official(stampless) cover, and cancelled with a bogus killer.Genuine covers franked with two V2 anna stamps do exist,but only three such covers are known.

Bogus cancellation

Figure 2

Bogus cancellation

Figure 3

Humble stamps are often used as the basis for Nepalese faked covers, since they are easilyavailable. Yhe 1 anna stamp of the so-called "new design" or "Plate 11" was issued in 1927 and isindeed very common, whether unused or telegraphically used. Commercial postal use, however,is limited to a handful of covers of the 1950s, when this and some obsolete classix stamps werebeing used up. At any rate, this stamp was added to a genuine official (stampless) cover andcancelled with a bogus seal cancellation, in order to attract postal history collectors. The date ofthe cover, as clearly shown by the circular postmark on the right, is November 1922, i.e., somefive years prior to the actual issue date of the stamp.


Forged datestamps

Figure 4

The pre-stamp period of Nepal is a relatively newfield for the fakers, and became popular inresponse to the demand by postal history

.. collectors. Nepal introduced its native postmarksin March 1879, two years before the first stampswere issued. Covers from the period March 1879to March 1881 are rare and much in demand,especially if they bare a manuscript endorsement,Mahasul chukti, indicating that postage had been

,., prepaid in cash. On the other hand, covers prior to1879 are considered to be practically worthless,because they lack any direct reference to the postal

. service. So the forger "improved" a cover of June

.. 1878, by adding spurious datestamps of Siraha andKathmandu, respectively.

Pen cancellation of the Y2 annaare extremely rare, with littleover a dozen genuine coversbeing known. On the otherhand, it does not take much tofabricate them, since unusedstamps are freely available. Inthe case of this made-up cover,the faker used a genuine stamp,but made two decisive mistakeswhich I would prefer not todiscuss here in detail, as thismight be taken as an openinvitation to do better next time.

Figure 5


Figure 7

Forged datestamp

An 8 pice stamp of the 1907 issue was addedto an unused picture postcard showing aTibetan woman, and cancelled with a forgeddatestamp of Kathmandu, dated 1918. Thesame marking was used on early forgeries ofthe classic issues, but this is the only instancewhere it is known to cancel a genuine stamp.

When I was a novice Nepal collector, back in1970, I bought this cover in good faith, inKathmandu (later on, when the Nepalesedealers came to know me better, they neveroffered me fakes or forgeries again, althoughI was constantly on the lookout to addmaterial to my forgeries collection). It is agenuine cover, with a genuine 2 anna brownorange and genuine postmarks. Moreover,the date, 1930, corresponds to the lateprintings of this stamp. What I missed then,are the handwritten initials, "Ka" and "Sa".They stand for Kaj Sarkari, i.e., Official Mail. Figure 6All official mail was canied free and istherefore incompatible with stamps, at leastprior to 1959. The upper postmark wascleverly extended over the stamp, i.e., thecircle was manually "reconstructed" in orderto tie the stamp to a cover to which it doesnot belong.

Postal Himal No. 123 Quarter 2005

Another fine example of Nepalese inventiveness. Again, agenuine official cover was taken as the supp0l1. Then a Y2 annabrown of the 1935 issue plus a Y2 anna green error-of-co10ur ofthe 1941-46 issue were added, and cancelled with a forgeddatestamp of the Kathmandu G.P.O. The error-of-colour is notknown commercially used on cover, but mint copies arerelatively common and freely available in Nepal. In any case,the genuine postmarks on the reverse reveal the true date of thecover: 1933, i.e., definitely prior to the issue of both stamps.

Figure 8

Forged datestampFigure 9

In June 1960, the 1 rupee King Mahendra Birthday stamp was issued with the overprint Kaj Sarkari,Official Mail. Actually, it was planned that the overprint should be in red, but this turned out to beinvisible on the bright purple stamp. So the printers decided to go ahead with a black overprint. Butthe use of black on the Monarch's portrait caused an uproar in Nepal, because this was regarded as anevil omen. The stamp was quickly withdrawn, but a few copies had been sold. As a result, thisbecame a modern rarity. Of course, the Nepalese forgers did not have the sophisticated machinery toimitate the overprint, but they had the basic stamp and an artist with a firm hand: in the illustratedpart-sheet the "overprint" was individually hand-painted on each stamp and, even so, turned out to beunbelievably exact!Incidentally, the original rarity vanished overnight, after the postal authorities decided to sell theentire stock of overprinted stamps at face value, in 1983, after the King's death.


On page 8 of PH 122, Surendra Lal Shrestha asked for assistance in determining whether an itemwas from Bhutan or Tibet. In response to that request, Larry Bowles of New Mexico has sent thefollowing reply:I can't help on the seals themselves. However, the text is written in Bengali. That was nowhere an"official" language until after partition. But it was the principal language of Bengal, the state thatbecame India's West Bengal, including Calcutta and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Bhutaneseuses the Tibetan script. Nepalese uses the same Devanagiri script as Hindi. If the documentsoriginated in the Himalayan area, that points toward Darjeeling where a number of seal-wieldingprinces - like the Maharaja of Burdwan, a Bengali-speaking area - had summer homes.I lived in Calcutta 40 years ago (like the Sixties, man) but have completely forgotten what littleBengali I picked up, especially the writing. You're bound to have a potentially helpful Bengali MDor two there: Sen, Ray, Roy, Bose, Ghosh, Choudury or anything ending in -jee.

Editor's note: Thank you Mr. Bowles and I hope that Mr. Shrestha finds this of some help.

The following article has been received from Colin Hepper. Colin also says that a copy of the bookhas been given to the Study Circle by Mr. Manandhar and that he (Colin) has sent it to RogerSkinner to be placed in the library.

Some Selected Post Officesby J. B. Manandhar

This new book by Mr. J. B. Manandhar was published on 14 April2005 and is an excellent addition to the library of anyone who isinterested in the postal history of Nepal.Mr. Manandhar worked for 37 years as a civil servant in Nepal inwhich time he held the offices of Director General of the PostalServices Department, joint Secretary, Secretary (special class officer,HMG) and spent almost half of his career in the field of PostalServices.

'. In his post office job he had the chance of traveling far and wide both. in Nepal and abroad. He was able to study several old documents

pertaining to the Post and Philately.This book has brought together articles that he has written over the

'--_--'-_--'-'- ---'-..A years about the history of some of the post offices in Nepal. A totalof twenty one post offices are listed.In addition to this there are details of post office regulations and listings of some of the moremodern post offices.

Soft bound, containing 132 pages. Cover designed by K. K. Karmacharya.Price $6 or 5 Euro.

Available from the publisher:Mrs Tara Devi ManandharLayakusal, Kathmandu - 23


The Long Ride from Tibet to North Borneo

Wolfgang Hellrigl

In the last issue of Postal Himal, JeremyBrewer described and illustrated a"MacDonald"-cover from Gyantse to Jesselton,British North Borneo (PH 122, pg. 2 - ed.).Although some of the characteristics of thiscover are unusual and, to some extent, inopposition to the postal rules, Jeremy went togreat lengths to explain how the letter couldhave been sent. Being of a rather more scepticalnature, I am sorry to say that I have the greatestreservations about this cover. I must add that Ihave seen only the illustration of the cover,which obviously prevents me from giving adefinite opinion, but even so, the list of thepoints that do not fit into the picture of agenuine cover sent from Gyantse to NorthBorneo, is quite long:

- This is no "MacDonald"-cover at all. Theunknown person who tried to make it soundas one, misspelled the name as McDonald!

- The writing is not that of an Englishmaneducated in the 19th century.

- A modem felt-pen appears to have beenused, instead of a contemporary pen.

- The word "sender" would hardly appear on aletter of the time.

- "G.P.O." Gyantse sounds ridiculous for ap.a. of minute dimensions.

- Surely, MacDonald would have spelledSiliguri correctly. He must have passed iton his way to Tibet. Silligury was never anaccepted spelling.

- A p.a. Box address (instead of posterestante) for Jesselton seems to be similarlyout of place as a "G.p.a." in Gyantse.

- Possibly even the abbreviation B.N.B. is aproduct of more recent times.

- The "P.D." (Paid to Destination) in 1912 ismeaningless, this is a postal term of the 19th

century.- The absence of Indian stamps was noted

before. An oversight might be accepted, butthe total absence of any Indian postalmarkings in transit (e.g., at Siliguri) toSingapore is inexcusable.

- The date of the cover cannot possibly be ofJune 1912. The stamps, or at least theirproofs, may well have been printed aroundMay 1912, but they were issued much later.At any rate, there is no reason why theGyantse postmark would have beenproduced - and used - as early as that.Incidentally, I doubt that the stamps are ofthe earliest printings. Some of the lionsappear to be rather ink-clogged, suggestingthat several earlier printings had occurred.

- The Singapore cancellation is of the "killerarcs" type that was normally used forcancelling stamps. Instead, datestamps(similar devices, but without "killer-arcs")were used as backstamps. However,exceptions to this general rule do occur. Iam not an expert on the postal markings ofSingapore or North Borneo, but - bydeduction - I strongly suspect that both ofthese backstamps are forged.

This leaves us with a blank (unaddressed) coverfranked with genuine Tibetan stamps that werecancelled-to-order with a presumably genuineGyantse cancellation. As I see it, the fictitiousjourney to North Borneo ends right there.Someone then tried to convert the item into arare-destination cover, by adding manuscriptdetails as well as two spurious markings. Nexttime, if the forger uses a proper pen and whackson a Siliguri datestamp of, say, 1913, he will bemore difficult to fault. Provided that he does getMacDonald's name right.


A Response to Professor Singer's Article: "A Note on a Chomorak Postmark"(Postal Himal No 122, page 10)

Derrick Dawson

Some years ago I acquired a small collectionof Tibetan postal items which Hugh Richardsonhad brought home on his retirement as Head ofBritishlIndian Mission in Lhasa. This includedsome interesting covers and a small number ofused stamps on piece with a variety of the moreusually seen Tibetan cancellations. One piece,however, stood out and is illustrated below. Thestrip of 4 x 1/2 trangkas of the 1933 issue is tiedto piece by two fine complete strikes ofWaterfall's Type IX cancel of Chomorak.

I discussed this piece, on the reverse of whichwas written in pencil "mTsho rag / tshomora",with an endorsement by Hugh himself. Hughconfirmed that the endorsement was his and said

that he had cut the piece from a letter received atthe Lhasa Mission. This seemed to fit in withhis usual habit and I have, therefore, alwaysregarded the piece as evidence of genuinecommercial usage. But what a shame that Hughhad not mislaid his scissors that day!

One further comment. I am sure that sodistinguished a Tibetologist as Professor Singeris aware of the philatelic covers bearing thecomplete set of the 1933 issue cancelled withthe Type IX handstamps of the six smallvillages. I had them all, apart from Penam, inmy collection which I have now disposed of,though I have retained a few special pieces,including the Chomorak piece here described.

1941-1950 strip of 1/2 t bright chrome, Setting lIT (Waterfall 115) cliches 9, 5, 10 and 8 cancelledby the rare Type IX Tshomora (Chomorak, Tibetan mTsho-rag).

Hugh Richardson told me he cut this strip from a letter received at the British Mission. Thiscertifies genuine commercial usage, rare from Tshomora.


NEPAL POST OFFICE PICTURES

Colin Hepperphotos by Punny Sthapit

Department ofPostal Services,

Kathmandu

Government Postal Management OfficeDilli Bazar, Kathmandu


News from Kathmandu

NEPHIL '05 National Philatelic Exhibition 2005 organized by the Nepal Philatelic Society incooperation with HMG, Postal Services Department presents a souvenir medal to Mr. Surendra LalShrestha, NPS Advisor. On April 18, 2005 Mr. Kedar Pradhan, President of the Nepal PhilatelicSociety presents the medal at the Society Office in Kathmandu, Nepal.

~~~ First Day Cover'l'l'liiq~~'rtl~'JI"l~~~

_.¥<1~I·

Courtesy of HMG Postal Services Department

Subject : 59th Birthday ofHM King Gyanendra

Denomination: Rs. 5.00Color : Four ColorComposition : 50 stamps per sheetSize : 30 x 40 mmProcess : Offset LithographyQuantity : One Million

Postal Himal No. 123

FormatPaperDesignerPrinter

16

: Horizontal: High Quality Stamp Paper: M. N. Rana: Austrian Government Printing

Office, Vienna Austria

3rd Quarter 2005

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