1843 Entire written and signed by General Sir Charles Napier, the British Army’s Commander in Chief in India, endorsed “Free” with Calcutta bs, fine (Image)

1852 “Scinde Dawk” 1/2a white, used with indistinct cancel, very large margins, superb & rare in this condition, cert. Heddergott (SG £1’800) (Image)

1852 “Scinde Dawk” 1/2a blue, cut into at right, faint black marks resulting in a BPA (2013) certificate which states it as used, includes RPS (1998) certificate (before the unfortunate accident with a guillotine) which states it is unused, very fine condition (SG £9’000 for used) (Image)

1852 “Scinde Dawk” 1/2a scarlet, small pen mark at foot, with BPA (1964) certificate stating that it is “apparently unused”, sold as a used, an extremely fine example, ex Burrus (SG £23’000 for used) (Image)

Native part lettersheet with 1854 1/2a with good to very large margins tied by dotted lozenge with intaglio “AM” hs adjacent, faults, scarce hs (Image)

1855 Native cover sent registered with 1854 1/2a, good margins, tied by dotted lozenge, with Masulipatam “PAID” boxed ds, G.P.O / A.M. cds and “REGISTERED LETTER” boxed hs adjacent, attractive (Image)

1855 (Apr) Envelope with “HYDRABAD BEARING” (?) horse-shoe ds with ms “1a”, franked 1854 1/2a and 1a cancelled by barred lozenge, reverse with G.P.O / A.M. cds, minor soiling, scarce postmark (Image)

Envelope sent by ship letter to Bombay with 1854 1a tied by small barred diamond, endorsed “Per Lapter” (?), reverse with “BOMBAY / SHIP LETTER” boxed ds, vert. fold affecting stamp, unusual ship letter sent internally (Image)

TALOOK TAPPAL: 1855 (May 30) Wrapper franked on the reverse with 1854 1/2a blue pair, good to very large margins, tied by type 2c 11-barred circle, with “TANJORE / TRIVADY / TALOOK TAPPAL” oval cachet and Tanjore boxed ds, minor discolouration to stamps otherwise fine (Image)

1855 (Jul 12) Envelope from Sholapoor to England with 1854 2a green (small tear) and two 4a blue & red head die II frame die I, both cut to shape and touched, tied by JC type 1 dotted diamond (9×9 dots), with despatch “Paid.” box hs and London cds adjacent, Leamington bs, fine looking cover (Image)

JC TYPE 2c: 1855 (Jul 17) Wrapper from Punjamal with 1854 1/2a blue, fine margins, cancelled by type 2c 11-barred circle, reverse with unrecorded “PUNJAMAL / POST PAID” boxed ds, minor soiling otherwise fine and rare (Image)

1856 (Sep) Entire from Kurrachee to Broach with 1854 1/2a blue, touched, tied by type 1 dotted lozenge (9×10 dots), reverse with despatch cds and arrival box “Paid.” ds (unrecorded by Giles), minor soiling otherwise fine (Image)

1858 (Aug 10) Entire to BUSHIRE with 1854 2a green pair, fine to very good margins, cancelled by type 1 dotted lozenge (9×9 dots), Bombay transit bs, datelined inside but origin unknown to us due to language used, very fine (Image)

JC TYPE B4: 1858 (Feb 9) Entire to England with 1854 2a green (fine to large margins) and 1855 4a black tied by “1” barred diamond numerals, with London and Bombay transits, very fine and scarce perf. and imperf. combination (Image)

1858 (May) Wrapper from Meerut to Scotland with 1854-55 1a red die I pair and 4a 4th printing, the 4a just touched, tied by “180” diamond numeral, sent underpaid with “INSUFFICIENT” and “MORE / TO / PAY” hs and ms “3” adjacent, reverse with Bombay, London and Edinburgh bs, vert. crease affecting 1a, some reinforcement inside, cert. Sismondo (2009) and BPA (2014) (Image)

JC TYPE 31b (Experimental Post Office): 1864 Envelope from Bhownugore to Bombay, franked 1/2a blue cancelled by rare TRIPLE DIAMOND cancel, roughly opened at top, rare (Image)

UNIDENTIFIED: 1867 Postal stationery letter sheet 1/2a from Rajapittee to Calcutta, cancelled by large boxed “91” unidentified pmk, with Bengal TPO on reverse, very fine & a scarce showpiece (Image)

1870 (Jan 25) Envelope to Scotland with 1865 8p and 1866-78 4a green cancelled by blue dotted lozenges, reverse with Calcutta and Edinburgh ds, very fine (Image)

INTAGLIO: Negative mailbag seal WOON POST OFFICE used as a canceller, tying 1/2a pair & 2a strip of four on 1870 envelope from the American Methodist Mission via Bombay to Inverness, Scotland, somewhat tatty, a scarce showpiece (Image)

INTAGLIO: Negative seal REGISTERED / LETTERS cancelling 1/2a postal stationery envelope to Bombay, a scarce showpiece (Image)

1872 (May) Envelope to England with 1868 8a rose tied by bluish green type 28c “I” in thick-barred diamond, with despatch and London bs, fine (Image)

1872 (Sep 6) Envelope sent registered from Goruckpore to Allahabad with 1865 1a brown block of four and 1/2a top marginal strip of four with ornamentation, all tied on the reverse by JC type 13 “190” duplexes, with registered box hs, Benares and Allahabad cds adjacent, small portion of address removed, very attractive franking (Image)

1880 (Nov 30) Envelope from Kulpettai to England with 1873 1/2a blue block of 9 on the reverse tied by type 29 dots inside triangle “220” numeral (unrecorded for this office), with Bombay and Lynn cds adjacent, envelope faults affecting a stamp, still very scarce (Image)

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, India 1/4a KEVII postal stationery card cancelled by the crisp magenta special cancel, sent locally with two Allahabad cds adjacent, SIGNED BY THE PILOT, H. Pequet, very fine and rare Expertise: Cert. BPA (2012) (Image)

1911 Allahabad First Aerial Post, envelope with 1902-11 2R red and yellow-brown tied by crisp magenta special cancel, sent registered to Fyzabad with registration label adjacent, despatch and arrival bs, small cover fault at top right not affecting stamp, a very rare franking. Note: This cover was featured in the Gibbons Stamp Monthly article by Peter Jennings, “Centenary of the World’s First Official Aerial Post”, Feb. 2011 (Image)