Friday, August 15, 2025

Smallest Postage Due (Kooli) folded letter

Small folded kooli (24 cash or 1&1/2 Chuckram) unstamped letter (6.8x4.7 cm) from Thiruvattar to Kottakkakam (Trivandrum) dated 9 /12 /116 (1941). 


Postage rate in 1941 is 3/4 Chuckram(12 Cash)..hence the Postage Due is double the actual postage...ie 24 Cash.










For comparison of its midget size along with a 1890 Thin 8 Cash card. 



 

Friday, August 1, 2025

Travancore 1925 circular cancellation unrecorded

1925 Postage Due on a folded unstamped letter from Nagercoil to Parassala...


 Interesting to note that a few cancellations around 1099/1100 (1924/'25) didn't last long...the great flood of '99 (1924)?


Unrecorded cancellation...hyphen in the date (1-MEE-99).


36 mm cds.













Thursday, July 31, 2025

India Study Circle's 75th Diamond Jubilee magazine 'India Post' article on EXPERIMENTAL MARKINGS OF TRAVANCORE :

 India Study Circle's 75th Diamond Jubilee magazine 'India Post' article, on the subject of  'EXPERIMENTAL MARKINGS OF TRAVANCORE'...in the lastest issue of July/ Sept 2025.


ISC...(a UK based organization dedicated to the study of Indian philately) was established in 1950 to focus on the stamps and postal history of India and Indian States.
















Sunday, July 27, 2025

1943 Travancore private card with 6 Cash stamp from Quilon to Alleppey, with a brief history of the first Newspapers of Kerala.

1943 Travancore private card with 6 Cash stamp from Quilon to Alleppey, with a brief history of the first Newspapers of Kerala..all started from Kottayam.







'Malayala Rajyam' founded by K G Shankar, was a prominent Malayalam daily newspaper established in 1929 from Quilon, as a weekly and later converted to a daily in 1931. 


 The newspaper was aimed to support the Indian independence movement and the activities of the National Congress.

It was particularly popular among the Nair community of Kerala


The newspaper eventually ceased publication in the late 1960s.








A brief history of the first newspapers of Travancore.


The first daily newspaper in Travancore was 'Rajyasamacharam', published in June 1847 by Dr. Hermann Gundert...a religious journal published by the Basel Evangelical Mission Society. 











Nasrani Deepika is the oldest Malayalam newspaper still in circulation, established in 1887, followed by The Malayalam Manorama in 1888.

 The newspaper 'Nasrani Deepika' was first published in 1887 by Fr. Emmanuel Nidhiry. 

It was initially printed on a wooden hand press at St. Joseph's Printing Press, Mannanam, near Kottayam. The newspaper was a realization of a dream to have a publication for the Christian communities.

In 1939, the newspaper transitioned from a weekly newspaper to a daily, and  it also dropped "Nasrani" from its name and became "Deepika". 





Saturday, July 26, 2025

Mourning cards of the Travancore era

1936  6 Cash stamp affixed on card from Quilon to Trivandrum..




 



1938 mourning card from Trivandrum to Kalady.




Monday, July 14, 2025

'TOO LATE' cancellation on different receipts



'TOO LATE' cancellation on different receipts..scarce to get.




VALUE PAYABLE RECEIPT 










REGISTERED ARTICLE RECEIPT







ACKNOWLEDGMENT RECEIPT







Tuesday, June 24, 2025

1946 Cochin Hundi to Travancore


1946..(4/11/21 M.E) Cochin inter state Hundi (green) intimation for RS 5 Annas 8 (payment of VP parcel) from Cochin to Mavelikkara) Travancore) with Mavelikkara Hundi cancellation along with Cochin (vernacular) rectangular box stamp. 

Cancellation in Malayalam is not cataloged by GB Pai..Rare.



'കൊച്ചി' (COCHIN)... in a rectangular box. Scarcely seen.










 Mavelikara Hundi cancellation 



India Study Circle 75th anniversary Diamond Jubilee Book

  Favourite possession (related to Travancore & Cochin shown here),  of each philatelists, around the world,  came out in print in India...