Postal HimalQUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE NEPAL AND TIBET PHILATELIC STUDY CIRCLE

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

Number 134 2nd Quarter 2008

Great Britain

Postal Rimal is a quarterly publication of the Nepal & Tibet Philatelic

Study Circle.

Membership subscriptions run from January through December of each

year. Dues should be paid in local currency at the prevailing exchange

rate to the Society representative in your area.

American Philatelic Society Affiliate # 122British Philatelic Federation Affiliate #435

Secretary: Mr. Colin T. Hepper12 Chamwood ClosePeterboroughCambs. PE29BZEnglandPhone 01733-349403email: colinhepper@aol.co.uk

USA

Europe

One Year Three Years Life Member,2008

£12 £33 £\80

$25 $50 $375

€19 €52 €185

Editor: Mr. Richard M. Hanchett6 Rainbow CourtWarwick, RI 02889-1118USAPhone (401) 738 0466email: editorofpostalhimal@cox.net

The Board of Directors:President: Mr. Colin T. HepperVice President: Mr. Geoffrey FlackTreasurer: Mr. Colin T. HepperMembers at large: Mr. Christopher Kinch, Mr. Alan WaITen

Past President:Secretary:Auctioneer:Editor:

Dr. Wolfgang C. HellriglMr. Colin T. HepperMr. Leo MartynMr. Richard M. Hanchett

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

Mac Linscott Ricketts

Honorary Life Members: Colin Hepper, Jit Bahadur Manandhar

Life Members: Mario C. Barbiere, Johannes Bornmann, Jeremy Brewer, Geoffrey Flack, Richard M. Hanchett, Wolfgang C. Hellrigl,Kenneth L. Javonovich, William Jansen, Manfred Lauk, Gerhard Lenser, Leo Martyn, R. MUlTay, Bruno le Peut,Peter Planken, Kedar Pradhan, Barbara Praytor, Surendra Lal Shrestha, Roger Skinner, Rishi Tulsyan,Dick van del' Wateren, Robert Wightman, Danny Kin Chi Wong, Alfonso G. Zulueta Jr.

New Members: David Link, Box I Site 300 RR, Stony Plain, Alberta TIZ IX3, CANADA (T)

Change of Address:

Resigned: Helmut P. Schmitz (Germany)

Publishing Schedule: Issue Cutoff for Articles Into Mail135 August 30, 2008 September 13,2008136 November 22, 2008 December 6, 2008137 February 28, 2009 March 14, 2009138 May 30, 2009 June 13,2009

TABLE OF CONTENTSOfficer's Corner Colin Hepper Cumulative Index Report Richard M. Hanchett 7Editor's Ramblings Richard M Hanchett Membership List Richard M. Hanchett 7Congratulations Additional Cover Illustrations Surendra La! Shrestha 8Himalayan Mountaineeling A Piece of Postal History Surendra Lal Shrestha 9

Correspondence Bob Gould 2 British-Indian B25 Cancellation Colin Hepper 10Mysterious Black Label Bo C. Olsson 3 British Envoy at Court of Nepal Colin Hepper IIDouble Sealed Document Dick van del' Wateren 4 Unusual 'Postal Stationery' Cohn Hepper 12Bharatpur BPO Cohn Hepper 5 News from Kathmandu Surendra Lal Shrestha 13Local Pashupati Plintings Colin Hepper 5 FDCs 14Dhuduwapahad PO Colin Hepper 6 Nepal Post Offices Hepper and Jha 15Report on WESTPEX 2008 Richard M. Hanchett 7

Officer's CornerAt the recent WESTPEX meeting I had the

honour to be elected as the President or oursociety and together with our new Vice­President, Geoffrey Flack, from Canada will tryto make us a more active society. I would alsolike to thank our former Vice-President, Dickvan del' Wateren, for the excellent work he didfor us in his many travels to both Nepal andinternational exhibitions.

One of our first objectives is to have moreregular auctions and by now you should all havehad and been able to participate in Auction No.71. Derek Pocock, one of our Australianmembers, has decided to sell his Nepalcollection and this is currently being lotted up tobe included in another auction to take place laterin the year. To be able to continue these on amore regular basis we do need your sparematerial as not only does it benefit othermembers but is also a source of income for us.

Richard Hanchett often has difficulties inhaving sufficient material to complete a 16-pagemagazine, so we need you to have moreparticipation in this. Richard has produced an

Editor's Ramblings

Congratulations to Colin Hepper and GeoffreyFlack (see e-mail addresses on inside frontcover) on being elected President and Vice­President of our Society. Colin has now heldevery position in our Society (at one time he wasVice-President, Secretary, Treasurer andAuctioneer simultaneously in addition to puttingout Postal Rimal and it Newsletters.

And again thanks to Dick van der Wateren forall that he has done (and will continue to do) forour Society.

We had two meetings at WESTPEX (see page

excellent index for Postal Rimal and lookingthrough it, there is a long list of questions thathave been asked of members, but very fewanswers. If you think you know the answer toany questions please write to Richard and don'tassume that someone else will send an answer.

We have new members that join us every yearbut we have no idea if they are advanced orbeginner collectors in this area. If you are a newmember and would like advice on anythingwrite to Richard in the first place and he willeither pass the questions on to an appropriatemember, or he may be able to re-run an earlierarticle that answers your questions.

Finally, Postal Rimal is one of the vehicles wehave to communicate with each other; the otheris our web page. Rainer Fuchs who runs ourweb page, feels very unwanted as he runs a verygood forum page and none of us use it. Soplease make an effort and go to it on a regularbasis. I am sure that you could get a lot out ofit.

Colin Hepper

7 for a report) and next year we will have twomeetings: one at WESTPEX in April and one atSESCAL in October. The people who runSESCAL had asked us if we would considerholding one of our meetings at their show and sowe will.

Also LONDON 2010 will have a new venue(not Earl's Court) and Colin has promised to geta list of close by hotels for those who areplanning to attend. We will have probably 2meetings at LONDON. And then there will beINDIA 2010 in New Delhi in September 2010.

CONGRATULATIONS:Edward F. Gosnell was awarded Vermeil for his exhibit "The Kingdom of Nepal: Adapting anIndustrial Age Communications System to a Handicraft Society (A Philatelic Overview 1790­1930)" at the Garfield-Perry National ExhibitionColin Hepper was awarded Gold and the NTPSC Award for his exhibit "Nepal: Postal History1810-1911" at WESTPEX '08Alfonso G. Zulueta Jr. was awarded Gold and the Michael Rogers Award for Best Asian exhibitfor his exhibit "Afghanistan: Amanullah Period, 1920-1929" at WESTPEX '08

Postal Himal No. 134 1 2nd Quarter 2008

More Himalayan Mountaineering CorrespondenceBob Gould

In our catalog, Singer and I included most ofthe chapter "A Tale of Philately" from the bookTales of the Himalaya: Adventures of aNaturalist by Lawrence W. Swan. Swan toldabout the trials and tribulations that he enduredin order to mail covers for the 1954 CaliforniaHimalayan Expedition to Makalu. The coverswere made from native Nepalese Daphne paperand had in the upper left corner a cinderellalabel designed by Swan for this expedition.These were printed in red, blue and green andover 1000 covers were mailed out with bothNepalese and Indian stamps and cancels. Thecovers had a black RlS "CARRIED BYRUNNER" and another "BARUN GLACIERBASE CAMP". A 1954 newspaper articlestates that "Each cover will cost $1 and will beaddressed directly to the person ordering. Fivehundred of the labels are reserved for thepersonal use of the expedition's members and500 have been set aside for the use of the

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public". One of the covers that I own included ashort note (on Daphne paper) to Bob, signedBill. The cover was addressed to an individualat Stead AFB in Reno, NV and had no returnaddress or sender's name. I thought it would beinteresting to try and discover who had mailedthis particular cover. The expedition took place50 years ago and had three members namedWilliam and one named Willie, so I had mywork cut out for me. After corresponding withseveral different members I was able to narrowit down to William Long who now lives inAlaska and subsequently signed the cover forme. We have had several phone conversationsand he was most helpful in supplying me withadditional information about this and othermountaineering expeditions. In fact, hw wasalso a member of the first expedition to climbthe highest peak in Antarctica, Mount Vinson in1966.

Postal Himal No. 134 2 2nd Quarter 2008

Double Sealed Documentby Dick van der Wateren

A few years ago, I obtained an interesting continued to use the plot instead of handing it todouble sealed document with the seal of lung Mr. Sekhar Padyay who was appointed HulakiBahadur Rana and his younger brother Barn in Mr. Prajapati's place. Mr. Sekhar, the newBahadur. The translation of the text is as Hulaki, was given another plot to cultivate. Butfollows: he could not use that plot either, because the

Big seal: Prime Minister lung Bahadur Mohi of the land refused to submit hisRana cultivation to Mr. Sekhar. (A Mohi is a personSmall seal: Commander-in-Chief Barn who is appointed to work on the land by theBahadur Rana landlord but is not the owner of the land. He hasDate: BS 1909 Baisakh 4, Saturday (ca. 16 to submit a certain agreed portion of hisApril 1853 AD) cultivation to the landlord as a rental for the useThis document is an order to the Bichari of of the land.) As he could not reap profits fromPokhara Court, Mr. Gopi Nath Upadhyay. either of the plots, Mr. Sekhar filed a case

Background: During those times, certain local against both the widow and the Mohi in Pokharapeople were assigned the duty of Hulaki Court to allow him to use both of the plots. The(postman) for a certain region. For their salary case subsequently reached the office of the thenthey were given a plot of land to cultivate. After Prime Minister.the designated Hulaki died, his son would take So, this document is an order from the Primeover the job and continue using the land. Minister to the Bichari of Pokhara Court toGist of the case: In this case, the Post Office at decide the case in favor of Mr. Sekhar. And ifTanahun Alsi Chilaune (a place near Pokhara) both the defendants refused to comply with thewas being run by Mr. Prajapati Padyay (Hulaki). decision, to order both of them to appear beforeWhen he died without any children, his wife the Prime Minister's office.

Postal Himal No. 134

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2nd Quarter 2008

The Mysterious Black Label Depicting the Potala in LhasaOne More Piece of the Puzzle

Bo C. Olssoo

In his book The Essays and Proofs of TibetArmand E. Singer mentions the mysteriousblack label depicting the Potala.

The Swedish part of The Relief Committee forTibetan Refugees in India sold such labels toraise funds. This must have been around 1973­74 (id I remember right). Apparently few weresold since I have not had many answers whentrying to advertise for them. I could havemissed them totally, but a person who wasinvolved in the work knew I was a collector, soI was notified the committee had received a thinbundle of minisheets from the exile governmentin Dharmsala. Would I like to buy a few? Yes,indeed!

And I was offered a proof perforation as well.Minihole 9 instead of rouletted 6. A wholeminisheet! So far as I know, it is the only suchitem known, and it is depicted here.

Singer asks in his book what the figure "20"stands for. It is a value and the currency isIndian; i.e., naye paisa. Trangka was not usedin Tibet itself at that time. It was probablymade invalid after the 1959 revolt or even

earlier. Chinese stamps were sold in Tibet inChinese currency during 1954-55, so for sometime I think both Tibetan and Chinese currencyhad validity. At least until late 1956 when theTibetan postal organization finally closeddown.

In a number of The Cinderella Philatelistmany years ago someone speculated that thislabel had been used for local postage in theTibetan camps in India. Or, he might haveheard a rumor that they were. I can't rememberexactly after so many years. Sorry! However,if that was true at least a few such covers shouldhave turned up in the meantime, but none haveyet. So, I think we can now be sure that it wasjust a fund raising label.

Like I said, I have tried to adveltise for suchlabels, but without much success. I didhowever, get a used copy on piece with aSwedish postmark, showing evidence that theyhave been used as labels on mail here. It wouldbe interesting to hear if this label was sold inany other countries outside of India.

Postal Himal No. 134 3 2nd Quarter 2008

Bharatpur Branch Post OfficeColin Hepper

I have two covers in my collection fromBharatpur Post Office. One is a small registeredletter using official stamps which has been pencancelled 'Bharatpur Post Office' and dated016/9/20/2 which would be in January 1960.

The other cover is a postal stationery envelopewhich I recently purchased and is cancelled witha single line handstamp, reading BharatpurBranch Post Office. On the back of the

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envelope are the postmarks of KathmanduG.P.O. and Singh Durbar dated 5th and 8th ofJune 1964.

So far I have not seen any of the bi-lingualpostmarks from this post office and it is notlisted in the 1999 official list of post offices. Iwould be interested to know from our friends inNepal if this post office still exists.

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The Local Pashupati PrintingsColin Hepper

All the early collectors and writers on thelocal Pashupati printings made the assumptionthat the local printings were started in 1941,because of the difficulties of getting suppliesfrom Perkins Bacon, due to the start of WorldWar II. Later writers (myself included) andsome catalogue companies continued to makethis assumption without 'switching their brainson'.

During the meeting at WESTPEX, I was in

conversion with Roger Skinner who remindedme that we had all ignored a very well knownfact that Perkins Bacon went out of business inthe late 1930' s, so that the supply of stamps toNepal and any other country they were supplingwould have dried up.

I am sure that this is a much more accuratereason for the need for the Nepalese to startprinting their own stamps again, than is theWorld War IT theory.

Postal Himal No. 134 5 2nd Quarter 2008

DHUDUWAPAHAD POST OFFICEfrom the Derek Pocock collection

Colin Hepper

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Dhuduwapahad is not shown on any of themaps of Nepal . The name has however ap­peared in the senders address on a classic coverposted at Pyuthan, which would indicated that itwas located somewhere in the Pyuthan area.

The illustrated cover which is complete with

its contents has the only know example of theDhuduwapahad Post Office postmark and isdated 29 July 1942.

This item will be offered in the next StudyCircle auction of Derek Pocock's collection atthe end of the year.

Postal Himal No. 134 6 2nd Quarter 2008

Report on WESTPEX 2008Richard M. Hanchett

We had another very successful WESTPEX!It is interesting that 100% of our members whoentered exhibits won Gold (see page 1).

Our first meeting was Friday afternoon withFrank Vignola, Bill Jansen, Frealon Bibbins,Leo Martyn, Geoffrey Flack, Roger Skinner,Colin Hepper and myself in attendance. Theprimary business for the meeting was theelection of a new President and a new Vice­President. I am very pleased to announce thatColin Hepper is the new President and GeoffreyFlack is the new Vice-President. Their e-mailaddress are on the inside front cover. There wasthen time to examine the exhibits and of course,to spend (too much) money buying items fromthe various dealers. That night Roger and hiswife Jo, Colin Hepper and myself and my wifePat went to Max's for dinner - lot of food andhuge desserts.

Sunday we had our general meeting withGeoffrey Flack, Alfonso Zulueta Jr, RogerSkinner, Deepak Jaiswal (a visitor), FrankVignola, Gerhard Wolf, Colin Hepper andmyself in attendance. The discussions includedhow to get our auctions going again on a regularbasis. It was noted that Derek Pocock ofAustralia is selling his entire Nepal collection(Vermeil awarded Postmarks of Nepal, 5albums with covers classified postmarks, an

album of Pashupati sets and covers, a 1000+covers with seals and some odds and ends)through the Society. Colin Hepper is currentlylotting the material and says he will have itfinished by the end of the year. (See page 6 forone of the items that will be in the auction). MrJaiswal showed us several documents withseals.

SESCAL has invited us to have a meeting attheir show next year and we have accepted theoffer. So, next year there will be two meetings ­one at WESTPEX in April and the second atSESCAL in October.

The venue for LONDON 2010 has beenchanged from Earl's Court and will be in thenorthern part of London. Colin will get a list ofhotels near the area and it will be published inPostal Himal for those interested in attendingthat show. We normally have two meetings atthe LONDON show. Also in 2010 will be theinternational exhibition in New Delhi, India andseveral of those in attendance indicated aninterest in attending with a trip also possible toNepal (and also Bhutan for those interested).No word yet on the venue.

Hopefully we are once again on the way tohaving regularly scheduled auctions for theSociety.

Cumulative Index for Postal Himal and Membership ListRichard M. Hanchett

When last I gave you an update on the going to republish the Membership List. I noticeCumulative Index (see PH 131: 1) I had finished that there is a lot of white space in it. It wouldthrough Issue 46 and the Index was 23 pages to beneficial to all of us to have e-mail addresslong. When I finished it through Issue 132 (4th and collecting interests published. If you collectQuarter 2007), it was 80 pages in length. Then, general Himalayan areas, specialize in cornerlike any editor, I thought it would be good to blocks of the first local printing of the Pashupatihave such and such, and so and so would make it issue, are a part time or full time dealer, ormore readable and when I got finished with the expertise stamps, why not let you fellowenhancements it was 130 pages long. I used a members know. Send me any information aboutfew tricks like changing margins to shrink 2 your collecting interests that you want others tolines to 1 and it is now 122 pages long. You will know about. E-mail addresses would also behave it later this year. At the same time I am nice to have.

Postal Himal No. 134 7 2nd Quarter 2008

Two Additional Cover IllustrationsSurendra Lal Shrestha

lilustrated are two cover envelops with the Lakshmi Nivas Maharajganj, Kathmandu,crest used by the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal. (See also PH 133:9 'A Letter to theNepal - Mohan Shamsher J. B. Rana from Queen of Bundi' - editor)

Postal Himal No. 134

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8 2nd Quarter 2008

A Piece of Postal HistorySurendra Lal Shrestha

Below is a letter dated 1915 A.D. from merchant's instruction. Surely an example ofLucknow to Kathmandu informing the recipient trusting the Postal Service in the old daysthat a diamond ring will be returned between India & Nepal. Also, note the rate ofimmediately by 'Mail' if unsold as per a Nepali 'MUSK' inserted in the fancy letter head.

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Postal Himal No. 134 9 2nd Quarter 2008

The British-Indian B25 CancellationColin Hepper

posted two months earlier, and as can be seenfrom the illustration, the inking on the lowerportion of the date stamp is very clear. OnSurendra's card, the inking on the lower portionof the date stamp is almost non-existent and sothere is a possibility that the date characters arethere but missed being inked making it look asif there was no date stamp. To be sure theremust be a full inking of the whole date stamp.

I would like to comment on the 'NewDiscovery" of the British-Indian B25cancellation, reported by Surendra Lal Shresthain Postal Himal 133 (see 'A New TypeDiscovered on the British-Indian B25Cancellation by Surendra Lal Shrestha PH133:2 - ed.).

I believe that we should proceed with cautionbefore accepting that it is a new type. I have asimilar postcard to the one illustrated which was

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British Envoy at the Court of NepalColin Hepper

Some time ago I purchased a small lot of what year this stationery was in use and wouldNepalese material in amongst which was this be interested to hear from anyone who couldfine embossed seal on a thin cream coloured throw some light on this position of 'Britishcard, which may have been cut out from either a Envoy at the Court of Nepal', bearing in mindletter sheet or an envelope. However, the card there has always been a British/Indian Embassyseems to be rather too thick to have been used in Kathmandu.on normal stationery items. I have no idea as to

Postal Himal No. 134 10 2nd Quarter 2008

Unusual 'Postal Stationery'Colin Hepper

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The illustrated cover was posted at Kathmandu G.P.O. on 2 May 1983. The stamp used has been cutout of the 1980 issue postal stationery envelope and placed on a normal envelope.

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•••cI •• II fTl ....._IA 11,11 11~Another cover also posted at Kathmandu G.P.O. dated 19.10.93 has had the SOp stamp from the1986 issue aerogramme cut out and used in conjunction with a 1 Rupee stamp for use on an internalairmail letter.

Postal Himal No. 134 11 2nd Quarter 2008

News from KathmanduSurendra Lal Shrestha

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Postal Himal No. 134 12 2nd Quarter 2008

P'n FD.C

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Visit Nepal Series.~\ 2 1

(a)

First Day Covers

(c)

(b)

Technical Details(a) (b) (c) Visit Nepal Series

Subject: Reinstatement of House Constitution of Shree Shaillyaof Representatives Legislative Parliament Malikmjun, Darchula

Proclamation of House of Interim Constitution of BuddhaRepresentatives Nepal Mt. Abi 6097 m.

Shree Bhageshwor,Dadeldhura

Shiddakali, Bhojpur

Denomination: Rs.l Rs.l Rs.5

Color: Four with Phosphor print Four with Phosphor print Four with Phosphor print

Composition: 20 stamps per sheet 20 stamps per sheet 20 stamps per sheet

Size: 40 x 30 mm 40 x 30 mm 40 x 30 mm

Process: Offset Lithography Offset Lithography Offset Lithography

Quantity: 500,000 each 500,000 each 200,000 each

Format: Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal

Paper: High Quality Stamp High Quality Stamp High Quality Stamp

Designer: Mohan N. Rana Mohan N. Rana Mohan N. Rana

Printer: Cartor Security, France Cmtor Security, France Cartor Security, France

Postal Himal No. 134 13 2nd Quarter 2008

(a)

(b)

Subject:

Denomination:

Color:

Composition:

Size:

Process:

Quantity:

Format:

Paper:

Designer:

Printer:

Technical Details

(a) (Personality Series)

Shivapuri Baba & Mahesh ChandraRegmi

Bhrikuti & Pt. Udayananda AljyalGanesh Lal Shrestha & Tara Devi

Rs.5

Four with Phosphor print

20 stamps per sheet

40 x 30 mm

Offset Lithography

1,000,000 of each pair

Horizontal

High Quality Stamp

Mohan N. Rana

Cartor Security, France

(b)

Chhaya Devi Parajuli

Rs.2

Four with Phosphor print

20 stamps per sheet

40 x 30 mm

Offset Lithography

1,000,000

Horizontal

High Quality Stamp

Mohan N. Rana

Cartor Security, France

Thanks to Nepal Philatelic Bureau, Kathmandu for the First Day Covers

Postal Himal No. 134 14 2nd Quarter 2008

Nepal Post Offices - A Continuing SeriesColin Hepper - photos by Jaya Hari Jha

Dhankuta District Post Office

The Dhankuta District Post Office is one of six District Post Offices in the Koshi Zone

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Postal Himal No. 134 15 2nd Quarter 2008

Itahari Chhoti Hulak

Itahari Chhoti Hulak is in the Koshi Zone and comes under the jurisdictionof the Sunsari District Post Office

Postal Himal No. 134 16 2nd Quarter 2008