Four Categories of British India Stamps

1. Four Categories of British India Stamps

2. British India stamps fall under four categories namely, British India Official issues, British India Definitive & Commemorative stamps, China Expeditionary Force issues and Indian Expeditionary Force. • Old British India stamps featured portraits of Queen Victoria and other Kings. They were issued in various denominations and colours. Let’s take a look at one example from each of the four categories.

4. This is one of the 8 Annas Carmine coloured definitive stamps of British India from the first category featuring a portrait of Queen Victoria, issued between 1866 and 1872. • These stamps were issued at Military Orphanage Press in Calcutta using the Typography process. They were issued exclusively for official correspondence with an overprint "Service" in small letters.

6. This is one of the 1/2 Anna Scarlet coloured rare British India stamps, popularly known as ScindeDawk issued in 1852 at Sindh.   • These British India stamps were round shaped, without perforations and were printed using the embossed process. It is named after the old postal system of Sindh, and is also India's first postage stamps before adhesives were introduced.

8. These lovely Eight Annas Magenta coloured post office stamps were issued from 1900 to 1904 featuring a portrait of Victoria Queen. • They were overprinted at the Government Press Calcutta with the letters "C.E.F." which stands for CHINA EXPEDITIONARY FORCE. They were used by Indian army who were assigned to fight against the boxer rebellion in china.

10. These 2 Annas 6 pies Ultramarine coloured Old British India stamps featuring a portrait of King George V were issued in 1914. • They were overprinted by the Government Press Calcutta with the text “I.E.F.” and were used by Indian Army officials who were deployed in other countries during 1st World War.