Bijawar: Seven Years in the Philatelic Limelight

Bijawar: Seven Years in the Philatelic Limelight By Christer Brunström

Christer Brunström takes a look at the feudatory state of Bijawar in British . With only 15 catalogue numbers listed, it wouldn’t take up much space in an album to collect all the issues. However, seeking out all the varieties, as well as postal history from the area, makes for a real collecting challenge.

The feudatory state of Bijawar was a latecomer among the stamp-issuing entities of British India. The first set of five stamps depicting Sawant Singh was released in 1935. Fig 1 The first set of stamps The state was located in the Central for Bijawar depicted a rather India Agency, in a region referred to unflattering portrait of Maharaja Sir as . The state had an area Sawant Singh Bahadur. There were of 973 square miles with a total of 347 five values, ranging from 3p. to 2a., villages. In 1941 the population amounted which were issued on 1 July 1935 to some 120,000 people, mainly engaged in agriculture. The state once had large forests, but much of the timber was used for the smelting of iron. Bijawar acceded to the in January 1950. Today, the old territories of Bijawar are part of the Indian state of . Bijawar was originally an offspring of the much larger . It dates back to the 1600s and was named after its main town. In 1802 the ruler of Bijawar professed allegiance to the East India Company, and in 1811 the state was made a British protectorate. The British were very keen on working with the local princes as this assured a certain degree of stability. What the Indian people thought about this arrangement is a different story. In 1900 Sawai Maharaja Sir Sawant Singh Bahadur KCIE (1877–1940), became the sovereign of Bijawar and he then ruled his country until his death in 1940. He was actually the second son of the Maharaja of neighbouring State and had been adopted by his predecessor who had died in 1899 without male issue. The choice of Sawant Singh as the new Maharaja was a controversial Fig 2 A number of problems occurred with the perforation of the first stamp one as many of the local noblemen were issues. Some of the varieties are just as common as the regular perforated stamps, unhappy with this decision. while others are scarce and worth looking out for. Seen here is a 3p. imperforate The letters after the Maharaja’s name between vertical pair, a block of four 3p. imperforate both horizontally and indicate that he was a Knight Commander vertically between pairs, and a 2a. imperforate between vertical pair of the Indian Empire, an order created by Queen Victoria in 1878. The state was quite important in the princely hierarchy as the British awarded The Bijawar Post Office turned to the Lakshmi Art Printing Works of Bombay for the the Maharaja an 11-gun salute. This can printing of its first stamp set in 1935. The five values were letterpress printed and issued in be compared to the 19-gun salute of small sheets. The portrait of the Maharaja is far from flattering. The stamps were issued on 1 nearby State, one of the major July 1935 (Fig 1). princely states in . The Maharaja was one of many Perforation varieties princes, and in common with most of the The stamps were supposed to be perforated 11 and this is actually what happened with most other rulers in the Central India Agency, of the printings. However, the perforation process suffered a lot of problems resulting in he was a Hindu. completely imperforate stamps or stamps lacking perforations between stamps. Some of

80 G.S.M. February 2019 Bijawar: Seven Years in the Philatelic Limelight

Fig 3 A 1936 6p. issue Fig 4 A new design and showing rouletting separation. range of higher value stamps This process was much more occurred in May 1937. Values successful than the perforation ranged from 4a. (as shown method of the previous issue here) to 1r. and were again perforated, this time perf 9

Fig 5 An interesting constant flaw appears on the 1r stamp. Instead of ‘1 R’ being shown in the value the flaw shows a value of ‘1 Rs’

Fig 6 Revenue stamps also featuring a portrait of the Maharaja appear to have been used in the 1930s and 1940s

Fig 7 A 1935 2a. in probably cancelled to order used condition

these varieties seem to be just as common to collect, as covers bearing its stamps are extremely scarce. The stamps were only valid as the regularly perforated stamps, while locally and apparently very few covers have been saved for posterity. In fact, in the Stanley others are quite scarce. Shown in Figure Gibbons Catalogue of Commonwealth and British Empire Stamps 1840–1970, there are no 2 are three different multiples with prices for Bijawar covers. Instead it is just indicated that they are rare. Unless a large perforation varieties . archive turns up, the vast majority of Bijawar collectors will have to be satisfied with the In 1936 there was second issue which postage stamps. was identical to the previous one except If the number of postage stamps was rather limited, the output of court fee and revenue for the method of separation. This time stamps and stamped paper was slightly more important. In their catalogue The Court Fee and the printers used rouletting, which worked Revenue Stamps of the Princely States of India (New York 1983), authors Adolph Koeppel and fine, as there are no major perforation Raymond D Manners, list a handful of rather primitive looking revenue stamps; a 1a. value problems with this issue (Fig 3). featuring a portrait of the Maharaja is the exception (Fig 6). It appears to have been used in the 1930–40 period. The remaining listing includes mainly large court fee stamps showing Higher values the coat of arms of Bijawar State. So far the highest denomination had Maharaja Sawant Singh passed away in 1940 and the following year he was replaced by a been 2a., but there obviously was a need seven-year-old boy. At about the same time, the Bijawar postage stamps were withdrawn and for higher values. Thus, a third set was obviously replaced by issues of British India. issued in May 1937. This time a new design With just 15 different catalogue numbers, Bijawar is a very handy area needing just had been prepared but still featured the one album page. The search for the many perforation varieties adds a lot of interest to a Maharaja. For this issue the printers once collection of Bijawar. The stamps are usually offered in mint condition but the first 1935 set again produced perforated stamps but this also exists used. In fact, it is cheaper used than mint but obviously many were cancelled to time gauging 9 (Fig 4). Some stamps exist order (Fig 7). The 1936 and 1937 stamps are all very scarce in genuinely used condition. imperforate but they are very rare. There is an interesting constant plate Was there any real need? flaw on one position in the sheets of the One really wonders why Bijawar State introduced its own postage stamps in 1935. Was it just 1r. Instead of the normal ‘1 R’ value the to please the Maharaja who was envious of his many colleagues in the neighbouring states flaw gives a value of ‘1 Rs’, i.e., the plural who were regularly depicted on postage stamps? Maharaja Vir Singh II of was form of Rupees. This variety adds about shown on a long set of stamps released by his state in 1935. They were also printed by the £20 to the value of the normal unused Lakshmi Art Printing Works in Bombay. As explained earlier, the two had strong stamp (Fig 5). family ties. The 1935 Orchha set was the subject of many irregularities and finally withdrawn and Bijawar postal history replaced by a new one. The fact that so little Bijawar postal history material has been For lovers of Indian postal history, recorded suggests that the state’s stamps were far from necessary and that they probably saw Bijawar is one of the more difficult states very little use. However, that is pure speculation on my part.

G.S.M. February 2019 81

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)