Postage stamps and postal history of Nepal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
First stamps of Nepal on cover, 1881

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Nepal. Nepal has issued postal stamps since 1881.[1]

Pre-stamp era[]

During the reign of King Prithwi Narayan, 1742—1774, official mail was carried around the kingdom by horse. Nepal's early regular postal service is hard to verify as no records have been located, though 1875 is mentioned by some authors, as a time when government runners began to connect Kathmandu with Gorkha, Pokhara and Palpa. However Hellrigl & Hepper suggest 1879 because postmark evidence shows that, native postmarks were in use, postal routes were extended, mail was accepted from the public and a nucleus of post offices were in operation from that year. [2]: 2 

First stamps[]

A corner block of eight Nepali stamps from 1881.

The first Nepalese postage stamps were issued in April 1881 as a set of three which were valued at one anna, two annas, and four annas, inscribed as the Kingdom of Gorkha in Nepali script. These were initially perforated and printed on European-made paper. Within a few months they were released imperforate. In 1886 they were reprinted on hand-made Nepalese paper. Numerous printings of these first three values on the local paper were made for postal use until 1907, when new European-manufactured stamps picturing the god Pashupati were issued.

The remainders of first three values were brought out of storage and reissued for telegraph use in 1917. Several more telegraph era printings followed. The last of these printings was in 1929.[3][4]

Pashupati issue[]

Several printings were made of the stamps illustration Pashupati. These were first issued in 1907 and continued until 1935 in several values, colours and values.

  • 1907 stamp depicting Pashupati

  • 4 piasa denomination stamp of 1907

  • 1929 Nepali Pashupati stamp

  • Selection of 1907–1935 Pashupati stamps

9 rupees revenue stamp of Nepal for court fees

UPU membership[]

Nepal became a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on 11 October 1956[5] (Ottawa Congress) which became effective from 14 April 1959.

See also[]

References and sources[]

Notes
  1. ^ Introduction of Postal Service Archived 2013-09-30 at WebCite Nepal Post, 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2013. Archived here.
  2. ^ Hellrigl, Wolfgang; Hepper, Colin (1978). The Native Postmarks of Nepal. Peterborough: Nepal and Tibet Philatelic Study Circle.
  3. ^ Hellrigl, Wolfgang C.; Vignola, Frank (May 1984). The Classic Stamps of Nepal. Bozen, Italy: Nepal Tibet Philatelic Study Circle. pp. 27, 32, 40, 45–50.
  4. ^ van Gelder, Gerben. "Nepal". StampWorldHistory.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Universal Postal Union – Nepal". Universal Postal Union. 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
Sources
  • Shrestha, Dr. Ramesh. Nepalese Postal History from the earliest times until 1959. Kathmandu, Nepal: Kazi Madhusudan Rajbhandary, 2009.

Further reading[]

  • Shestra, Ramesh (2009). Nepalese Postal History: from the earliest time until 1959. Nepal.
  • Hellrigl, Wolfgang; Hepper, Colin (1978). The Native Postmarks of Nepal. Peterborough, UK: Nepal and Tibet Philatelic Study Circle.
  • Dawson, L.E.; Smythies, E.A.; Haverbeck, H.D.S. (1952). The Postage Stamps of Nepal. New York: The Collectors Club.
  • Hepper, Colin (2011). The Sri Pashupati Issues of Nepal. Peterborough, UK: Nepal and Tibet Philatelic Study Circle.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""