When I acquired these stamps many years back, I had just got my Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth & British Empire Catalogue, and eagerly, I dived in to identify these stamps from Kishangarh depicting Maharaja Madan Singh. I quickly spotted a similar illustrated image in the Kishangarh section of the catalogue, easily standing out from the rest of the stamps from Kishangarh.
However, to my utter dismay, I realized that the only 'one anna' value of this stamp design issued was in blue color, in years 1904 and 1906 perforated 12½ and 13½ respectively. My first reaction was to assume that these stamps that I have newly acquired - all of them were of 1 anna denomination but in various other colors unlisted in the catalogue - might be bogus issues, just like the many unauthorized labels from Faridkot printed and sold in various colors.
On a quick second look into the catalogue section, I spotted a footnote that went - Stamps in other colors, all perforated 13½, were produced by Perkins Bacon as business samples!
Upon further studying of all the stamps issued by Kishangarh, I realized that SG 42/50 Set of 9 values issued and used in the period 1904-10 (along with the same stamps handstamped towards official postage in the same period SG O17/O24) were the only instance when the services of Perkins Bacon were employed for producing Kishangarh stamps. Also, these were the only Kishangarh stamps that were printed by Recess and were issued with gum. All the other Kishangarh stamps were issued without gum, printed Typo locally.
Upon consulting another Princely States expert, I came to know that the brown and the purple shade of these Perkins Bacon Specimen stamps were more common as compared to the other color trials.
Perkins Bacon continued to produce stamps for a few Princely States of India up until circa 1930s, producing some classic and elegant beauties that stood in stark contrast to the otherwise common referral in the philatelic circles to the stamps of the Indian Princely States - "the Uglies".
To fulfil the curiosity of the Princely States enthusiasts who might be wondering how much such business samples would cost - each of these stamps might cost around $20, and at times, this group of 5 color trials is also offered together for around £50 or so...
Besides the business samples exhibited here on this blog, the issued stamps themselves, a long set of values ranging from ¼ anna to 5 rupees, were ordered in large quantities, and these supplies were still lying in the state treasury even in 1948 when Kishangarh merged with the rest of the Rajputana to form the State of Rajasthan!
Great to be back at blogging the stamps of the Princely States!
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