Indian Army FPOs

[mgibbs]

Hello;
Forgive the probable simplicity of the question, but did Indian FPOs sell Indian Stamps or were they issued forces overprints, say in the MEF, or did they get stocks of UK stamps or did it depend on the area they were in? Its a relatively new field of interest for me.
regards
Rev. Matt.

[Ross Debenham]

Matt
I don't know about the MEF issuing unoverprinted Indian postage stamps but I do have a cover from Indian Field Post Office 12 in Sudan and one from Indian Army Field Post Office 90 in Asmara bearing unoverprinted Indian postage stamps used both times in world war 2. I think they used any postage stamps they could get their hands on, which was allowed. It is not unusual to see covers with a mixture of stamps from different countries on them. Hope it helps.

Ross  d

[Tony Walker]

Hi Matt and Ross

Your posts were most opportune as I came on to the forum with the intention of posting a query on Indian FPO's in WWII

Probably around 40 years ago I bought a box of Indian FPO covers which I believe had been stored by a former dealer for several years before that - some are maked up in £sd. They have remained in the box ever since, to my shame!

I have just borrowed Prouds Vol III, History of the Indian Army Postal Service 1931 - 1947 with a view to getting an idea of what its all about before disposing of them.  However there are around 1200 covers, so don't reckon to get very far.

Regarding your query Matt, there are 51 covers with non-Indian stamps, Gibraltar, Eire, Netherlands, to Egypt, Sudan, Sierra Leone, GB, Ceylon, Iraq, S Africa, Australia, KUT, Liberia, Aden being noted..

Most of the covers as no doubt you both know, have a range of other marks and cachets besides the circular FPO cancel and must take an age to track down.  I've looked at the first few, FPO's 2, 12, 14, 17, 18 and 20 in Proud and one or two seem scarce, but his pricing presumably is a bit dated?

Any suggestions as to where I go from here, bearing in mind I don't intend to write them up.  Is there an auction house who deals with this type of material?  Either of you interested?

Cheers
Tony Walker

[mgibbs]

Thanks Ross, I suspected that they used Indian stamps as well as others, its good to know that mixtures are obviously known on cover. I only have a small collection so its quite a new thing for me. Finding out about the practicalities of the actual job itself are harder to find!

Tony - if you wanted some research doing without actually spending the time writing up all the covers I might be in a position to offer some help, but also I am interested in acquiring covers and I have sent you a message;
kind regards
Matt