Stamp Papers

The pre-printed impressed stamp papers issued by the British Indian Government were printed by the printer who printed the banknotes for many countries in the world. The paper on which the stamp papers were printed was manufactured by the same paper mills who manufactured the paper for banknotes for many countries in the world. The paper had similar security features as banknotes like watermark, complex engraving etc. The design of the stamp papers had an image of the ruling monarch of the time i.e. Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V & King George VI.

In early days, the manufacture and printing of the enormous quantities of postage and revenue stamps, stamped paper and documents used by the Government of India has been conducted in the United Kingdom under long term contracts with Thomas De La Rue & Co. The contract with Thomas De La Rue & Co. to print stamp paper expired at the end of 1924. A special committee with the object of investigating the possibility of manufacturing currency notes, stamps and stamped papers in India was established before that. After an exhaustive review, the committee suggested to establish security printing facility in India and further approvals were received and required expenditures were authorized.

It was decided to setup the new security printing press at Nashik Road. The reasons cited to select this site by the expert committee were that Nashik Road was on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company within a few hours of Bombay, is at an altitude of 2,000 feet and has a moderately cool climate, and is a convenient center both for the import of raw materials, via Bombay, and for the distribution of the finished products throughout India. The India Security Press, Nasik Road, earlier known as "Security Printing India" up to 1947, was established in 1924.

The contract with De La Rue & Co. was terminated and printing of currency notes, stamp papers, postage and revenue stamps were slowly transitioned to India Security Press at Nashik Road.

Congreve Printing Machine

Sir William Congreve (1772-1828) a pioneer in the military use of rockets, was a Member of Parliament. He developed a machine for printing complex patterns in two colors using interlocking compound plates (Patent No. 1820/4,521). The printing process was came to be known as the "Congreve Compound Plate Printing Process".

The Congreve machine was originally invented to be used to print secure forgery proof banknotes. But as it did not meet this requirement, so Bank of England did not adopt it for printing banknotes but was widely used for printing banknotes issued by provincial banks of England.

Mr. Bryan Donkin's company constructed the printing presses designed by Sir William Congreve. These were often known as Donkin Compound Plate Printing Presses.

The Congreve printing plate was formed by cutting a pattern of holes through a plate made of hard metal and pouring softer, molten metal on top to form the second plate. The required design was then engraved on the combined surface. To print from this the plates were separated, inked in different colours, and then combined again to produce perfect bicoloured designs.

To read the complete book, see:
Catalog of Congreve Stamp Papers Used in British India(https://foxly.link/Congreve)

To read the earlier books, see:
Catalog of Stamp Papers Used in British India(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F25jUbc1BPbNBcTMN67ZLDfcD_-xMJxI/view?usp=drive_link)
List of Stamp Papers Used in British India Sorted by Denomination(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MM7MrU3fgdhCqFFtoLuGg8MgDtvL0Q9n/view?usp=drive_link)
List of Stamp Papers Used in British India Sorted by Type(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IKJvzsO1q7h0qOCRMHBW6YrYCy-Ni0-Z/view?usp=drive_link)
Catalog of Hundis Used in India(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zn3RmywskAEfn0Ft6qPqIW9i7xVTZaJq/view?usp=drive_link)
Catalog of Savings Certificates(https://drive.google.com/file/d/16eK2T7LtaMZEIXKIL2dCm7DWcZ72alMo/view?usp=sharing)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: SEPTEMBER 18, 2022 : Catalog of Stamp Papers Used in British India(https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n38a09.html)
NEW BOOK: CATALOG OF HUNDIS USED IN INDIA(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n15a07.html)
NEW BOOK: SAVINGS CERTIFICATES USED IN INDIA(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n04a07.html)