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Before it's time (already) for the 2's, here's a 1, the Burma 1940 1 pie stamp, acclaimed at the time as the cheapest postal rate in the British Empire. At 12 pies to the anna, and 16 annas to the rupee, one pie was the smallest possible denomination and worth just 1/192 of a rupee. Which is a very small amount indeed ... At the instigation of U Ba Hlaing, a Burmese politician whose legacy is otherwise rather obscure, the 1 pie postal rate was introduced, in the middle of wartime, to pay a single newspaper rate. Not surprisingly, it provoked a flurry of elaborate fdc's (many featuring U Ba Hlaing himself) from such prolific Burma cover makers as Denis Aubrey and N K D Naigamwalla, most of which had to be plastered with multiples just to pay the letter rate on the cover. Used in its proper manner, as a single stamp on a single newspaper wrapper, it is virtually impossible to find. In fact, I'd say that all surviving examples, even on wrappers, and even on wrappers still containing newspapers, are most probably philatelic contrivances. This one, by Aubrey, has been through the post but clearly has never wrapped a newspaper. In practice, newspapers were bulk mailed, so likely to be metered or marked with a "postage paid" handstamp, much quicker than messing with stamps. The 1 pie stamp was a brave experiment, designed to lubricate the freedom of the press, but it was hardly ever used for its intended purpose. However, it was overprinted by the Burma Independence Army - this is the Henzada overprint position 1, as indicated by damage at the left of the die (a sign of authenticity). It was also overprinted by the returning British in 1945 - here is a block of the double overprint - in reality a kiss print from the litho plate. And that's the end of the six year career of the lowest value stamp in the British Empire. The essentially useless 1 pie was quietly dropped from the new definitive series of 1946. Richard W.
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on Mar-25-07
at 23:58:27 PDT
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on Mar-25-07
at 23:54:04 PDT
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on Mar-25-07
at 20:34:53 PDT
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Remember the Philatelic High School !! :O)
