NepalFirst Postage Stamp

Crown & Crossed Khukuri

In 1881, Nepal enters philately with one of the most distinctive first issues of Asia. At the centre, the design shows the crossed khukuri (knifs) beneath the royal feathered crown. Printed at the Chopakhana Press in Kathmandu using a Columbian press brought from the UK during the visit of the Prime Minister, these stamps mark the beginning of Nepal’s modern postal system. No genuine essays or proofs are known, which somehow makes the issue feel more mysterious to me. The first set came in three values: 1 anna blue, 2 anna purple, and 4 anna green. The earliest printings were made on European white wove paper. Later printings from 1886 switched to native wove paper, usually thicker and more fibrous in appearance. The early printings exist both imperforate and with primitive pin perforations, believed to have been made using a sewing machine. Combined with the fibrous paper, the perforations often tore badly and damaged the stamps instead. Nepal eventually abandoned the idea altogether, leading to later imperforate examples manually cut apart using scissors, like the one shown here. I don’t believe widespread forgeries exist for these, but Fournier reproductions are known, so they are still worth watching out for. A small piece of paper from the Himalayas, and these early Nepal issues still feel very much undervalued compared to their rarity.