Kingdom of Elymais (147 BC-221 AD) and Coins

 

Elymais, was an ancient vassal state located east of the lower Tigris River and usually considered part of the larger district of Susiana. It incorporated much of the area of the biblical region of Elam, approximately equivalent to the modern region of Khuzestan Iran. 

                       

Elymais, Phraates, early 2nd century AD, coin

Though the capital city of Susa belonged to Elymais, it seems to have been administered by a Persian satrap. the heart of the kingdom centered near the mountains of Luristan near modern Behbehan and Izeh, where the local dynasty left rock reliefs and inscriptions in a form of Aramaic.

                       

Location of Elymais and Iran.

  

Most of the population probably descended from the ancient Elamites, who once controlled that area. The dynasty seems to have been founded by Kamnaskires (147 BC), known from coins dated 81 BC. The kingdom, though seldom mentioned, survived until its extinction by the Sasanian king Ardashir (reigned AD 224-241). The Elymaeans were reputed to be skilled archers.

                       

The Ziggurat of Choqa Zanbil in Khuzestan.

The coins of Elymais depicted a king. These coins were based on Greek standards of debased Drachms and Tetradrachms. The royal picture is generally based on Parthian coinage, usually with an anchor with a star in crescent figure. The reverse has a figure or bust of Artemis with text around it, an eagle, or often only elongated dots.                        

                       

Elymais, Kamnaskires, 62-55 BC, Drachm, Obverse: Bust left, Reverse: Zeus seated left, holding Nike and sceptre, G-monogram in inner field.

                        

Elymais, Orodes I, Drachm, weight 3.0 gm, Obverse: Helmeted draped bust left, holding sceptre, dot in crescent above an inverted anchor to right, Reverse: Garbled legend, draped bust of Artemis right wearing kalathos.                 

                         

Elymais, Praates, Drachm, early 2nd century AD, weight 3.8 gm, Obverse: bearded head left, wearing tiara, dot in crescent above, an inverted anchor to right, Reverse: Four corners or palm branches with dashes.

                         

Elymais, Kamnaskires-Orodes, Drachm, mid 2nd century AD, weight 3.8 gm, Obverse: bearded head facing, wearing tiara, dot in crescent above, inverted anchor to right, reverse: seven dashes in an irregular pattern.

                          

Elymais, late 1st century BC-early 1st century AD, Tetradrachm, weight 15.9 gm, Obverse: bust left, behind four-pointed star in crescent above dot and anchor symbol, Reverse: bust left, degraded legend.               

                       

Elymais, Phraates, early/mid 2nd century AD, Tetradrachm, weight 14.4 gm, Obverse: Phraates in Aramaic in two lines to left, bust to left, wearing tiara, decorated with pellet in crescent to right, pellet in crescent above anchor with two crossbars, Reverse: X and field of parallel dashes.

Kingdom of Elymais

Coins of Elymais

 

                     

  

Dead Letter Office (DLO)

 

A Dead Letter Office (DLO) is a facility within a postal system where undelivered mail is processed. Mail is considered to be undeliverable when the address is invalid and cannot be delivered and there is no return address so it cannot be returned to the sender. 

                         

1905 Newfoundland KEVII plate proof.

At a DLO, mail is usually opened to try to find an address to forward to. The contents are read for clues. If an address is found, the envelope is usually sealed using postal seals or enclosed in plastic bags and delivered. If the letter or parcel is still undeliverable, valuable items are then auctioned off while the correspondence is usually destroyed. Despite this practice, in the past some undeliverable envelopes were acquired by philatelists.

The first Dead Letter Office in India was opened in Calcutta (the then capital of British India) in 1854. 

                       

1878, picture of Dead Letter Office, Calcutta.

DLO in Madras, Bombay, Lahore and Agra also started functioning in 1862. Karachi DLO started in 1870 and Nagpur in 1872. Lucknow in 1873. Agra DLO was shifted to Allahabad in 1873. Two more DLO's were established in 1875 at Mount Abu and Rangoon.

                         

DLO, Madras, registered on Postal Service, dated 29 December 1925

                       

DLO, Bombay dated 29 July 1908, on a postcard. 

In 1947, August, after India attained Independence, DLO's functioned from Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Lucknow, Nagpur and Patna. In 1948, Amritsar and Hyderabad DLO's started. 

In fact, Dead Letter Offices are not ''letter morgues'' rather they perform a better job than the Post Offices. In 1959, to add decency to their nomenclatures, the Dead Letter Offices in India were rechristened as Return Letter Offices (RLO's). All DLO's were converted to RLO's. Currently, 25 RLO's are functioning in India. Each of the 25 Postal circles in India has one RLO attached to it.

Dead letter offices go by different names in different countries. Other names include ''Returned letter Office'' or ''Undeliverable mail Offices''. The U.S. Post Office, as it was known then, started a dead letter office in 1825 to deal with undeliverable mail. By 1893, it handled about 20,000 items daily. In 2006, about 90 million undeliverable as addressed items ended up in the dead letter office of the U.S. Postal Service.

                           

The Dead Letter Office at Washington, a wood engraving sketched by Theodore Davis published in Harper's Weekly, February 22, 1868.

In the United Kingdom, a Dead Letter Office was first established in 1784 for dead and missent letters that had reached London. No postage was charged for returns, which were made after six months, when an addressee was found. From 1790, however a charge was made. In the UK, undeliverable mail is processed in the National Returns Centre in Belfast. 

Canada Post sends mail which is not deliverable to the Undeliverable Mail Office at Mississauga, Ontario, or North Sydney, Nova Scotia. 

                           

Canada, Dead Letter Office, officially sealed stamp, 1915.

                           

Registered 1c + 2c Drop letter to Dead Letter Office, mailed to and from Ottawa on July 09, 1888, received in DLO on August 06, 1888.

                         

DLO, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, dated 12 FEB 1945, returned to addressee in Kelowna, with a 3c return fee.
  

                     

Calgary was authorized to process undelivered mail in the 1920's. stamp of District Director of Postal Services, DLO, 2, CALGARY, dated Sep 15, 1942.                           

                           

1905 Newfoundland KEVII plate proof.

                           

Post Office Canada, Officially Sealed, 1913.

Dead Letter Offices are present in several countries, with different nomenclatures.

                           

Republic of Chile seal, with a blank area for the application of a postmark.

Dead Letter Offices.

Labuan and Stamps.

 

Labuan is a small island about the size of Miami off the coast of North Borneo. It has an area of 92 square km. It is 8 km off the coast of Borneo. Uninhabited when discovered in 1497, by the Portuguese, its harbour served as a safe anchorage for ships waiting to enter port of Brunei when the region was a haven for pirates. 

                        

 

Labuan stamps from 1879 to 1894 showed Queen Victoria's profile, as on this 1885 two cents stamp.    

                         

Location of Labuan, now in Malaysia

James Brooke, the ''Raja of Sarawak'', expanded British control over the Sultan of Brunei's islands on the northern coast of Borneo. He and the British Navy decided Labuan would be a valuable coaling station and a base for fighting piracy. In October 1844, when they sailed into Brunei harbour to ask the Sultan to give Labuan to Queen Victoria, the Sultan agreed. The warship near the Sultan's palace lined up with cannons, enhanced the persuasiveness.

                         

       Anglo-Bruneian Treaty, October 1844.   

                       

In 1895, a $1 Coat of Arms used chiefly as a revenue was overprinted to supply needed lower values, as on this 4 cents surcharge.  

Labuan became a Crown Colony in 1848, hoping it would rival Singapore as a trading center. However, as the colony survived on grants in aid until 1869, it went into debt, until the administration was transferred to the British North Borneo in 1890. On January 1, 1906, Straits Settlements assumed responsibilities for the colony, incorporating Labuan entirely two years later.

                         

       1888 British Map of Labuan.

                           

The 1896 JUBILLEE overprint on 2 cent stamp.

During the World War II, Japanese occupied Labuan in January 1942, and made it HQs of its 32nd Southern Army. The island was however liberated in September 1945. 

                         

Japanese Navy anchoring at the coast of Labuan on 14 January 1942. 

                           

Many cancelled - to - order Labuan stamps display the heavily barred marking seen on the 6 cents North Borneo Arms stamp of 1897. 

                         

Japanese Commander in Borneo signing the surrender document in September 1945 in Labuan

Few relics remain of Labuan's colonial era. The site of the old Government House is now a public park. In 1946, Labuan was transferred to the newly created British North Borneo Colony. In 1963, North Borneo renamed Sabah, including Labuan, became a part of Malaysia. In 1990, it became a federal district. 

                             

The 1889, 8 cents stamp with a 4-cent surcharge. 

Strait Settlement stamps were used in Labuan prior to 1879. In May 1879, stamps by De La Rue in London, bearing Victoria's image were released in the Colony. These first designs were reprinted on different papers and in new values for 15 years, with later surcharges in 8c and 2c denominations. In 1883, $1 stamps were created.

                          

The 1902, 25 cents greenish blue and green Crown stamp.

In 1894, the British North Borneo Company began to overprint its pictorials, ''Labuan''. The philatelic trade released large quantities of cancelled to-order stamps. Labuan stamps were replaced by those of the Straits Settlements in 1906

Labuan

Labuan stamps

Nanda Dynasty and Coins

The Nanda dynasty governed in northern India during the 4th and 5th centuries BC and controlled Magadha. It was the fifth ruling dynasty of Magdha, in eastern India. The Nanda capital was in Pataliputra (modern day Patna). The Buddhist and Jain traditions, as well as the Sanskrit drama Mudrarakshasa, attest to this.

                       

Karshapana, Nanda, Magadha, 345-323 BC.

 

The Nandas expanded on the achievements of their Haryanka and Shishunaga forefathers by establishing a more centralized administration. They amassed vast fortunes as a consequence of adopting a taxing system. They were not popular among their subjects. Mahapadma was the founder of the dynasty, according to the Puranas, and was the son of the Shishunaga monarch Mahanandin. There were nine Nanda rulers, according to Buddhist, Jain and Puranic traditions.

Mahapadma Nanda is recognized as the ''first historic emperor'' of India (India's first ruler was Chandragupta Maurya). In Buddhist literature, the Nandas are classified as annatakula (unknown lineage). His reign lasted for twenty-eight years. ''Sarva Kashtriyantaka'' (Kshatriya killer) and ''Ekrat'' (one ruler), implying that the Nanda empire was a unified monarch rather than a collection of feudal kingdoms, are two more names for him.

                       

          Mahapadma Nanda

The empire grew during Mahapadma's reign. It ran south from the Kuru country to the Godavari Valley, and east from Magadha to the Narmada.

                      

        Nanda Empire, 325 BC.

Dhana Nanda was the last emperor. He is known as Agrammes or Xandrames in Greek. Alexander invaded northwestern India during his reign, but owing to his army's resistance, he was unable to reach the Gangetic plains. Dhana Nanda inherited his father's enormous fortune. On a standby he had 200,000 soldiers, 20,000 cavalry, 3000 elephants and 2000 chariots and thus was a powerful ruler. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were all practiced under the Nanda empire. There is no evidence against any religion.

                      

Cyclopean Wall of Rajgir, which encircled the former capital of Magadha.

The Nandas are described as adharmic in India's Puranas, suggesting that they did not follow the rules of Dharma, or good behaviour. Chandragupta Maurya, with the help of his guru Chanakya, overthrew the Nanda dynasty around 321 BC. A fight between Nanda General Bhaddasala and Chandragupta is mentioned in the Buddhist scripture Milinda Panha.

Coins of Nanda dynasty

                         

Karshapana, Magdha Empire, King Mahapadama Nanda, 346-321 BC, weight 2.5 gm, Obverse: punch marks of different symbols, Reverse: punch mark symbols including an elephant.

                         

Nanda Empire, Karshapana, 400-329 BC, silver, weight 3.3 gm, Obverse: Punch marks of Taurine, Elephant, animal and sun, Reverse: Blank.  

            

                         

Karshapana, Nanda Empire, 370-320 BC, silver, weight 3.2 gm, Obverse: Sun, animal on Chaitya, Chaitya and others, Reverse: Small punch marks like leaves in a tree.

                          

Nanda Empire, 400 BC, Karshapana, silver, weight 3.1 gm, Obverse: Punch marks, Taurin, sun, chakra, Reverse: Blank with one punch mark Magadha.

                         

Magadha, Nanda dynasty, Karshapana, 345-323 BC, Obverse: six punches including fish, sun, 6 arm symbol, Reverse: Blank.

                          

Magadha, Nanda dynasty, Karshapana,370-320 BC, silver, weight 3.0 gm, punch marks on Obverse.

                        

Magadha, Nanda dynasty, Karshapana, silver, weight 3.3 gm, Series I- series II, Obverse: Six-armed symbols, sun and others, Uniface.

                       

  

Magadha, Nanda, Karshapana, 368-346 BC, five punch marks.

Nanda Dynasty

Coins of Nanda Dynasty