Bhutan has a very interesting history of
unusual stamps, we all know that. However, the country was a remote kingdom (
still is in some places) with very little access.
A Mail van used to travel across the country collecting mails . The covers denote the mails posted at mail vans.
Come to think of it as a second thought.... these are actually philatelic inspiration from some Indian dealers who used to post most of the covers out of Bhutan!!
A Mail van used to travel across the country collecting mails . The covers denote the mails posted at mail vans.
Come to think of it as a second thought.... these are actually philatelic inspiration from some Indian dealers who used to post most of the covers out of Bhutan!!
I'm not so sure that even if "philatelically inspired", that the marking is unofficial. Dr. K. Ramamurti, postal advisor of India to Bhutan in the 1960s, wrote that a mail "van" (Jeeps - not busses like the one pictured - in the postal deptt inventory) regularly plied the road between Phuntsholing and Paro, and mail could be given to the driver or to the petrol station manager at Honka and one other place (Gedu, I believe - might have been Chukkha) for collection by the driver. There is a b/w photo in existence of a mail jeep being loaded. If we hadn't had Indian workers in Bhutan, we'd not have the examples of stamps used on covers that prove the unusual "innovation" stamp issues had made it to Bhutan or were valid for postage.
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