Tonk

Tonk was a feudatory state of India in Rajasthan in northwestern India.

Only one postage stamp was ever issued, that in 1906. Only 3 stamps have been found to date, each on cover, and at last count, were in the hands of one collector. Meanwhile, there are a fair number of Tonk revenue/fiscal stamps around today.

The stamp is an imperf ¼a value in yellow brown, (probably) inscribed in Urdu, an Arabic-like script. The borders of the design are finely tooth-edged. The margins are huge compared to the design, leading to at least one stamp being roughly cut down to fit its cover. The stamps have a rounded rectangular control/counterstamp and are cancelled with a negative seal cancel.

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue does not list these. It can be assumed that since they were not able to examine any of the three covers, they have declined to list the stamp. Scott does list it and the image there does not show the large margins of the originals.