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Bhutan

FIRST STAMPS 1 January 1955 (fiscal stamps validated for internal postal use).

CURRENCY
1955, 16 annas = 1 rupee.
1957, 100 chetrum 1 ngultrum.
1962, 100 chetrum = 1 ngultrum (or rupee).

A Buddhist kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas, having treaty relations with India which continue those formerly made with Britain. It changed from absolute to democratic monarchy in 1969.

Postal History
Runner routes between lamaseries existed in the 19th century. External mails (such as there were) were sent at least from 1920 by a regular route to Yatung in Tibet. The modern posts with 51 POs date from 1962.

Until Bhutan joined the UPU (7 March 1969), external mails usually bore in addition stamps of India, Tibet or China.

Sikkim
Independent state in the Himalayas. Stamps inscribed SIKKIM STATE may or may not have had postal validity in the 1920s; they are not generally listed in catalogues. Experiments were apparently made in 1935 with mail-carrying rockets!