In January 1936, King George V died and his eldest son, Edward VIII (1894-1972), succeeded him as king. The coronation of Edward VIII as King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth and as Emperor of India was due to take place at Westminster Abbey on 12 May 1937.
Preparations had already begun when Edward VIII abdicated on 10 December 1936. To keep everything from going to waste, it was decided to hold the coronation of his brother and successor George VI on the 11 December 1936. Edward VIII later took up the title of Duke of Windsor.
Edward VIII abdicated the throne of Great Britain for the woman he loved. Her name was Wallis Simpson (born Bessie Wallis Warfield; 19 June 1896 – 24 April 1986), later known as the Duchess of Windsor. Wallis was an American socialite divorcée whose intended marriage to the British king Edward VIII caused the constitutional crisis that led to Edward’s abdication.
As king, Edward was not able to marry Wallis because the head of the English church could not marry a divorced woman with her husband still alive. The king’s desire to marry Wallis therefore led to his abdication from the throne.
1936. The King Edward VIII Archer Essays
Following the death of King George V on 20 January 1936 and the accession of Edward VIII, the General Post Office (GPO) immediately made plans for stamps of the new reign. Although there was no precedent, the idea of stamps for the Coronation appears to have come very soon after the accession.
Plans began for producing King Edward VIII stamps not only for Great Britain but also for India (amongst other) and soon a number of Essays for India had been designed by Government artist Thomas I. Archer from the Security Printing Press, Nasik, India. The essays were to be used in India for the definitive series of King Edward VIII.
The essays produced by Archer for a proposed 1937 issue in India are shown below:
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 1936. India – Original Archer Essays |
The essays were sent from Security Printing Press, Nasik to London for Royal approval In October, 1936.
On 5 December 1936 the British government replied direct to the India Office about the essays:
“If the crown and collars of the two Indian Orders are to be shown, and the government consider this most desirable, the head cannot suitably be made larger without impairing the design.”
“In all cases the heads shown will be as large or larger than in the pictorial and non pictorial issues respectively as those of His Late Majesty King George V.”
“It is impossible to imitate the photogravure background of the recent British stamps by the letterpress method of printing employed in India, but an endeavour is being made to improve on the brightmess of colouring of the previous Indian issues by the solids in the background”.
Unfortunately, by the time the essays arrived in the India office, the king had abdicated and the abdication stopped all design efforts despite the essays having been made. The stamps were therefore never produced.
The Cinderella stamps:
The Alternative India stamps listed below are produced by Gerald King and based on the Archer essays.
The Alternative India Cinderellas are extremely rare (even by Gerald King standards) and only 6 sets have been produced.
The original “Three annas Six pies” has been omitted (because it was a terrible design) and instead a “Three annas” is in its place. The elephant design used for the “Three annas” is taken from the King George V Ceylon set, and modified. One of the two “Six annas” has been changed to an “Eight annas” design.
The rupee values design is taken from the original “Half anna” Archer essay design.
An anna (or ānna) was a currency unit formerly used in British India and Pakistan, equal to 1⁄16 of a rupee. It was subdivided into twelve pies (thus there were 192 pies in a rupee).
1936. India – King Edward VIII Stamps & Proofs (Lower Values)
Complete set of the ‘India – King Edward VIII (Lower Values)’ Cinderella stamps and associated proofs based on the unadopted design of the “Three pies” Archer essay of 1936, and then modified.
4 Perforated stamps of values: Three pies (Black), Nine pies (Green), Half anna (Purple) and One anna (Red).
 1936. India – King Edward VIII Stamps (Lower Values) |
 1936. India – King Edward VIII Proofs (Lower Values) |
1936. India – King Edward VIII Stamps & Proofs (Higher Values)
Complete set of the ‘India – King Edward VIII (Higher Values)’ Cinderella stamps based on the unadopted designs of the Archer essays of 1936.
7 Perforated stamps of values: Two annas (Red), Two annas Six pies (Blue), Three annas (Dark blue), Four annas (Brown), Six annas (Light blue), Eight annas (Purple) and Twelve annas (Green). The Eight annas is based on one of the original “Six annas” Archer essays.
 1936. India – King Edward VIII Stamps (Higher Values) |
 1936. India – King Edward VIII Proofs (Higher Values) |
1936. India – King Edward VIII Stamps & Proofs (Rupees Values)
Complete set of the ‘India – King Edward VIII (Rupees Values)’ Cinderella stamps based on the unadopted design of the “Half anna” Archer essay of 1936.
6 Perforated stamps of values: One rupee (Brown), Two rupees (Red), Five rupees (Blue), Ten rupees (Pink/Light red), Fifteen rupees (Green) and Twentyfive rupees (Purple).
 1936. India – King Edward VIII Stamps (Rupees Values) |
 1936. India – King Edward VIII Proofs (Rupees Values) |