On 13 October 2025, Karnataka Postal Circle reached a major milestone. The Circle released its 100th Permanent Pictorial Cancellation (PPC), celebrating Beaulieu, the iconic Chief Postmaster General’s Office in Bengaluru.
Along with the cancellation, a first-of-its-kind micro-embroidered Picture Postcard of the building was also unveiled.
In this post, I’m sharing the release highlights, the design controversy, and some interesting details around this historic building.
Beaulieu: A Short Background
Beaulieu means “beautiful place” in French, and the estate truly lives up to the name. It is a 19th-century heritage mansion located on Palace Road, Bengaluru.
The house was built in the 1860s by Lancelot Ricketts, a British civil servant, horticulturist and the first Inspector General of Police of Mysore. The estate originally spread across 24 acres with stables, wells and lush gardens.
In 1966, the building became the office of the Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Circle, and continues to stand as one of Bengaluru’s finest colonial structures.
The Cancellation and Its Design
The Permanent Pictorial Cancellation shows a clean line-art illustration of the Beaulieu building.
It carries the name “Beaulieu” in Hindi and English, along with the PIN code 560001.
The left and right sides mention the post office name in both languages.
Simple. Elegant. Easy to recognise.
The Initial Design, Withdrawal and Redesign
Karnataka Postal Circle has a reputation for design slips, and it lived up to it again.
The first version of the 100th PPC was released-and withdrawn within minutes.
Reason: a major design mistake.
I don’t have the high-quality version of the withdrawn cancellation, but the low-quality image below gives you an idea. The actual building has two triangular structures on the top-middle, but the first design mistakenly showed only one.
Because of the withdrawal, no one could get same-day post-travelled items (as far as I know).
If you have seen anyone manage to post on the release date, let me know in the comments.
The Micro-Embroidered Picture Postcard
Along with the corrected cancellation, the Circle also released a micro-embroidered Picture Postcard.
The embroidery is inspired by the artwork of S. Sivabalan.
This postcard was produced jointly by the Department of Posts, the Postcrossing Welfare Society of India, and PostcardVille.
It is one of the most unique postcards released recently and adds great value to the milestone.
Availability of the Cancellation
The cancellation remained available for 7 days at Bengaluru GPO (560001).
After that, it was shifted to Dr. Ambedkar Veedhi S.O. (560001).
So collectors had enough time to get impressions, despite the release-day hiccup.
Conclusion
Karnataka Postal Circle deserves credit for consistently promoting heritage places and landmarks through its Permanent Pictorial Cancellations.
The design error was unexpected, but mistakes happen. And in philately, errors often become more interesting than correct designs.
Marking the 100th PPC with a special embroidered postcard was a brilliant move and a smart revenue opportunity.
Did you manage to add this cancellation and the postcard to your collection?
Share your thoughts below. I’d love to hear from you.
How and where available this embroidered post card details please.
Sir, this picture postcard was purchased from the Philatelic Bureau at Bengaluru GPO. You may contact them to check the availability.