The Stamps Of Turkey / Turkiye: On Steiner Pages.

Nice stamps Ray, thanks for sharing them with us!

I had a look at them, last night before falling asleep and I have a question for Michael.

I have three old catalogues that list the first (red) stamp in the first picture and they each give a different date for it:

- McDonald (1998) - 1923

- Pulko (2002) - 1928

- Michel (1998/99) - 1929

What date does Isfila give for this?

The second stamp in the second picture is a 3 piastres proportional fees revenue stamp from the 1879 set.

I like its underprint pattern which stands out nicely under a magnifying glass or when enlarged on the screen.

I'm surprised the 1923 Izmir Economic Congress set isn't listed in Scott (other than in a brief note).

It has a full listing in SG, Michel, Pulko etc.

Hi Nigel -

I have this vague/crazy recollection of that stamp being listed in Scott. (No idea why?) I checked older versions & it isn't listed in any of them...

It is listed in Isfila as 1923 - cat. # C1 - being the first stamp issued from the Society for the Protection of Children - which obviously had many more stamps issued throughout the years since. No idea why other catalogs have different dates, nor any guess as to who is right...

Also of note/interest is that it shows a print quantity of 1,000,000 - which would make it one of the larger print quantities of that time of any Turkish stamp. Says printed by Sanayi Nefise Matbaasi of Istanbul.

Hope that helps?!

Thanks Michael,

That adds nicely to my confusion!

McDonald is a great catalogue (and it's a second edition) but it's not always accurate so it's interesting that Isfila agrees on this point.

The others also give the one million number.

New addition to my Turkey collection 1 cent. stamp looks like a plate flaw on a 10 paras stamp

Possibly under inking, for whatever reason (EFO)
Sc#67 Oft seen with the serif missing from the "1"
Not seen the "0" like this though.
Stamp appears genuine.

Need some input on these ......

Unless Michael, Nigel or others post,
I'd suggest you post each by a single scan at 200dpi
Then we can see the "secret marks" that go to confirming authenticity.

Also scan the front of the 5pi, you're looking at the back there. :)

Floortrader: The 2nd two look like forgeries IMO.

larger scans -

Note that the control band on the 5pi is only half there. The control band was placed on these by the government after receiving the stamps from the printer in order to stop the printer from making more than they were supposed to then selling them via the back door. In the case of these postage due stamps (they were actually used as regular stamps as well as proof of postage due payments) that control band is in blue and it should span the full area between the two adjacent rows of tête-bêche stamps Some of the forgers got lazy and printed their stamps all upright with only a half control band between rows. I believe that's what's going on the that stamp. Somewhere around here (maybe in my Burak catalog?) I have a picture of the full control band which shows the lettering. You can compare the portions visible on the stamps with the actual text and verify it's correct. Forgeries seldom have the right Turkish text there.

The BUMPER edition of the Middle Eastern Philatelic Bulletin (No12) has just been released, Lots of nights reading here...........

Disappointed:
The Kemal Attaturk Souvenir sheet was not included for ID,
I still have no idea on the genesis of that item..

Contents:

PDFs of the Bulletin here

https://www.zobbel.de/mepb/mepbulletin.htm

Wow! Geoff,
thought they were only available to members.........

Yes, I was taken aback! As I'm interested in the Arabian "empire" element, I'll have to comb through them.