Turkish Postmarks From Crete

We've seen a lot of interesting Turkish material in recent months and I thought it might be fun to show some Turkish stamps used in Crete.

The first postmarks were undated postmarks with the town name in a double octagonal frame.

Seven different postmarks of this kind are known so far and over many years I've obtained examples of five, with some being just partial strikes.

Let's start with the bigger towns.

First up is Heraklion = Kandiye :

Kandiye





I've copied the postmark ilustrations from Rink Feenstra's classic Crete handbook.

Here are some postmarks from Chania = Hanya:

Hanya





Next are four postmarks from Resmo = Rethymno:

Resmo

Here are my last three undated Turkish postmarks from Crete.

The first two are again double octagonal postmarks.

Neapoli = Lasit Yenikoy

Lasit Yenikoy



Kifkopeskalon = Kefal Pisko

Kefal Pisko



The last one from Souda has a double circular frame.

Souda = Suda

Suda



There are at least two more double hexagon postmarks known but I have no examples.

There were also "negative seal" postmarks from about ten towns and villages (including several versions from both Kandiye and Hanya).

These generally had the form of Ottoman Turkish text appearing in white against a black circular background.

Sadly I don't have any of these or any of the similar Sanitary Office postmarks.

A number of other Ottoman post offices are known to have existed on Crete but so far no postmarks have been found.

This just leaves the later bilingual postmarks from the large towns and I have a small number of these to show in my next post.

Bilingual CDS postmarks were introduced for the three main towns on the island, first with the town name in French at the top and "TURQUIE" at the bottom.

These were replaced by a standard Ottoman type with the name at the top in Ottoman Turkish name at the top and in western letters at the bottom.

I have just a few of the second kind to show here.

In fact my only stamp with a small part of the Turkish Rethymno CDS is on the one I've already shown with the round Souda postmark.

I'm afraid the strikes I have for the others here are not great either. These are supposed to be quite common but not many have come my way so far.

All of these strikes on the 1892 set of stamps.

First, here is a small group from Heraklion = Kandiye:

Kandiye



Finally, here is a group from Chania = Hanya:

Hanya







I think I have a few more strikes on cover or on postal stationery but these are packed away at the moment.

Thanks for your patience with me if you've got this far!

I'd be delighted to see any examples of Crete postmarks that other collectors would like to share.

nigelc - I don't have anything to show - but I certainly enjoyed yours - impressive display! I allowed myself to borrow your images for later reference, thank you for sharing.

Really awesome Nigel! It will take some time to process & understand what you've shown. Do you have examples of the 2 postmarks (pictures?) that you don't have? Could you show those as well?

Fabulous Post !
Top Stuff Nigel...a keeper.

Thanks for all your kind comments.

Michael, the other two known octagonals are from Yerepetre (Ierapetra) and Esfakiye Sultaniye (probably Vamos). I'll try and post scans of these later.

Sounds good. I went through some stuff - and there are some that look like these - double circles; octagonals; even a couple negatives.

Please keep in mind: I know NOTHING about postmarks!

I've acquired/accumulated interesting looking ones over the years - with the idea that one day - (15-20 years from now?!) - I would have a cool project to look all these up one day.

I thought based on your scans, I would at least know what to look for, but it's hopeless. They are all partial strikes, and I simply can't tell!

One came labelled - which I kept - which is Joannina - which is Greek, but not Crete. (No idea if correct ID?)

So here's what I'll do: I'll take some pictures & post them, and you can ID them much better than me!

But first - I can't even grasp the title of the thread (!?!??) - shouldn't this be "Greek (Crete) postmarks on Turkish (Ottoman) Stamps"??? You wrote in the first post: "Turkish stamps used in Crete" - so are the postmarks 'Crete' (Cretian??) or Ottoman? (Inquiring minds would like to know!)

Hopefully to be continued soon - an awesome topic - thanks for posting this!

list Turkish date cancels

http://worldpostmarks.net/HTML%20Co...s/turkey.htm

Hi Michael,

Deciding the "right" names of places is the Balkans and/or Levant can be a tricky business!

When these postmarks were applied Crete was part of the Ottoman Empire and used regular Ottoman stamps.

The early postmarks were all in Ottoman Turkish and I think of these stamps and postmarks as being Turkish.

For a short period in the 1860s there were also Greek post offices in Crete, but these very much Greek "Post Offices Abroad" similar to the Austrian Post Offices in Crete.

Janina/Ioannina didn't become part of Greece until 1913 and perf12's list shows a number of Turkish post offices in the Janina Vilayet (province).

Please do show what you have and I'll try and identify them if I can.

If I'can't identify some of then I'm sure others here can.

I have the four volumes of Coles & Walker postmark handbooks, Postal Cancellations of the Ottoman Empire and they are very helpful with good illustrations.

All the postmarks we're discussing are included in Volume 1: The Lost Territories in Europe,

In recent years Isfila has published a new set of Ottoman postmark handbooks. I see on their website that they have now published eight of a planned ten volumes. I think the price is 60 euros per volume.

I remember they were too expensive for me when I saw the first few volumes for sale in Vera Trinder's shop in London.

Fascinating, Nigel. Is this a spin-off from a wider interest in the island?

Wow. I will get some pix posted for sure.

I have seen all 10 volumes of their postmark catalog (encyclopedia!) available for several years?? Again - on my list - but not dying to spend $1000 on a 10 volume set of postmark catalogs just yet. But I have seen all 10 for sale for a long time??

Now I get it. Thank you for the explanation - that helps tremendously!

You definitely got me - I'm intrigued - but a daunting area. I took a quick look at perf12's link...you must be kidding! Maybe when I finish my PhD in Arabic linguistics?!!

I'm with you mdroth!

Hi perf12,

I've seen this list before but I think it's confusing and it looks incomplete to me.

The only three post offices in this list that had dated postmarks were
Hanya (Chania) , Kandiye (Heraklion) and Resmo (Rethymno).

All the others are undated postmarks.

Ayi Nicola is a strange one. It's in Coles & Walker's list but there is no illustration and it's not mentioned in either the Feenstra or Galinos handbooks.

The only postmarks I've seen from there are the French post office CDS "SAN NICOLO" and the CDS from the autonomous Crete post office from 1900 onwards.

Esfakiye Sultaniye is also a problem.

I think this is repeating an error in Coles & Walker and should instead be "Esfakiye Sultaniye (Vamos)".

The village of Vamos was picked by the Ottomans as the local government centre for the Sfakia district and became known as "Sultaniye".

Hora Sfakion / Sfakia is a separate village further south on the coast.

I would follow Feenstra & Galinos who both assign this to Vamos.

The list seems to be missing at least three offices in Kastelli Kariyesi, Kastelli Kyssamo and Mires (all had negative seal style postmarks).

Around another 13 post offices are believed to have existed according to an Ottoman government publication but as far as I know postmarks haven't yet been identified for any of them.

I'd be very interested in other opinions on any of these points.

Nigel, these are GREAT. Now I need to look back to my Ottoman stamps. Unfortunately most of my Turkish postmarks are almost unreadable, so will check for bilingual ones.
Michael