Is This An Unusual Stamp?

Hi

Trying to find out more about this stamp and cannot find anything like it online so far...seen one but without Specimen on it..does that mean it is more collectible/rare?

Check Turkey, German Occupation.

There appears to be a heavy crease, rather than a paper fold, on the right side. And, the pic might indicate some color loss by UV light exposure.

Depends what you mean by, "unusual," really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speci...?wprov=sfti1

?????? When did Germany occupy Turkey?

The basic stamp is a 1907 German Post Office in the Ottoman Empire. Whether or not the specimen overprint is genuine and what is its worth, I cannot say.

Thank you very much for your help - this is all new to me so the subtleties for collectors are still a mystery to me..

The Western European embassies - which enjoyed a fair amount of control and autonomy within Istanbul - were reluctant to rely upon the Ottoman postal system, hence the British, French, German and Austrian offices. From memory, the Ottoman government stopped their operation not long before WWI (or the Empire's entry therein).

"German Occupation". Sorry my mistake. It should have stated "German Offices Abroad". Thank you NSK for pointing this out.

I don't think it is real .The overprint is wrong .

Yeah, if German, we would expect it read MUSTER or somesuch. Still, German colonial issues of the period are found with this same overprint. And with stamps of any current higher value, a specimen overprint usually cuts the value in half, so adding "Specimen" doesn't help a forger.

See this discussion:
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=6371

Sorry as I said ,the overprint is wrong . Not weather the word "Specimen " is wrong but then there is a difference of opinion if that is correct . I don't get into Specimens stamps ,repeat what I said ,the overprint does not look right . Can you show me your copy ?

An easy way perhaps to settle the query,

The lower values were surface printed, and the Mark values by recess.

One should be able identify the raised ink of the recess
in the surcharge.

You may wish to alter the Thread title to something like
Germany, Post Office in Turkey SPECIMEN


that illustrates the importance of Thread titles
future students shall be able to view your post, with a pertinent title.

The SPECIMEN Opt fits the design accurately in fount,
(Against a cert image)
but I am unaware of how the specimen Opt on the 1 mark was printed,
it does not look like letterpress.
ergo, looks dodgy.

The Specimen overprint appears very nicely lined up with the PIASTER one. That in itself looks dodgy. I cannot imagine they were applied in one go.

The S in specimen and in PIASTER are completely different founts. That fits seperate printing but for that time, the registration seems perfect.

And I agree with Floortrader. The PIASTER is in a Roman type. That is not what the German offices used. It looks like a total fabrication.

It doesn't match any UPU examples that I've seen, and I can't match it in the handbook. I'd say it is bad.

You can check the Dr. Reinhard Fischer Auktionshaus.
lot 3420 _ overprint on the 5m stamp. Roman letters,Type with no sereif on top of the A.
https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/pres...y_id=1404092