By Mehmet TURKOGLU

 The word “Empire” in the title on the stamps “Empire Ottoman”, reads as “Ampir” and this is the reason these Ottoman stamps are called as “Ampir”. In my opinion they should be called as “Crescent Stamps”.

These stamps were issued because of the Universal Postal Union has been established and accepted by the states in those years. As per the regulation of the “Conference of Bern” in that time, the scripts on the stamps should also be read in French. “Crescent Stamps” are the first Ottoman stamps issued in two languages. In my opinion issuing of these stamps by Ottoman Empire is not related by Sultan Abdulhamid’s ascending to the throne.

The inscription on the base of the stamp is divided in the middle and mirrored. The inscription reads “Posta-i Devlet-i Osmaniye 1291” and translates “Ottoman State Post 1291”. I would like to thank to Osman Levend for his help with this inscription.

The number “1291” in this inscription is the year of Islamic Calendar started in the year of “Hegria” which is equal to the years 1874-75. In this case it is 1874 –the year  Bern Conference took place.

The design (or base) on this stamp is lithographed and the overprint is typographed. These are the first Ottoman stamps printed in two printing techniques.

The red line in Figure 1 on the right is the vertical line where mirroring were applied.

LETTERS and NUMBERING

Latin alphabet and numbers on the “Crescent Stamps” are “Clarendon’s Antiqua” font. Typography is the term used to describe these font types today, but this “typography” term is not related to typography printing technique in those days.

Issued on September 15, 1876.

10 Para black on lilac

20 Para dark pink on green

50 Para blue on yellow

2 Kurus black on red

5 Kurus pink on light blue

25 Kurus purplish pink on light pink

Perforation: between 13-1/2 and 13-1/4.

It is believed that 11-1/2 perforation has been issued for philatelists. Other perforation types are being considered as forgeries as they have printed as per special orders.

In the plates of 5 Kurus (5 Piastres), a purplish pink on light blue 25 Kurus (25 Piastres) stamp has been printed by mistake. Later on, this mistake has been recognized and corrected by the authorities.

 Figure 2 on the left shows the 25 Piastres stamp in between 5 Piastres stamps. This example is from Pulhan Catalogue.

In those years, with the power of an unofficial contract Clavany made by the Director of the Postal Services, he used State Postal material and stamps to produce “fantasy” variations of this 25 Piastres stamp. All tête-bêche and irregular perforations (10, 10-1/2, 12, 12-1/2 etc.) of these stamps are forgeries. (Source: von Neulinger-Baden, December 10, 1896)

An article of Ara Garmiyan in 1976 reads (Figure 3):

“By marking these stamps with “(M)” in his stamp catalogue Mr. Ali Nusret Pulhan thinks that these are the errors made for special orders.  Tête-bêche pairs of these stamps have never been used in postal material. This supports Mr. Pulhan’s theory on these stamps. On the other hand tête-bêche stamps has been printed in the same printing house just like the real stamps, colors of these stamps match the real ones and they not only exist in the first emission(1876) but also exist in the second emission (1880) printed four years later. Because of these reasons, these errors caught the attention of both domestic and international philatelists. Collectors offered a lot more than the catalogue value of these stamps.”

Issued on May 27, 1880.

 20 Paras black on pink

1 Piastres black on light blue.

Perforation: 13-1/4 and 11-1/2. Imperforated stamps also exist.

Color of 20 Paras stamp has been changed to match the regulations of the Universal Postal Union.
In my opinion 1876 20 Paras stamp has been terminated after 1880.

Color of 20 Paras stamp has been changed to match the regulations of the Universal Postal Union.
In my opinion 1876 20 Paras stamp has been terminated after 1880.

Because of the dye gone bad in time in this emission, there has been color variations. We cannot call these as “color essays” because denominations on these stamps are not different than others.

These color variations are:

20 Para black on light pink

20 Para black on gray-black

1 Piastres black on dark blue

1 Piastres black on gray blue

1 Piastres black on gray-black

1 Piastres black on gray green

1 Piastres stamp exist as the same base color as April 13, 1881 5 Paras stamp. These stamps are the products of Mr. Clavany.
20 Paras stamp on postcards has been bisected and used on letters.

Issued on April 13, 1881.

5 Paras black on olive-yellow

1 Piastre black on light blue

Perforation: 13-1/4, 11-1/2. Imperforated stamps also exist.

These stamps were issued due to lack of 5 Para stamps and “s” on 1 Piastres stamp was printed by mistake.

Same “1 Piastres” patterns were used in these stamps with some corrections on the patterns. In the process of correcting the patterns some errors were occurred. These errors were not only occurred in the process of correcting the patterns but also occurred because of the wear and tear of the pattern for frequent use. In my opinion “OTTOMAN” and “EMP.” and some other “PIASTRE” errors are connected with the frequent usage of the same pattern.

Base color variations on 1 Piastre stamp: Dark blue, greenish blue and gray blue.

Errors on “Piastre” word is as follows:
1 PIASTRI
1 PIASTRF
1 PIASTR..(two periods at the end)
1 PIAST..E
1 PIAS..RE
1 PI..STRE
1 PIASTRL
1 PIASTRE. (period at the end)
1 PIASTRF. (“F” and period at the end)
1 PIASTRE:
1 PIASTRE..
1 PIASTRE-
1 PIASTRE| (vertical line at the end)

It is possible that there are more errors on this “Piastre” word.

Errors on “OTTOMAN” word is as follows:
OTTOMA..
CTTOMAN

Error on “EMP:” word is as follows:
LMP:

There are forgeries of these error stamps. They were created by “erasing technique” to copy these errors. Erased parts of these forgeries are thinner than the entire stamp. Philatelist should be careful in buying these error stamps. In my opinion the value of these error stamps shouldn’t be different than that of the regular stamps.

Issued in 1883.

10 Paras black on dark green

Perforation: 13-1/4.

As the color of this stamp is closer to blue, it did not follow the Universal Postal Union regulations, so it has been terminated early.

10 Paras green on light green

20 Paras red on light pink

1 Piastre dark blue on light blue

Perforation: 13-1/4.

Color of these set of stamps followed the Universal Postal Union regulations. Color of overprinting of these stamps were printed darker than the base print compared to the previous emission stamps over prints were black.

10 Paras dark green on light green

20 Paras red on light pink

1 Piastre dark blue on light blue

2 Piastres dirty yellow on yellow

5 Piastres brown on light brown

Perforation: 13-1/4, 11-1/2. Imperforated stamps exist.

Even though the printing house has a 13-1/4 perforation tool, it is not known why they perforated these stamps with 11-1/2 perforation. I read in the related magazines of those years that there were rumors, these 11-1/2 perforations were made by the request of the philatelists of those years.

Errors on “1 PIASTRE” on 1 Piastre stamps:
1 PIASTRF
1 PIASTRI
1 PIASTRE.
1 PIASTRE:
1 PIASTRE..
1 PIASTRE-
1 PIASTRE|(vertical line)
 

Each of these three stamps were both printed on thin and thick paper.

Color variations:

10 Paras pale purple on gray green

20 Paras pale red on light pink

1 Piastre ocean blue on gray blue

Errors “OTTOMAN” word:

CTTOMAN

OITOMAN

5 Paras dirty purple on light purple

25 Piastres black on light gray

Perforation: 11-1/2, 13-1/4. Imperforated also exist.

There are examples of 25 Piastres stamps with 131/4 horizontal perforation and imperforate vertically. But these stamps should be approached carefully as they could be forgeries.

Even though it is said that these stamps were issued April 1, 1886, this statement is not correct.

5 Paras black on gray white

2 Piastres orange on light blue

5 Piastres dark green on light blue

25 Piastres brown on gray brown

 

Color variations:
5 Paras gray black on gray white

2 Piastres red orange on light blue

2 Piastres brick red on light blue

5 Piastres greenish blue on light blue

25 Piastres dark brown on light brown

25 Piastres gray brown on light brown

Errors:

25 Piastres stamp with no base print; dark brown on white with 11-1/2 perforation.

5 Paras green on light yellow

2 Piastres lilac on light blue

5 Piastres brown on light gray

25 Piastres carmen on yellow

Color variations:

5 Paras dark green on light yellow

5 Paras dark lilac on blue

2 Piastres dark lilac on blue

2 Piastres burgundy on gray blue

5 Piastres dark brown on gray

5 Piastres chestnut brown on gray

Stamps with no base print (errors):

5 Paras green on white

2 Piastres light lilac on white

5 Piastres dark brown on white

25 Piastres pale red on white

Errors:

5 Paras stamp was printed with 5 Piastres color.

20 Paras black on white

1 Piastres black on white

2 Piastres black on white
Perforation: 11-1/2, 13-1/4. Imperforated also exist.

First “Official Stamp” of the Ottoman Empire.

10 Paras green on gray

20 Paras pink on gray

1 Piastres blue on gray

2 Piastres light yellow on green

5 Piastres orange yellow on gray
Perforation: 11-1/2, 13-1/4. Imperforated also exist.

Bisected stamps surcharged with number (10, 2) or with number and letters (10 Paras, 1 Piastres, 2 Piastres) is a product of fiction and has never been used postally. Stamp is real but surcharges are fictitious. I am not sure why these stamps still exist on catalogues.

Crescent stamps are the stamps that have been forged the most in Ottoman Empire. P.C. Alexan and Stefan Bukmedjian sold a lot of forgery stamps in World Philately Exhibition in Vienna 1894. Philatelists and collectors should approach these stamps carefully even the ones with lower values.

Joseph Tchakidji misinformed many European philatelists and hurt a lot of people by giving wrong information about these stamps. After many legal attempts and warnings he corrected himself in the coming years and took his place in honest philatelists.