Philately

The First Stamps of the Republic

by Kaya DORSAN

The 82nd anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey will be celebrated on October 29. Even before the Republic was proclaimed in 1923, there was already a government in Ankara. It had been governing Turkey, independent of the Ottoman Empire, and using its own sovereignty rights since 1920. Within this framework, it had also issued own stamps.

However, with the establishment of the Republic, a new period began. The time had come to put a whole new series of stamps on sale.

In 1923, the Post Office of the Republic issued an extensive series in a wide number of denominations, corresponding to the different prices set for sending items of all kinds and weights to various destinations. The series, made up of 22 stamps, was printed at the Ahmet Nazmi Printing House in Istanbul. The stamps were designed by the owner of the printing house, Mr. Ahmet Nazmi, who was also a painter.

Additional series

The stamps were printed on thin paper in sheets of 100 stamps. The least expensive stamp cost just 10 para – or a quarter of a kuruş - while the most expensive went on sale at 500 kuruş. The stamps bore the legend “Republic of Turkey”, in Ottoman script, and decorative patterns surrounding a central crescent-and-star motif. This series has consequently come to be known as the crescent-and-star series.

It is not known how many stamps of this series were printed. However, they must have been consumed within a short period of time, because in 1924 the series was re-issued, this time in eleven different prices. Later in the same year, the series was printed for a third time in 10 different prices. These latter series, printed by different printers and on different paper, are known as the second crescent-and-star series and the third crescent-and-star series, to distinguish them from the Republic’s first stamps.

Inevitable errors

With the Republic still in its infancy, many errors were inevitable in the crescent-and-star series, which were printed in large numbers within a very short time. Many errors of perforation and variations of colour occur in these stamps. There are also errors of folding due to the creasing of the paper.

Naturally, these errors have only helped to turn these early stamps into a rare treasure trove for philatelists with an inclination for research.

(DIPLOMAT  -  October 2005  -  Ankara)