Austrian Post Offices in The Ottoman Empire - Stamp Issues

Stamp Issues

Beginning in 1863, stamps of Lombardy-Venetia were used: 2 to 15 soldi, which can be recognized only by the cancellation. After the losses of Lombardy in 1859 and Venetia in 1866, Austria issued in 1867 and 1883 specific stamps, in appearance identical to Austrian stamps of the same period, but valued in soldi (2 to 50 soldi). Details on Levant Austria post-offices using the 1867 issue are given in Part III Postämter in der Levante. In 1886 this was changed to paras and piasters to match the Turkish money already used by other countries, by surcharging the existing stamps of the offices, with further issues between 1888 and 1907: values ranging from 10 paras to 20 piasters.

The Jubilee issue of 1908-1914 included directly values in paras and in piasters.

• Rare blue CAVALLA cancellation (Kavala)

• 10 soldi, cancelled Costantinopoli Lloyd Istanbul in 1883

• 1888, 1 piaster overprinted, possibly used at Herakleion (Candia)

• 1 piaster overprinted, used at Canea in 1895

• 2 piasters at Rhodes in 1895

• 1906, 10 paras used at Beirut

• 1908, 2 piasters

The 1867 soldi issue is rather common in unused state, contrary to the Austrian equivalent. An extreme case is the 2 soldi yellow. While early issues are not common, the volume of mail by the end of the empire was such that both used and unused stamps are still commonly available.