1925 cover with mixed franking of Ottoman and Republican Turkish stamps.

A double-rate registered letter. One piastre for the letter, one piastre for registration, and a final piastre for an additional 15 grams. From the German Consulate in Istanbul to Konya. Endorsed Recomendée.

This site is about Ottoman and Turkish postal history.  One of my main collecting interests is the postal history of the Turkish Republic from 1922 through 1945, an area that's been largely neglected in the past.  If you collect an area that hasn’t received a lot of attention before, you can find interesting material without spending a lot of money, and there’s always plenty of scope for research. 

Beautifully addressed 1904 cover from Baghdad to Venice.

Of course the classics have their own attraction, and I also collect the postal history of the 1901 issue.  These pages show some of my favorite covers from both collections.  Recently, I have begun collecting Turkish registered mail 1901-1918 as well.

I collected Russia for many years.  My exhibit of Soviet Georgia is on line here.

You can contact me here.

 1933 card istanbul to Tokyo. Returned as undeliverable.

1903 card France to Bursa.  The rate for a postcard as printed matter from Turkey would have  been 10 para, so a postage due stamp for 20 para (double the base rate) was added upon receipt.

Even postcards could be registered. 20 paras for the postcard rate plus one piastre for retistration.1915 card from Galata (Istanbul) to Germany.