Big Blue 1840-1940: April 2026

A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzabar

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Turks and Caicos Islands - Bud's Big Blue

1909 Turks and Caicos Islands in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Turks & Caicos Islands are a group of West Indies islands at the southern end of the Bahamas. But they were separated politically from the Bahamas in 1848, a celebratory date that is well noted on their 1900-08 stamps.

But the celebration of independence should be muted at best, as, in reality, they were under the supervision of Jamaica. In fact, the islands were formally annexed to the Jamaica colony in 1873, and they remained a dependency of Jamaica until 1959.

The islands were named after the Turk's cap (head) cactus, and the Lucayo (Bahamian) subdialect "cayo hico" term, which means "string of islands".

The capital was and is Grand Turk, and the population was ~5,600 circa 1910.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Turks & Caicos Islands 1900-1950, 130 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 75 are CV <$1-$1+, or 58%. As a British sphere colony, Turks & Caicos Islands stamps are moderately expensive at times, but the WW collector should be able to form a representative collection without much difficulty.

The 1867-1894 earlier stamps for the islands are found under "Turks Islands" in the Scott catalogue.

Big Blue '69, on 1 1/2 pages, has 51 spaces for the 1900-1938 stamps of Turks & Caicos Islands. The country coverage is located between "Trinidad and Tobago" and "Tripolitania".

Coverage, adjusted for the years 1900-38, is 51%.

Sadly, the '69 editors dropped the four spaces for the 1917-19 War stamps found in the 1940s editions. (Even that was inadequate, as there are actually 13 major number war stamps issued, 11 of which are CV <$1-$1+.)

There are no expensive stamps required ($10+), although the 1925 Scott 47 1 1/2p rose red is close @ CV $9.

For more, click on the link below.

Turks and Caicos Islands Blog Post & BB Checklist

Page 1

Page 2

Supplements

Page 1

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Turkey in Asia - Bud's Big Blue

1922 Turkey in Asia in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

Jim's Observations

On November 13, 1918, Constantinople (Istanbul) was occupied by French and British troops. The Ottoman Empire collapsed, and the breakup of the Empire was initiated with the August 10, 1920 Treaty of Sevres.

But the hostile terms of the treaty brought forth a vigorous nationalistic movement, led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The Turkish nationalists fought the Turkish War of Independence. The Nationalist Government was formed in Anakara, and outside of an area around Constantinople, Turkey was controlled by them.

The stamps of the era are referred to as "Turkey in Asia" or "Anatolia". From 1920 to 1922, stocks of old stamps were overprinted, or revenue stamps were handstamped "Osmanli Postalari 1336" for postal use.

The Turkish War of Independence was successful, with the overthrow of the Ottoman Sultanate, the forced withdrawal of Allied forces from Anatolia, and, finally, the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.

The Republic was proclaimed on October 29, 1923 in the capital of Ankara. Mustafa Kemal was elected as first President.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Turkey in Asia 1920-1922, 108 major number descriptions. Of those, 15 are CV <$1-$1+, or 14%. The fact is most of the 1920-21 overprinted or surcharged Revenue or Turkish stamps are fairly expensive (CV $tens to $hundreds to $thousands), and naturally the WW collector will not have many. But, the 1922 lithographic pictorial issues are more reasonable, CV wise.

Big Blue '69, on 1/2 page (shared with Turkey Air Post on the last page of the the Turkey country pages), has twelve spaces for the lithographic issues of 1922. Big Blue, probably wisely, ignores all the overprinted or surcharged earlier 1920-21 issues that generally have a high CV.

Coverage is 11%.

There are no expensive (Threshold CV $10) stamps required.

As mentioned, the coverage is confined to the 1922 lithographic pictorial issue- a truncated seven spaces-, and the 1922 "Parliament House, Ankara" issue- a truncated five spaces.

Turkey in Asia Blog Post & BB Checklist

Page 1

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Turkey - Bud's Big Blue

1865-74 Turkey in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

Jim's Observations

Turkey is located in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.

The Ottoman Empire reigned from there between 1299 - 1922, and then the Republic of Turkey was born in 1923.

The Ottoman Empire issued its first postage stamp on January 1, 1863 with the "Tughra", the calligraphic monogram of Sultan Adul-Aziz.

Between 1865-1876, the "Crescent and Star", enclosed by a central oval, and symbols of the Turkish Caliphate, were used on the so-called typographic "Duloz" stamp issues.

The Ottoman Empire joined the General Postal Union (then the Universal Postal Union) in 1876. A new Empire issue was released, with the name of the country and values in both western script and Arabic script, and was intended for use to countries within the UPU.

The 1901-1911 issues all had the Tughra of the reigning monarch.

WW I proved the end of the Ottoman Empire, who had entered the war in 1914 on the side of the Central Powers. The Allies occupied Constantinople.

The Sultinate was abolished by the National Assembly on November 1, 1922.

Turkey was declared a republic on October 28, 1923, under the leadership of President Mustafa Kemal.

The "Star and Crescent" design of the first stamp issue of the Republic of Turkey marked the end of the use of the "Tughra", which had been on most stamps from 1863-1922.

Note that "Constantinople" was officially changed to "Istanbul" in 1930.

The capital was and is Ankara, and the population was 17,800,000 in 1940.

he 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire and Turkey 1863-1942, 1303 major number descriptions. Of those, 594 are CV <$1-$1+, or 46%.

The Ottoman Empire became the second independent country in Asia (after Russia) to issue stamps in 1863, when there were 63 domestic post offices. They were a founding member of the Universal Postal Union in 1875.

Turkey is a world of its own with many overprints and surcharges. The stamps reflect the "Ottoman Empire" to 1922, and then the "Republic of Turkey" beginning in 1923.

The stamps reward the careful WW collector that is willing to pay attention to the many complicated - at first glance, and even second glance- overprinted and surcharged issues.

Note: To help with the numerous overprinted/surcharged Ottoman Empire stamps, I published a "Turkish Classical Stamp Bath Too Hot? Ten Helpful Hints" post - See link below.

Big Blue '69, on 14 1/2 pages, has 394 spaces for the stamps of Turkey (Turkey in Asia will be treated separately). The categories included are regular issues, postage due, semi-postal, postal tax, and air post. Coverage is 30%.

The 14 1/2 pages and the 394 spaces is the most coverage by BB of any of the remaining T-Z countries.

Newspaper stamps (one whole page- 33 spaces) were included in the 1940s editions, but gone entirely in the '69 edition.

There are only nine stamps that are "expensive" ($10-$30).

For much more on Turkey, check out the links below.

Turkey Blog Post & BB Checklist

Turkey overprints - ten hints

Page 1