Turkey in Asia - Bud's Big Blue

1922 Turkey in Asia 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

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

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