Big Blue 1840-1940: Syria - Bud's Big Blue

A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzabar

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Syria - Bud's Big Blue

1919-1921 Syria 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

Syria, as it is known in modern times, is bordered by Lebanon, the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel.

But the modern day Syrian lands had been part of a much larger Ottoman Syria within the Levant since 1516, and Damascus became the holy entryway for thousands of pilgrims on the hajj to Mecca.

During WW I, the Ottoman Empire had sided with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, and was consequently occupied by both British and French troops.

A secret agreement was in place regarding how to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire outside the Arabian peninsula ( The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement). The British were allowed control of the lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan, Jordan, southern Iraq, and the ports of Haifa and Acre. An "international administration" was to govern Palestine (We all know how that worked- or, more properly, didn't work out. )

France assumed control of Syria and Lebanon, south-eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq.

Stamps were issued under French Occupation on November 21, 1919 overprinted T.E.O. "Territoires Ennemis Occupes".

More specifically, the French controlled the sanjaks of Lebanon, Alaouites (later Latakia), and Alexandretta (later Hatay),

The vilayets of Damascus and Aleppo were allowed to have an Arabian Kingdom government. Stamp issues of the Arabian government were released between November, 1918, and January, 1920.

But King Faisal I was deposed by French troops from Beirut in July, 1920. (Faisal was subsequently offered the crown of Iraq in 1921 under the Iraq British Mandate. He served as King of Iraq until 1933.)

The Syrian territory was then occupied by the French military. French surcharged stamps now were overprinted O.M.F. "Occupation Militaire Francaise".

Subsequently, the territory was mandated to France by the League of Nations in July, 1922.

Beginning in 1923, the French Mandate era initially had French stamps overprinted "Syrie - Grand Liban", then just "Syrie".

In 1934, an Autonomous Syrian Republic was established. Stamps were issued as part of the proclamation of the Republic on August 2, 1934. France and Syria negotiated a "treaty of independence" in September, 1936. But the French Legislature never ratified it.

France ceded the province of Alexandretta, which had been part of Syria, to Turkey in 1937. (In 1939, the newly named "Hatay" became a Turkish province.) Syria was not pleased.

Syria was under the hegemony of Vichy France until the British and the Free French occupied the country in July, 1941.

Full emancipation was not realized until April, 1946 when French troops left Syria.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Syria 1919-1943, 534 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 239 are CV <$1-$1+, or 45 %. Categories for Syria include regular issues, semi-postal, air post, postage due, and issues of the Arabian government.

Most of the stamps for the classical era of Syria are French derived, as France occupied the territory in 1919, and then was given a mandate in 1922. Partial Syrian autonomy began in 1934, but full independence did not occur until 1946.

Many of the earlier issues are overprinted/surcharged French stamps. Add the Arabian Government issues of 1919-20, and the country offers an intriguing mix of early stamps. And the later pictorial issues are well designed and attractive.

Big Blue '69, on six pages, has 141 spaces for the stamps of Syria, or 27% of the total issue output for this era. Included are some stamp spaces from the Arabian Government.

The good news is there are only two stamps spaces requiring expensive stamps: but one of them (the 1923 Scott 106c 25c on 10c green "error surcharge") is CV $240!!!, Why the editors included this minor number expensive error stamp is puzzling, to say the least. Note: Bud has a copy of this error stamp, and it is illustrated in his Syria collection below.

The not so good news is many inexpensive (CV <$1-$1+) early French surcharged stamps were not included in BB. I count 69 inexpensive regular issue and postage due stamps of the 1919-25 period that have no space.

For more on the stamps themselves, click on the link below.

Syria Blog Post & BB Checklist

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