The Russian post offices in the Ottoman Empire were a set of post offices operated by Russia in various cities of the Ottoman Empire from the late 18th century until September 1914.
An extremely rare 6-kopeck stamp of 1863A 5-kopeck stamp of 1872A 10-para overprint of 1910
The earliest mail service between St Petersburg and Constantinople consisted of diplomatic pouches carried from 1721 on. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774 provided for a regular mail service, for which a consular post office was established in Constantinople. It began using handstamped postal markings around 1830. Beginning in 1779 a mail boat circulated between Constantinople and Kherson, and 1781 saw the establishment of an overland route through Bucharest to Bratzlav.
In 1856, the Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company (Russkoe Obschchestvo Parokhodstva i Torgovli or РОПиТ, ROPiT) took over postal operations. It handled mail service between the various offices, and funneled mail to the rest of Russia through Odessa. The ROPiT offices received a status equivalent to regular Russian post offices in 1863.
First stamps
The first postage stamp of the offices was a large square design issued in 1863 and valued at six kopecks. This type is today rare, as were the normal-sized 2k and 20k stamps issued in 1865, which included a sailing ship along with the imperial coat of arms, and "ROPiT" in the inscription. A similar but better-executed design appeared in 1866.
Beginning in 1868, ROPiT switched to a design consisting of a large number of value in the center. As with the regular Russian stamps, they were originally printed on horizontally-laid paper, and on vertically-laid paper from 1872 on. Overprints for 8 kopeck and 7 kopeck values were used in 1876 and 1879. The colors were changed in 1879, and again in 1884, matching the contemporaneous stamps of Russia.
Beginning in 1900, the printing of special stamps was abandoned, in conjunction with the use of the local Ottoman currency of paras and piastres. Instead, regular Russian stamps were surcharged.
Anniversary stamps
In 1909, a 50th-anniversary commemorative issue was produced by substituting the ROPiT sailing ship logo in the place of the imperial eagle. 1909 also saw the issuance of these stamps overprinted in French with the names of cities where the Russian post offices were located: "Beyrouth" - Beirut, "Constantinople" - Constantinople, "Dardanelles" - Dardanelles, "Jaffa" - Jaffa, "Jerusalem" - Jerusalem, "Kerassunde" - Giresun,"Mersine", "Mételin" - Mytilene, "Mont Athos" - Mount Athos, "Rizeh" - Rize, "Salonique" - Salonica, "Smyrne" - Smyrna, "Trebizonde" - Trabzon.
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp, banknote or postal stationery after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail. The most well-recognized varieties are commemorative overprints which are produced for their public appeal and command significant interest in the field of philately.
Austria and other European nations maintained an extensive system of post offices in the Ottoman Empire, typically motivated by the unreliable postal system of the Ottomans.
The French post offices in the Ottoman Empire were post offices in various cities of the Ottoman Empire run by France between 1812 and 1923. France was one of a half-dozen European countries, the others being Austria, Russia, Great Britain, Germany and Italy, which had been granted the right to maintain post offices within the Empire. This privilege was distinct from the so-called "Capitulations" which, since the 16th century, had been negotiated with a much larger number of countries and which granted some extraterritorial rights to citizens and commercial enterprises of those countries. Initially restricted to consular mail, these post offices could soon be used by foreign and local businesses and individuals, provided they used the postage stamps of the post office concerned. The system came to end with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
This is an introduction to the postal and philatelic history of Italy.
This a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the modern Russian Federation.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Iraq. It includes special uses under the Ottoman Empire as well as occupation issues.
Eastern Rumelia or Eastern Roumelia was an autonomous province (vilayet) in the Ottoman Empire from 1878 to 1908; however, it was under Bulgarian control beginning in 1885. The province is remembered today by philatelists for having issued postage stamps from 1881 on, although a postcard was issued locally for internal use in 1880.
This article provides an overview of the Austrian post-offices presence in Crete and the use of French currency on Austrian stamps in the Ottoman Empire.
The history of the postage stamps and postal history of China is complicated by the gradual decay of Imperial China and the years of civil war and Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Russian post offices in China were a collection of post offices established by Imperial Russia in various cities of China beginning in 1870.
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries themselves are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
Each "article" in this category is a collection of entries about several stamp issuers, presented in alphabetical order. The entries are formulated on the micro model and so provide summary information about all known issuers.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Kazakhstan.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway territory of Moldova and the de facto independent Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.
The postage stamps and postal history of Palestine emerges from its geographic location as a crossroads amidst the empires of the ancient Near East, the Levant and the Middle East. Postal services in the region were first established in the Bronze Age, during the rule of Sargon of Akkad, and successive empires have established and operated a number of different postal systems over the millennia.
The postal history of Turkey and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, dates to the 18th century when foreign countries maintained courier services through their consular offices in the Empire. Although delayed in the development of its own postal service, in 1863 the Ottoman Empire became the second independent country in Asia to issue adhesive postage stamps, and in 1875, it became a founding member of the General Postal Union, soon to become the Universal Postal Union. The Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and in the following years, its postal service became more modernized and efficient and its postage stamps expertly designed and manufactured.
The German post offices abroad were a network of post offices in foreign countries established by Germany to provide mail service where the local services were deemed unsafe or unreliable. They were generally set up in cities with some sort of German commercial interest. In early use only the cancellation mark can identify their postal use abroad; such stamps are known as "Vorläufer" (forerunner) stamps. Later stamps are identified by overprints even when not postally used. German abroad stamps started appearing in the late 19th century and reached their heyday at the beginning of the 20th century; they closed down during or shortly after World War I.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Crete.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Mount Athos.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
