Turkish Naval League Stamps

Mavi Boncuk |
Turkish Naval League Stamps were originally issued by the Ottoman Navy Association in 1914 as 1, 2, 5, 10, and 40 para labels to be voluntarily purchased to support the Ottoman Navy Association. The center design depicts various warships of the period: the 1 and 40 paras a destroyer, the 2 and5 paras a torpedo boat, and the 10 paras an armoured cruiser. The vessels are unidentified in the literature.

Because of the shortage of stamps available to them, the Ankara Government appropriated existing supplies of this Ottoman Navy Association issue in Anatolia and overprinted them in 1921 for postal use. The issue contains innumerable errors and varieties because of the lack of printing expertise and sheer carelessness.This is represented here with the inverted overprint on the 5 para green.It is of note that these overprints in the 1, 2, and 5 para denominatons were so inconsistent with prevailing postal rates that they were probably useless for actual postage.


In 1915, all but the 40 paras value of the Ottoman Navy Association issue were also used as revenue stamps overprinted in red "for immigrant aid" (5 pi on 1pa orange) In 1916, a black overprint, "paras 5 paras" / "match and kerosene revenue stamp". was applied (5 pa on 1pa orange) to a single Ottoman Navy Association stamp.

Source: OPAL (Oriental Philatelic Association of London) North American Regional Meeting, 1998