For the first 14 years of operation, the Germans sold ordinary German stamps from their post offices.  But beginning in 1884, the German Offices in Turkey had their own distinctive issues, which were unique in German colonial philately.  Overprints were applied to then-current German stamps, restating their value in Ottoman currency (right).  The stamps of the German Offices in Turkey were the only German colonial issues that always lacked the name of the country in which they were intended to be used, although the first five stamps of German East Africa also did not state the name of that colony.  This would be true for the rest of the time these offices were open.

The usual rationale for this type of overprint was that it allowed local customers to pay in local currency rather than German marks, but the underlying stamp was still identifiable by postal clerks who needed to assess if the correct postage had been paid.  This would be true even for postal clerks working in Germany proper who received items posted in the Ottoman Empire.  It also had the added benefit of allowing companies in Germany to account for any expenditures they had for postage between their offices in Germany and in Turkey, and to do so in either currency.

But all of this begs the question as to why any of this was necessary.  The forerunner period at Germany’s Ottoman offices had already lasted 14 years, during which time Ottoman currency had been perfectly acceptable.  Why then did there need to be any change at all?  Although I have been unable to find documentation about the specific German situation, documentation is readily available for the situation at Britain’s post offices.  British sources note that in 1883, the Ottoman piaster was officially devalued.  This had two immediate effects.

Firstly, the devaluation made all the European post offices more expensive than the Ottoman post.  The Europeans would have had to either charge more in piasters than the Ottomans for the same services or provide the same services with a smaller revenue stream.  The Europeans decided to keep their rates unchanged, so as to preserve their share of the market.

Secondly, the decision not to raise rates had the effect of encouraging speculation in stamps of a type not seen before.  The British had determined that speculators were making a profit buying British stamps in Turkey with devalued Ottoman currency, then shipping them back to Britain where they were sold for more valuable British pounds.  British postal regulations required the post office to buy back mint stamps, so the post office was effectively subsidizing a profit-making scheme for the speculators.  The overprints created stamps that could not be sold anywhere except in the Ottoman Empire. This method of overprinting was undertaken by all the foreign posts in Turkey at roughly this time, excepting only the Russians who were already issuing distinctive stamps.

Whatever the reason for issuing overprinted stamps, it should be noted that while post offices in Germany would not accept stamps overprinted for use abroad, Germany’s Ottoman offices would accept postally valid German stamps.  Just how often someone showed up in Turkey with ordinary German stamps is subject to debate, but Mitläufer such as these can command significant premiums.

One unusual feature of the overprinted stamps issued by Germany was a set of five stamps issued in 1908, listed in Scott as 55-59 and in Michel as 48-52 (right).  These stamps were overprinted diagonally with a new value in French Centimes.  Overprinting stamps issued by one country for use in a second country but valued in the currency of a third country not in local use was something unique to Germany’s Turkish offices – Germany’s Morocco offices did issue stamps overprinted with a value in Spanish pesetas, but the Spanish peseta was legal tender in Morocco at that time.  The reason for the French currency overprints in Turkey is not explained in Scott. vMichel, however, does note that currency conversion rates made certain classes of mail more expensive when posted at Germany’s offices.  This probably seems illogical to the modern collector, but it was understandable at the time.

First, it must be understood that 19th century currencies were mostly on the gold standard, meaning that the currency’s value was defined as a specific weight of gold.  For today’s fiat currencies, exchange rates can fluctuate noticeably even over the course of a single day.  But two gold standard currencies could not do so, due to the link to gold.  Additionally, an organization called the Latin Monetary Union (LMU) already existed, whose members had currencies designed to be exchangeable at a 1:1 ratio.  Gold coins of any one LMU member could theoretically circulate in the others, similar to the way Euro coins circulate today.

For these reasons, members of the 19th century UPU were able to agree to charge exactly the same postage rates.  Single-weight letters, for example, were rated at 25 French Centimes for all members, with printed rates in multiples of 5 Centimes and international post cards rated at 10 centimes.  UPU members were required to charge the equivalent of these amounts in their currency for these rates.  The UPU rates were defined in terms of the French Franc – an LMU currency – in part because several important UPU members used LMU currencies, so they did not have to actually convert anything.

Germany did not issue an LMU currency; the exchange rate of the time was 20 German Marks to 25 French Francs. So for letters, the 20 Pf stamps issued by Germany exactly equaled the 25 Centime UPU letter rate.  But for postcards, Germany was charging 10 Pf (12.5 Centimes), and for printed matter 5 Pf (7.25 Centimes).  Exactly why Germany was able to charge different rates for these UPU mailings is unclear, but therein lay the problem.  While the difference was not all that large for individual items, it would add up to considerable sums over time or for customers with larger volume mailings.

For the first 14 years of operation, the Germans sold ordinary German stamps from their post offices.  But beginning in 1884, the German Offices in Turkey had their own distinctive issues, which were unique in German colonial philately.  Overprints were applied to then-current German stamps, restating their value in Ottoman currency (below). 

The stamps of the German Offices in Turkey were the only German colonial issues that always lacked the name of the country in which they were intended to be used, although the first five stamps of German East Africa also did not state the name of that colony.  This would be true for the rest of the time these offices were open.

The usual rationale for this type of overprint was that it allowed local customers to pay in local currency rather than German marks, but the underlying stamp was still identifiable by postal clerks who needed to assess if the correct postage had been paid.  This would be true even for postal clerks working in Germany proper who received items posted in the Ottoman Empire.  It also had the added benefit of allowing companies in Germany to account for any expenditures they had for postage between their offices in Germany and in Turkey, and to do so in either currency.

But all of this begs the question as to why any of this was necessary.  The forerunner period at Germany’s Ottoman offices had already lasted 14 years, during which time Ottoman currency had been perfectly acceptable.  Why then did there need to be any change at all?  Although I have been unable to find documentation about the specific German situation, documentation is readily available for the situation at Britain’s post offices.  British sources note that in 1883, the Ottoman piaster was officially devalued.  This had two immediate effects.

Firstly, the devaluation made all the European post offices more expensive than the Ottoman post.  The Europeans would have had to either charge more in piasters than the Ottomans for the same services or provide the same services with a smaller revenue stream.  The Europeans decided to keep their rates unchanged, so as to preserve their share of the market.

Secondly, the decision not to raise rates had the effect of encouraging speculation in stamps of a type not seen before.  The British had determined that speculators were making a profit buying British stamps in Turkey with devalued Ottoman currency, then shipping them back to Britain where they were sold for more valuable British pounds.  British postal regulations required the post office to buy back mint stamps, so the post office was effectively subsidizing a profit-making scheme for the speculators.  The overprints created stamps that could not be sold anywhere except in the Ottoman Empire. This method of overprinting was undertaken by all the foreign posts in Turkey at roughly this time, excepting only the Russians who were already issuing distinctive stamps.

Whatever the reason for issuing overprinted stamps, it should be noted that while post offices in Germany would not accept stamps overprinted for use abroad, Germany’s Ottoman offices would accept postally valid German stamps.  Just how often someone showed up in Turkey with ordinary German stamps is subject to debate, but Mitläufer such as these can command significant premiums.

One unusual feature of the overprinted stamps issued by Germany was a set of five stamps issued in 1908, listed in Scott as 55-59 and in Michel as 48-52 (below). 

These stamps were overprinted diagonally with a new value in French Centimes.  Overprinting stamps issued by one country for use in a second country but valued in the currency of a third country not in local use was something unique to Germany’s Turkish offices – Germany’s Morocco offices did issue stamps overprinted with a value in Spanish pesetas, but the Spanish peseta was legal tender in Morocco at that time.  The reason for the French currency overprints in Turkey is not explained in Scott. vMichel, however, does note that currency conversion rates made certain classes of mail more expensive when posted at Germany’s offices.  This probably seems illogical to the modern collector, but it was understandable at the time.

First, it must be understood that 19th century currencies were mostly on the gold standard, meaning that the currency’s value was defined as a specific weight of gold.  For today’s fiat currencies, exchange rates can fluctuate noticeably even over the course of a single day.  But two gold standard currencies could not do so, due to the link to gold.  Additionally, an organization called the Latin Monetary Union (LMU) already existed, whose members had currencies designed to be exchangeable at a 1:1 ratio.  Gold coins of any one LMU member could theoretically circulate in the others, similar to the way Euro coins circulate today.

For these reasons, members of the 19th century UPU were able to agree to charge exactly the same postage rates.  Single-weight letters, for example, were rated at 25 French Centimes for all members, with printed rates in multiples of 5 Centimes and international post cards rated at 10 centimes.  UPU members were required to charge the equivalent of these amounts in their currency for these rates.  The UPU rates were defined in terms of the French Franc – an LMU currency – in part because several important UPU members used LMU currencies, so they did not have to actually convert anything.

Germany did not issue an LMU currency; the exchange rate of the time was 20 German Marks to 25 French Francs. So for letters, the 20 Pf stamps issued by Germany exactly equaled the 25 Centime UPU letter rate.  But for postcards, Germany was charging 10 Pf (12.5 Centimes), and for printed matter 5 Pf (7.25 Centimes).  Exactly why Germany was able to charge different rates for these UPU mailings is unclear, but therein lay the problem.  While the difference was not all that large for individual items, it would add up to considerable sums over time or for customers with larger volume mailings.

At the time of the foreign offices in Turkey, the one place that all foreign powers had a post office was Istanbul, known to Westerners at the time as Constantinople (spelled “Constantinopel” in period cancels used in the German Offices in Turkey.)  The Constantinople of the 19th century was the capital city of the Ottoman Empire, located on two continents simultaneously.  The city controls access between the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, as well as the primary bridges between Europe and Asia for land crossings. As such, it was uniquely situated for the purposes of trade and exchange between East and West.

The first German office opened in the Beyoglu district, which was known to Germans as the Pera district.  In the 19th century, Pera was home to most of the European residents of the city, and it also hosted the majority of the foreign embassies to the Ottoman court.  The Pera district was also home to a number of merchants involved in what we would now call the import-export business.  For both governmental reasons and commerce, it proved to be an ideal place to open a German post office.

Cancels from the period of the NGC read “Constantinople N.P.A.” with a place for the time at the bottom of the cancel, e.g. “3-4 N” (below left).  The abbreviation “N.P.A.” stood for Norddeutscher Post Agentur.  The time “3-4 N” corresponds to the 15:00 hour (i.e., between 3 and 4 PM).  As was typical for German cancels of the period, the letter V (for Vor) appeared in the time for AM hours, while N (Nach) appears for PM hours.  In preparation for the establishment of the Reichspost on 1 January 1872, the Constantinople office used the N.P.A. cancel only until 14 August 1871.  A new cancel of the same type reading “CONSTANTINOPLE D.R.P.A.” (Deutsch Reichs Post Agentur) was pressed into use on 18 August 1871 (below right).  This cancel is one of the least seen cancels of the German Post.  It was replaced barely a month later with a series of cancels that are much more familiar to collectors, all of which read “Kaiserl. Deutsch. P.A. Constantinopel” (Imperial German Post Office Constantinople).  Three similar cancels of this type, in use between 22 September 1871 and 1 December 1883, are distinguished by the lack of or presence of a symbol above the date.

The second German office opened in 1876 in the Stamboul district.  Located across a narrow strait from Pera, “Stamboul” was an alternative name for all of Istanbul, but was applied by the West only to the district that included the ancient Byzantine part of the city.  With two German offices in the city, the Stamboul office was now officially known as “Constantinople 2,” while the original office in Pera was “Constantinople 1.”  The Stamboul office used a cancel with a star index above the date (below left), while the Pera office used a device with no index (below middle) or with a small circle index (below right). 

Cancel devices stating “Constantinople 1” or “2” would be in use from 1883 (below), in several forms each.

The first German office outside of Constantinople opened in the southern city of Jaffa on 1 October 1898.  Now the “Yafo” section of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jaffa is an ancient city and was the primary capital in the Ottoman province known as the “Sandjak of Jerusalem” which includes most of modern Israel.  Jaffa’s importance increased in 1892 once a railroad opened between Jaffa and interior portions of the province, including Jerusalem.  This provided visitors with a much shorter land route to religious sites in and around Jerusalem; earlier journeys required land transport between Jerusalem and Beirut.

The Jaffa office originally opened with one cancel device generally described in Steuer as a “DP” cancel (below). 

These are typical, single ring circular date stamps with the name of the town at the top of the circle, the date in the middle, and the words Deutsche Post across the bottom.  The “DP” has two stars in the cancel device, one between the town name and Deutsche Post at roughly 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock. 

A similar type of cancel, the “DPa” cancel replaces the right hand star with the letter “a” at 3 o’clock – as can be seen in the Beirut example below.  Whatever symbol is located in this position is sometimes referred to as the cancel’s “index.”  Similar cancel devices were used in Germany’s other foreign offices, as well as the colonies of the Caroline Islands, Kamerun, Kiautschou, the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, and Togo.

The second Jaffa cancel device was obtained from Berlin in 1906.  The 1898 Jaffa cancel is a typical example of the DP cancel type. The device pressed into use in 1906 also fits this general description, except that it has a second circle around the date (below). The 1906 Jaffa cancel appears to be the only one used in the German colonial sphere with this particular feature.

The German P.O. in the city that would become Lebanon’s capital was the first of the three offices that the Germans opened outside of Constantinople on 1 March 1900.  Beirut was a perfect choice for a foreign power opening a post office.  Beirut was the primary port city in the Arabic-speaking Ottoman provinces of the eastern Mediterranean between Turkish-speaking Asia Minor and Egypt.  Prior to 1892, Beirut was actually the primary point of access to the Judea-Christian and Islamic religious sites in the Sandjak of Jerusalem. It continued to be an alternate point of access to those sites after this, as well as to other inland areas like Damascus.

The Beirut office was predicted to be busy enough that it opened with two cancel devices generally described in Steuer as “DP” (bottom left) and “DPa” (bottom right) cancels.

In the German ArGe catalogue, both Beirut cancel devices have minimum catalogue values, which also serve as an indicator to the amount of business this office had.  But cancel collectors will be pleased to know that this office tended to produce fairly well struck examples of the cancels.

The event being commemorated was the visit to Jerusalem of the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, who had made the trip to Jerusalem to personally dedicate the Church of Christ the Redeemer.  This firm, the First International Postcard Company (Erste Internationale Ansichtskartengesellschaft), seems to have been in the business of printing multicolored postcards to be sent to Europe from exotic locales or to commemorate special events. Broadly similar postcards were created to mark the last Christmas of the 19th century in 1899, for instance.  But since there was no German post office in Jerusalem at this time, the cards had to be mailed using the Austrian post office-which was obliging enough to apply its postmark in a special magenta ink for the occasion.

Jerusalem was busy enough that, like Beirut, it opened with two cancel devices in use from day one.  Like Beirut, Jerusalem opened with a “DP” cancel as well as a “DPa” cancel (top right).  Unlike Beirut, Jerusalem had enough business to obtain a third cancel device in early 1907-this one of a type referred to as a “Swiss cancel” (bottom right).  This cancel indicated the time it was used between February 1907 and February 1908, and had no indication of the time after that.  Swiss cancels were only used in a handful of locations in the German colonial Empire, and all appear to have been ordered in 1906 or 1907.  The only other one used in Turkey appeared at Constantinople 1 (see above).

The German P.O. in the city that would become Lebanon’s capital was the first of the three offices that the Germans opened outside of Constantinople on 1 March 1900.  Beirut was a perfect choice for a foreign power opening a post office.  Beirut was the primary port city in the Arabic-speaking Ottoman provinces of the eastern Mediterranean between Turkish-speaking Asia Minor and Egypt.  Prior to 1892, Beirut was actually the primary point of access to the Judea-Christian and Islamic religious sites in the Sandjak of Jerusalem. It continued to be an alternate point of access to those sites after this, as well as to other inland areas like Damascus.

The Beirut office was predicted to be busy enough that it opened with two cancel devices generally described in Steuer as “DP” (bottom left) and “DPa” (bottom right) cancels.

In the German ArGe catalogue, both Beirut cancel devices have minimum catalogue values, which also serve as an indicator to the amount of business this office had.  But cancel collectors will be pleased to know that this office tended to produce fairly well struck examples of the cancels.

The final German post office opened on 1 March 1900 at Smyrna (now Izmir), located in western Anatolia.  It has been an important commercial port for much of its 4,000-year history and has easy access to the Aegean islands, southern Italy, and the island of Cyprus.  The demographics of the Smyrna region also favored western commercial interests in a way other ports did not-namely, Smyrna had a large population of members of the Ottoman Empire’s Greek minority.

The Ottoman Greeks by this time formed a mercantile and investor class that had a great deal of interest in promoting trade with Europe.  They also served as middlemen between European customers and Turkish suppliers further inland.  As such, they were ideal clients for the German P.O. in Smyrna.  The Greek influence in this area was so strong that after the war, Smyrna and the area around it were initially given to Greece in the same way that Syria was mandated to France, and Palestine to Britain-although Smyrna did not remain Greek territory.

The German Office in Smyrna had enough business that Smyrna opened in 1900 with one DP cancel device and one DPa cancel device (top right).  There was so much business that Smyrna was the only German Office in Turkey to obtain a “b” index DP cancel (bottom right), which it started to use in 1903.  Additionally, the original “DP” cancel device appears to have worn out in mid-1909, and it was replaced by a different cancel device matching the same description.  Excepting the Jerusalem office, all the other German offices in Turkey only had enough business to require two cancel devices at any given time, including the three in Constantinople.

Smyrna is also known to have used a boxed dated cancel, which commonly appears on the French currency overprinted issues of 1908.  This postmark was created because Symrna was a major exporter of raisins, and merchants would send containers of raisins through the mail.  The normal cancellers would damage the containers, so two rubber handstamp cancellers (now known as “rosinenstempel,” or raisin postmarks) were created – one with stars in the design and one without – to cancel the stamps attached to raisin containers without damaging them.  It can be found on loose stamps and on intact lids from the raisin container (below). 

The final German post office opened on 1 March 1900 at Smyrna (now Izmir), located in western Anatolia.  It has been an important commercial port for much of its 4,000-year history and has easy access to the Aegean islands, southern Italy, and the island of Cyprus.  The demographics of the Smyrna region also favored western commercial interests in a way other ports did not-namely, Smyrna had a large population of members of the Ottoman Empire’s Greek minority.

The Ottoman Greeks by this time formed a mercantile and investor class that had a great deal of interest in promoting trade with Europe.  They also served as middlemen between European customers and Turkish suppliers further inland.  As such, they were ideal clients for the German P.O. in Smyrna.  The Greek influence in this area was so strong that after the war, Smyrna and the area around it were initially given to Greece in the same way that Syria was mandated to France, and Palestine to Britain-although Smyrna did not remain Greek territory.

The German Office in Smyrna had enough business that Smyrna opened in 1900 with one DP cancel device and one DPa cancel device (below left).  There was so much business that Smyrna was the only German Office in Turkey to obtain a “b” index DP cancel (below right), which it started to use in 1903.

Additionally, the original “DP” cancel device appears to have worn out in mid-1909, and it was replaced by a different cancel device matching the same description.  Excepting the Jerusalem office, all the other German offices in Turkey only had enough business to require two cancel devices at any given time, including the three in Constantinople.

Smyrna is also known to have used a boxed dated cancel, which commonly appears on the French currency overprinted issues of 1908.  This postmark was created because Symrna was a major exporter of raisins, and merchants would send containers of raisins through the mail.  The normal cancellers would damage the containers, so two rubber handstamp cancellers (now known as “rosinenstempel,” or raisin postmarks) were created – one with stars in the design and one without – to cancel the stamps attached to raisin containers without damaging them.  It can be found on loose stamps and on intact lids from the raisin container (below). 

One additional facet of German postal operations in this part of the world dealt with secondary markings (Nebenstempel) applied to some mail (below).  At this time, mail coaches transported mail between Jaffa and Jerusalem, since the Germans were denied use of the rails.  A small quantity of mail was collected at mailboxes or other collection points along the route by the driver of the mail coach, which was not postmarked until the coach arrived at Jaffa or Jerusalem, depending on the direction of travel.  Such mail received a strike of a boxed “Aus [pickup location] / Deutsche Post” marking to indicate where it was actually posted.

The ArGe catalogs 8 different Nebenstempel from 7 different locations – Jaffa, Jerusalem, Ramleh, Sarona, Tempel-Kolonie Hamidije-Wilhelma in Jaffa, Rischon-le-Zion bei Jaffa, and Emmaus.  Collectors of Judaica might wish to look for markings showing the mail was related to specifically Jewish communities along the Jaffa-Jerusalem route.

The ArGe catalogs 8 different Nebenstempel from 7 different locations – Jaffa, Jerusalem, Ramleh, Sarona, Tempel-Kolonie Hamidije-Wilhelma in Jaffa, Rischon-le-Zion bei Jaffa, and Emmaus.  Collectors of Judaica might wish to look for markings showing the mail was related to specifically Jewish communities along the Jaffa-Jerusalem route.