Auction 333-341 Europe & Overseas - Day 6

Ottoman Post Office in Smirna 1863: Toughra first printing 2 pi. black on blued thin paper and third printing 1 pi. black on lilac on thick paper, used on 1864 entire letter from Smyrna to Karahishar (Afyon), tied by two strikes of dotted 'Battal' handstamps in black. A fine entire and scarce combination of printings demonstrating the 3 piastre rate for a distance of between 50 and 100 route hours = 3 kurus. Illustrated in Mehmet Basaran's 'Cover Story - One Man's Journey into the Unknown', volume II, page 32.