Auction 333-341 Europe & Overseas - Day 6

Ottoman Post Office in Smirna 1863: Toughra 2 pi. black on blued thin paper and third printing 20 pa. yellow on thick paper in a horizontal pair, used on 25 July 1864 entire letter (unusually written in French) to Karahishar (Afyon), tied by dotted 'Battal' handstamps in black. Addressee's name and Ottoman Bank erased in ink otherwise a fine and rare usage from two different printings on letter 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 180.