Commemorative coins of Turkey : 04

It took a while since my previous post on Turkish commemorative coins, but thanks to my good friend, I'm able to continue this series of articles on the - amazing - commemorative coins of Turkey.

Each year (starting in 2009), Turkey has issued 2 commemorative coins on (endangered) animals living in Turkey.

older articles can be found under : http://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/search/label/bimetallic coin

The two coins of the 2012 set are the Anatolian Leopard and the Red Deer.
Both coins share the same front side - showing the year 2012.

2012 front of the Turkish Commemorate coins

The Anatolian Leopard

The Anatolian Leopard, is certainly an endagered animal, and for a while it was even unsure if the rare leopard was still actually living in the anatolian/asian part of Turkey.
In the last 3 decades, only few animals were spotted, and unfortunately also captured and killed.
The latest report of a leopard dates from 2013 in the Trabzon area, and a captured animal in the same year is considered to be a Persian leopard
Also in the neighbouring country Syria, the last (Anatolian) leopard was spotted, and killed in 1963.
Leopard found further on, Galilee, Golan Heights and Judean Dessert, are Arabian Leopards.

This makes that the last official registered Anatolian Leopard in Turkey, dates from 1974 already.

Anatolian Leopard

Commemorative coin Turkey '12 - Anatolian Leopard

The coin :

• Country : Turkey
• Face Value : 1 Lira
• Year : 2012
• Mintage : 15 000
• Weight (g) : 8,30
• Diameter (mm) : 26,15
• Alloy : Bimetal (CuNiZn)
• Issue Date : October 23, 2012

The Red Deer

This animal is quite common and can be found all over Europe, from the Heigh North, till the Meditteranean Area, from Portugal to Minor Asia.

Red Deer

The Red Deer - and all of its 18 subspecies - is the fourth largest group of  deer species, behind moose, elk and sambar deer. Female species can weight up to 150 kilograms, and their male equivalents varie between 240, and even 500 kg (!) in the Carphatian Mountains... my dear ...

The coin :

Commemorative coin Turkey '12 - Red Deer

• Face Value : 1 Lira
• Year : 2012
• Mintage : 15 000
• Weight (g) : 8,30
• Diameter (mm) : 26,15
• Alloy : Bimetal (CuNiZn)
• Issue Date : October 23, 2012

to be continued ...

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 06 i

It's been a while, but I haven't stopped looking for new items - or at least new for this blog.
Thanks to my good friend in the Netherlands, I can show you some new items I recently added to my 'odd stamp' collection.

One of the world's first cartographers is the Turkish (Ottoman).
Hadji Ahmed  Muhiddin Piri (Piri Reis), born between 1465 and 1470, was an Ottoman Captain, geographer and cartographer who is mainly know for his outstanding work in world maps and charts, collected in his famous 'book of navigation'.
This book, published in 1521 and 1525, but prepared in 1513, was only 'recently' discovered in 1929, in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
It is the oldest known Turkish made map of the 'new world', only few years after Colombus' (re)discovery of the Americas.

The accuracy of the maps is so outstanding that it took over 300 years before the admirals of the British Empire were able to redesign the world map with more modern technology.

Piri Reis' map of Europe - 16th century

The stamps on the souvenir sheet shows us 4 times a hexagonal stamp. The 4 stamps and the background of the sheetlet is a detail out of Piri Reis' maps.

Full sheetlet - Piri Reis

The hexagonal stamps in detail :

detail - top stamps

detail - bottom stamps

Piri Reis died in 1553. Copies of his charts can be seen in Istanbul in the Topkapi Palace.
The sheetlet was issued in 2013 - 500 years after Piri's version.

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 01 i

Round stamps are still my favourite stamps.

Turkey issued a set of 4 round stamps, depicting 4 common birds.

Turkey 2011 - full sheet

The first stamp shows us a common Northern Pintale (Duck)

Northern pintale

Nothern pintale (male and female)

On the second stamp, we find a turtle dove

European Turtle Dove

Turtle dove in action

The two higher values are wildlife birds:

First we see a Pheasant

Pheasant

Pheasant

The last stamp is depicting a partridge

Partridge

partridge

Such stamps don't stick together in a sheet without at least a more square or rectangled shape to support them.
For that reason a pic of the back side of the sheet.
It's truly a festival of lines and curves.

back side of the sheet - lines and curves

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 08 a

We have arrived at the 8th odd shape (see square, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal stamps before).
This time, I'll bring the octagonal stamps to you.

Octagonal stamps, have 8 sides.
So far, all odd stamps are relatively new (from the 70's of the 20th century till now).
The following stamps however are dated 1898 !

10 paras

20 paras

The stamps were issued in 1898.
Turkey was occupying Thessaly (now Greece) from 1897 till June 1898.
At that time, the following octagonal stamps were in use.

1 piastre

2 piastres

5 piastres

A lot of those stamps were cancelled to order (CTO), as well as forgeries.

As you see, odd stamps aren't 'new', as these stamps show.

And there are many more ...

Commemorative coins of Turkey : 03

I reported previously about Turkish commemorative coins depicting endangered animal.
Today's post is about 2 new coins (dated 2011 - issued 2012).

The first coin bares the image of a bear.
The 'Boz Ayı' is better known as the Brown bear (Grizzly Bear) or Ursus Arctos.
Altough the coins are about endangered or (nearly) extinct animals, the Brown bear is quite common.
He can be found from teh northwestern part of Canada, over Alaska, to the north part of Russia and Finland. But also in the Balcan area, and parts of Turkey.

1 Lira coin 2011 - issued 2012 - brown bear

Face Value: 1 Türkish Lira
Metal: CuprıNickel

Diameter: 26,15 mm

Weight: 8,3 gr

Bimetallic with plain edge

Max. Issue: 11.000 in Turkey, 4.000 to export

Design: Nalan Yerlibucak

Released : 02.01.2012

For the second coin, I have a little question:

Does the name "Aslan" rings a bell?
For those who haven't seen 'Narnia' (Narnia, the lion, the witch and the wardrobe), "Aslan" is the son of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, and comes from the land or world – its exact nature is unknown – known as Aslan's Country.

Aslan is also a (Turkish) name (derived from Arsaelan, and means 'lion').

You will have discovered now that the second coin in this 2011 set (date on the coin) is about the Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica) aka Persian -, Indian - or Eurasian Lion. (Other types of Asiatic Lions are the Arabian Lions and the Bengali Lions).
The "asya aslanı" once lived from the Mediterranean to the northeastern parts of the Indian subcontinent. Now it's a highly endangered animal, with about 500 species left in India.

1 Lira coin 2011 - issued 2012 - asiatic lion

Face Value: 1 Türkish Lira

Metal: CuprıNickel

Diameter: 26,15 mm

Weight: 8,3 gr

Bimetallic with plain edge

Max. Issue: 11.000 in Turkey, 4.000 to export

Design: Nalan Yerlibucak

Released : 02.01.2012

Commemorative coins of Turkey : 02

Athough the date on the next coins is 2010, these commemorative coins of Turkey were emitted in January 2011.
It's the second set of coins with endangered or extinguised species of Turkey.

Front side of the commemorative coin

Ankara Cat

Sivas Kangal Dog

Face Value: 1 Türkish Lira

Metal: CuprıNickel

Diameter: 26,15 mm

Weight: 8,3 gr

Bimetallic with plain edge

Max. Issue: 11.000 in Turkey, 4.000 to export

Design: Nalan Yerlibucak

Released : 03.01.2011 (till 03.01.2013)

The first coin (Ankara cat) is better know as the Turkish Angora Cat.

The name 'angora' comes from the Ankara region, historically known as Angora.

Turkish Angora cats are extremely active, intelligent, and involved.
The eyes may be blue, green, or amber, or even odd-eyed (one blue and one amber or green).

green eyes - blue eyes ...

... or one of each ?

The second coin depices the Sivas Shepard Dog that has its origine in the Kangal district in the Sivas province in Turkey.

This dog is not really a herding dog, but as a flock guardian that lives with the flock to actively fend off wolves.

Turkish Kangal Dog

to be continued...

Commemorative coins of Turkey : 01

Turkey has a great tradition of emitting high quality commemorative coins.

Since 2009, 2 coins depicting endangered animals are issued in limited numbers.

The 2 coins of 2009 are not yet in my possession, and they might be very hard to get, as only 5000 copies were made of these commemorative 1 lira coins.
Nevertheless, I'm adding them to this post, as I want to be complete.

front 1 Turkish Lira 2009 (emitted in Jan. 2010)

Elephant - 2009

Turtle - 2009

Face Value: 1 Türk Lirasi (Turkish Lira) 

Metal: CuproNicke

Diameter: 26,15 mm

Weight: 8,3 gr

Bimetallic with plain edge

Max. Issue: 5.000

Design: Nalan Yerlibucak

Released : 04.01.2010 (till 04.01.2012)

On the coin with the elephant, we see a mother elephant with her calf.

Elephants can only be found in zoos in Turkey.
The largest population is int the Izmir Wildlife Park (Izmir)

The second coin, depicting the Caretta Caretta (the Loggerhead Sea Turtle).

It's an oceanic turtle that lives also in the Meditteranean Sea.

One of the last breeding areas in Europe, is located in Daylan (Turkey).

Daylan is known by tourists for the national park that is taking care of the breeding areas of the Caretta-turtles. Between May and August, the beaches are closed for tourists, so that the turtles can take care of their nests and young offspring.

Yearly, about 250 new nests are made. But it's a risky adventure.
The numberous tourists are a threaten to the wildlife. Turtles that smell the suncream of the tourists, leave the area and refuse to lay their eggs. Not to mention the presence of the tourists selves.

Once the eggs are layed, the sun takes care of them and after 30 days, the young baby turtles go to the sea.
After 4 years, they are old enough to cross the Altlantic.

Nest protection made by researchers

baby turtles, out of their eggs

fully grown Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta Caretta)

If all goes well, the Loggerhead Sea Turtle has a lifespan of 47 to 67 years.

to be continued ...

Collecting : my collection 03c

When you are an absolute beginner in stamp collecting, an absolute 'pro', or, as most of us somewhere between a small collector and a collecting lunatic, in all cases, a catalogue is mandatory.

But then ... which one to choose ?

A lot depends on what kind of collector you are...

Are you a collector of your own country alone ? Then better look for a catalogue of your own country.
The numbering system is unique for your country, and it will tell you lots of details about your stamps, variations, printing errors, plate numbers, ....
Some countries used to have colonies in the 18th till 20th century and they might be included in the catalogue.
I call them 'local' catalogues, and I will come to that later on.

Maybe you don't collect only your own country, but also the neighbouring countries. Or specific regions, like the Scandinavian countries, Balkan area, Benelux, South America, the Middle East...
Then you're better of with a world wide catalogue, and some are perfect for this type of collectors.
But 3 or 4 'local' catalogues could help you out as well.

Or you're a idealist and you collect everything that comes your way... then a world wide catalogue is mandatory, as not all countries have their own catalogues, and with over 200 countries and many dissapeared countries it's impossible to buy each individual catalogue, unless you're a trillionaire.

And maybe you're not bound to countrywise collecting, but you have a weakness for theme collections.
Then you have several items from several countries, but buying a world wide catalogue is too much information for what you really need.

So let's start with some 'local' catalogues.

Belgium

the Netherlands

Italy

Greece

Israel

Turkey

some latin american ones :

Argentina

Brazil

some asian ones :

P R Lao (1st ed.)

Japan

These are 'country' catalogues, I call them the 'local ones' ...

to be continued

Microstates : 15 Turkish Cyprus

The Turkish Republic of Northern-Cyprus is the northern part of the island Cyprus, in the Mediterranian Sea.

On the mainly island, the majority of the population was and is Greek.
In the early 1970's, the (Greek) habitants of the island were seeking 'enosis', unifining with Greece.
This idea was supported by the greek gouvernment at that time, but against the will of the Turkish minority in the northern part of the island.

In 1974 the Turks occupied the northern part of the country and in 1983 the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus declared itself independent.
Only Turkey recognised the new state, and although Bangladesh and Pakistan initially did the same, they redraw their support after pressiure from the United States.

As for now, the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus is thus only recognised by Turkey, and not by any other country. In this view, the stamps aren 't recognised either, and can be called 'locals', or 'labels for political use'.

However, this summer, a friend of mine went to Cyprus and visited both sides of the island.
He even sent me a postcard from the Northern part (I guess it was sent over Turkey) and the postcard reached my place, cancelled without any problems.
So this means the stamps are valid for postal use.

Some stamps :

My postcard :

Postcard from TRNC

Cancel Turkish Northern Cyprus