Turkey Tughra and Crescent Postage Stamp

Turkey · 1863 · 20 Paras

This is the first postage stamp issued by the Ottoman Empire, featuring the Tughra of Sultan Abdülaziz. The Tughra, an intricate calligraphic monogram, is centrally placed above a crescent containing an inscription in Ottoman Turkish script. The design is simple yet elegant, printed on thin, colored paper without perforations.

Issued in 1863, this stamp marks the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the global postal system, a key step in its 19th-century modernization efforts known as the Tanzimat reforms.