19th Century Turkish Katchak Contrebande Postmarks (Set of Six Types)

Turkey · 1880 ·

A collection of six distinct types of 19th-century Turkish Katchak Contrebande postmarks. These marks were applied to letters carried by travelers, infringing on the postal monopoly.

The Ottoman authorities established a special contraband postal service to counter revenue loss from private letter carriage. Contraband letters were subjected to double postage rates, with half the fees allocated to the service.