Interesting Articles

This article is beeing published with kind permission of it's author Mr. Mehrdad Sadri

Iran's First Stamp

Although the question of what is Iran’s first issue and when it was issued have kept many people guessing for many years and decades, if not over a century, some believed that it was issued in 1868, others guessed 1870, and even some people believed that it is 1875, when the rouletted stamps were issued after the reorganization and creation of the modern postal by Herr Gustave Von Riederer of Austria.

First, the question of which one is the first issued stamp of Iran to pay for the postage could always be argued and many different opinions may exist. However, in this article I will try to write my opinion after studying the subject seriously for the past 30 years of my over 45 years of collecting and studying the Iranian philately.

To answer this question as when the first Iranian stamp was issued, first we have to decide as which is the first Iranian stamp.

Friedrich Schüller in his book published by him in late 1893 under the title of the Persian Post and the Postage Stamps of Persia (and Bochara), which I am quoting from its English translation have stated very nicely regarding the first Iranian issue as follows:

“As the execution of the most important orders is generally arranged verbally after a report at the “Divan”, and as such orders are only noted on small slips by one of the many clerks present, these sole documents about the orders given are rolled up into small little scrolls, and being considered private property, soon get lost in the wide pockets of the long Persian frocks, so it is quite impossible to get exact information as to the first issue of stamps. Mere verbal information is of course little to be relied upon, since the Persians in order to oblige will tell lies, but are always ready to support them with an oath. It is certain, that the first postage stamps came from Paris when the present Minister of Post, His Excellency Emine Eddaule (Amin-o-Dowleh) was in office. Whether they had been ordered or sent as an offer, I do not know.”

From this quotation from the Schüller’s book we can see that he has noted that, “the first postage stamps came from Paris,” and not printed locally in Iran as it was in the case of the Baqeri stamps. 

Schüller continues by writing that, “The 4 values (delivered) were: 1Chahi, lilac, 2Chahi, green, 4Chahi, ultramarine, and 8Chahi red, all of them toothed 13 (correct perforation: 12.5), but a larger quantity was sent of 2 Chahi green only. Of each value there were however 4 stereo-plates sent, and thus one may suppose, that the stereos and the 2Chahi stamps have been ordered, whilst the 1, 4, and 8Chahi were sent as samples.”

We know by now, that the stamps Schüller has written about and the only stamps delivered from Paris to Teheran were the Lion stamps, known as Barre Essays shown below.

Barre Stamps in the colors supposedly chosen to be issued

As a proof to substantiate Schüller’s claim, there are also a few presentation panels exist which were prepared by the Iranian postal administration in 1884, to be sent to the Universal Postal Union. On each panel a number of stamps were affixed and at the bottom of the panels there were two postal markings; a TEHERAN 2/4 single circle postmark and a “DIRECTION GENERALE DES POSTES / LE PERSE TEHERAN” negative seal postal marking with French & Farsi inscriptions. The most interesting point regarding these panels is that the postal administration among other stamps, has affixed four Barre stamps in the colors, Schüller noted in his book, which are 1sh lilac, 2sh green, 4sh ultramarine, and 8sh red, as they can be seen below in the photo below, and offered them as the issued postage stamps of Iran. One must note that these four Barre stamps are relatively much more scarcer than other colors of the same denominations, which proves that these four specific stamps were the ones apparently sent to Teheran from Paris, and these four specific colors were distributed among the dignitaries and other members of the Royal court as well as a small stock remained at the post office as specimens of the first Iranian stamps.

A sample of the Presentation Panel Prepared by the Iranian Postal Officials

Enlargement of the postal markings on the presentation panels.

In addition, in article published in the January 1926 issue of the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain, in a paragraph in page 7, we read that, “It has usually been assumed that these (Baqeri) stamps were issued in 1870, but Herr Breitfuss states that the issue took place in 1868.” Apparently, this sentence was the beginning of certain prolonged confusion for over the next few decades as suggesting to the fact that Baqeri stamps were issued in 1868 and not 1870.

Seemingly based on this article, Dr. Mohammad Dadkhah, in his book, “Lion Stamps of Persia (Iran) 1865-1879,” has supported this point of view and even suggested that there is a cover in the Tapling Collection of the British Museum, London, franked with several Baqeri stamps and with the manuscript date of Jamadi-ol-Thani 1285 Qamari (Islamic Lunar Calendar) correspond to 1868.

Following my several trips to London, finally, I had the opportunity to have an appointment with Mr. Vousden, the Curator of the Philatelic Collections at the British Library, to view the Iran section of the Thomas Keay Tapling’s collection from close, before the collections to be housed and mounted in the new building.

In my astonishment, unlike what it was noted by Dr. Dadkhah in his book, I found no covers of any kind in the Tapling collection but two pieces or portions of supposedly covers, which were opened out. On both fragments one can see that they were apparently sent to Teheran according to Farsi manuscript reading “Dar-ol-Khalafeh-e Teheran.”

One of these pieces franked with copies of a One Shahi and Eight Shahis tied with pen-marks and the word Tabriz.

However the manuscript date and address portions were torn off. It is necessary to note that the 9 Shahis rate is also quite unusual.

The second fragment, which indeed is supposedly the “cover”, noted by Dr. Dadkhah in his book, has a franking totaled 26 Shahis. This is quite strange for a cover used locally in Teheran with the letter postal rate of only two Shahis. The stamps affixed to this fragment from left to right are a 4sh blue green, 4sh blue (different shade from the first stamp), 2sh green, 8sh carmine, and finally a torn portion of a 8sh red (different shades) tied by pen marks as shown below which reads “Teheran 1285 beh tarikh 7 jim 2” which is 7^th Jamadi-ol-thani 1285 (25^th September 1868):

Like the other piece in the Tapling collection, this one is also missing the address and manuscript date portion as it is torn off as well. In addition to these questionable pieces, I have come across another piece offered at the Christie’s auction of 12^th November 1987, which I have purchased it and later returned it since I found it a forgery. This piece as shown below is identical to the pieces in the Tapling collection, but the 8sh & 2sh stamps are tied by pen-marks reading in Farsi

(1286 Tchapar-khaneh Ghazvin) corresponding to 1869. Like the other identical pieces, the address and manuscript date portion was also cut off, which is suggesting that all these pieces, regardless of how old they are, but they were made for collectors and cannot be considered as any evidence to establish the date of issue of the Baqheri stamps.

Before concluding this article, I must add another statement from Schüller’s book, which it states that, “The 2Chahi stamps were, probably in order to make them known quickly…they have never sold in the post offices. It is very doubtful whether the toothed 2Chahi stamp has been in actual use.” 

In following paragraphs also writes, “But the larger quantity of these stamps will have got into the Enderun (Andaroon) (harems), to be shown as curiosities, and soon got lost to collectors for ever.”

By looking at the three statements made by Schüller, Brietfuss, and Dr. Dadkhah we can obviously make a deduction that the first stamp of Iran was indeed issued in 1868, whether it was offered to the general public or only on an experimental basis, nevertheless they were officially issued and used. Although the exact date is not quite clear.

However, due to the confusion created by the aforementioned article in the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain by incomplete quoting of Brietfuss, which made Dr. Dadkhah to come up with an erroneous conclusion, we must note that the first Iranian stamp issued was indeed the ones delivered from Paris and not printed in Teheran.

When Brietfuss stated that the first Iranian stamp was issued in 1868, he did not mean to suggest that the Baqeri stamps were issued in that year, but actually he was referring to a Two Shahi green stamp from the shipment delivered from Paris as noted by Schüller in his book, and when he noted that, “It is very doubtful whether the toothed 2Chahi stamp has been in actual use,” apparently he was right too as there is no evidence to the fact that any Barre Two Shahis green stamp ever found on a cover or a even on piece of a cover.

Since the presentation panels were made up by the postal administration, therefore in the absence of any written official statement or document, these panels could be considered as the needed evidence as well as to the fact that Barre stamps, with the denominations printed in certain colors as noted and shown above, should actually be considered as the first stamps issued in Iran by the post office.

In addition to the various articles published, however, during the course of many years of collecting and studying the Iranian philately, few years ago I came across a possible missing link discussed by Schüller, Brietfuss, and others who believed in the existence of a 2 Shahis green as the first stamp issued in Iran. This item is an interesting small piece of a cover franked with a single 2 Shahis green tied by two crossing pen-marks. as shown below:

Although at one look it seems that this stamp is a Baqeri stamp, but in fact it has all the characteristics of a Barre essay position 5, but with no perforation; the margins are cut neatly  close to the outer frame lines. It must be noted again that the 2 Shahis green were indeed in the possession of the postal authorities and thus unlike the 2 Shahis stamps in other three colors of lilac, ultramarine, and red are rare and extremely hard to find. Whether the additional shipment according to Schüller was imperforate or not, it is not known, but it could be quite possible and this example might be from that batch sent from Paris.

In conclusion based on the information gathered and existing items, I may suggest the following observations:

·         The first Iranian stamp was indeed a 2sh green printed in Paris and delivered to Teheran.

·         The stamp was used postally in 1868, although it might not have been issued to the general public.

·         The Baqeri stamps were issued in 1870 for a short while and their use was ceased in 1871; so it is safe to suggest that they were issued in late 1870.

·         The Rouletted or “Kardi” issue could be considered the first issued stamps after the reorganization and creation of the modern postal system in Iran by Herr Gustave von Riederer. The Kardi stamps was first used between Teheran and the northern suburb of Shemiran in August of 1875.