North Cyprus (Turkish Cypriot) 19 May 2019
"Centenary of National Struggle"

To start a national struggle against the decision of the World War I allies to divide many territories of the defeated Ottoman Empire, and to rescue the Turkish nation from enemies who come in like a flood, Mustafa Kemal Pasha left Istanbul with "ship" named Bandirma on 16 May 1919 and arrived in Samsun on 19 May 1919. Upon landing, he started the Turkish national movement, contrary to the orders given to him by the Ottoman government in Istanbul, that resulted in the declaration of the Republic of Turkey four years later.

Available: stamps (single stamp issue), official FDC and Souvenir Sheet containing 4 stamps. Full Sheets - subject to availability.

"Aromatic Stamps - Origanum"
This commemorative stamp issue was released on 2 May 2013 and consisted of a souvenir sheet (mini sheet) and one stamp. For the printing of the stamps an aromatic varnish was used.

 

How to use the Product Search on Cyprus Stamps website.

Now, those of my website visitors who correspond with me on a regular basis will know that the Product Search function is not my most favourite piece of kit when it comes to trying to get results :-(

So I'm going to try to explain using words and images as to why when you perform a search on Cyprus Stamps website, you may not receive the results you were antiicipating - and ways to get around the issue....

Recently we were asked for some specific stamp issues for a collector who joined us just this year. He's looking for only certain years for a particular reason, which I will not go into - and in trying to assist with his quest, I came across an oddity which is what prompted me to write this blog post.

Let's say you're looking for a particular stamp - for example SG 652 (one of the stamps in the set SG 648-662 1985 6th Definitives)

652 Product Search - a simple search option

As you can see in the image above, you get a fairly short and simple list (but unfortunately, we do not have SG 652 single stamp available in our online shop at this time). However, it shows perfectly how the search performs with a straightforward number search.

SG 652 a short phrase search results

Now, if you type SG 652 into the Product Search field you will see something you really wouldn't enjoy! (see above image).
You can see there are 38 pages of search results simply because you entered SG with a space before the number 652.
Not a good look, is it?

Want a longer list but with more results? That's an easy one!
If you know the year the stamp you are looking for was issued - then just type the year into the Product Search field.

Know the year of issue? Simply type it in the Product Search field

You can also use quotation marks around a 2 or 3 word search, but it helps if you know the stamps you are looking for contain those words in the title such as: "intellectual personalities" or "boy scouts" (see example below)

As you can see the Product Search field performs quite differently depending on what you enter there. The easy solution is to type only a single word (or number) search into it and hit the Enter key to get a sensible list of results.

I hope my "How to..." guide will help those collectors who perhaps in the past may have been as frustrated as I have when trying to find either a single stamp or a set.

As a tip, when we list Cyprus stamps in full sets we do not put a space between the hyphen, so SG 648 to SG 662 will be listed as SG 648-62

If you're a Thematics collector - please take a look at the left hand side column (visible on any page of the website) for some of our most popular searches made by visitors to Cyprus Stamps website.

Here's how it all began...

The primary postal administration in Cyprus was set up by the Austrians in 1845. In 1871 the principal Ottoman mail station was opened in Nicosia, and a second in Larnaca in 1873. All these were shut in 1878 when a transitory British Postal Service was opened.

Amid these early years the main open transport that worked among Larnaca and Nicosia was a pony drawn carriage or a mail truck. A pony conveyed mail to and from different towns and a mounted postman was not allowed to work in excess of 100 miles for every week. Donkeys were used in more rustic zones and pedal bikes inside towns and/or rural areas.

In 1910 mail motorised vehicles started to be used for services between Limassol and Nicosia by means of Kophinou and Larnaca, then in 1915 an agreement was entered to with the Cairo motor company based in London for mechanised mail administrations covering every one of the towns along these routes proclaiming the finish of a long age of mail buses.

Towards the middle of the twentieth century mail transports were placed in administration between real towns. Vans, for example, those delineated on the 2013 Europa stamps, were presented for the gathering and dissemination of mass mail between remote post workplaces in the towns and urban communities. Bikes were switched by mopeds or what we refer to as scooters.

Cyprus (Republic) and north Cyprus (Turkish Cypriot) 2013 EUROPA "Postal Vehicles"
 

If you're looking for EUROPA 2013 Cyprus or north Cyprus Postal Vehicles stamp issues, we do still have a small selection available. You can find them easily if click just here!

Republic of Cyprus 10 July 2017
Joint Stamp Issue Euromed 2017 - Trees of the Mediterranean

This year's common theme adopted by the member states of the Postal Union for the Mediterranean "Euromed" is "Trees of the Mediterranean".

Available as a single stamp and Official First Day Cover.

Technical Information
Design: Artwork: Christina Vasiliadou, Lemesos
Text: Barkev Mihranian
Size of stamps: 30x40 mm in sheets of 8 stamps
Printing method: Litho-Offset on unwatermarked paper
Printer: Veridos Matsoukis S.A., Greece

Cancels and Rural Postmarks of Cyprus

Note: the spelling is as it appears on the Canceller and not necessarily the way the name of the village or area is written in modern times.

AGRIDHIA - Cyprus Stamps Postmark GR Rural Service

AKACHA - Cyprus Stamps postmark ER1 E.R.Rural Service

AMIANDOS - Cyprus Stamps postmark DS4 Date Single Circle
Date in two lines with star. 24–25mm.

ARADHIPPOU - Cyprus Stamps postmark DD7 Datestamp Double Circle
Time and date in three lines, thin lines for curved panels, size of letters varies

ASGATA - Cyprus Stamps postmark DS7 Date Single Circle
Date in one line, 25–28mm. A widely used type first introduced in the 1930s

ATHIAENOU - Cyprus Stamps postmark DS7 Date Single Circle
This below from July 1972

AY THERAPON - Cyprus Stamps Postmark GR Rural Service

DHRYNIA - Cyprus Stamps Postmark GR Rural Service

FAMAGUSTA - Cyprus Stamps postmark

FAMAGUSTA TOWN - Cyprus Stamps postmark Date stamp Double Circle
Date stamp Double Circle 10 August 1963

and finally, for this selection is....

KAKOPETRIA - Cyprus Stamps postmark DD7 Date Stamp Double Circle
Time and date in three lines, thin lines for curved panels, size of letters varies

Types of cancellations used on Cyprus postal items:
Numeral Cancellations, Manuscripts, (Victorian) VR rural service, (Edwardian KEVII) ER rural service, (King George V and VI) GR rural service, Rural Postal Service, Single Circle date stamp, Double Circle date stamp.

Here's a nice piece of news which involves one of our regular stamp collectors at CyprusStamps.com website!

John W (you can see his posts feature heavily in our Guestbook page) recently entered his local stamp club competition with a 9 sheet entry of Cyprus Europa stamps and cover issues.

Here he is below pictured with his trophy in front of his winning Europa display at the Rushden & District Stamp Club event.

Well done, John and thank you very much for sending us the photograph.
Finally, we get to put a face to the name!

Putting Rushden & District Stamp Club on the map

Well, my last "spotlight" on EUROPA stamps of Cyprus was quite a few months ago, in fact it was October last year, which came as a bit of a shock!

So, it's time to get my finger out and put fingers to keyboard, collect some images and get ready to provide the info...

Find here below the list of Cyprus EUROPA stamps which were issued in 1980 by the Cyprus post office.

Enjoy the Spotlight!

1980 - Europa "Personalities of Notable Cypriots" 28 April 1980


1981 - Europa "Folk dances" 4 May 1981


1982 - Europa "Historical Events" 3 May 1982


1983 - Europa "Ancient Works of Cypriot Ingenuity" 3 May 1983


1984 - Europa "Bridge" 30 April 1984


1985 - Europa "Composers and Musicians" 6 May 1985


1986 - Europa "Conservation of Nature and Environment" 28 April 1986


1987 - Europa "Modern Architecture" 11 May 1987


1988 - Europa "Transportation and Telecommunications" 9 May 1988

1989 - Europa "Traditional Children's Games" 8 May 1989

Looking for EUROPA stamps from other years? That's easy - just click on this EUROPA stamps search link!

Alternatively, you can use the "Search Product" field at the very top of each page of our website (as a suggestion, just type the year (eg: 1964) of interest rather than the title of the issue as the Search field is not so good with specifics). Or, click through the link here to the list of Thematics, Topical and Popular Searches.

I found something that really amused me this morning...

Today (6 January) is a public holiday in Cyprus and many other countries for Kings' Day or Epiphany so as I had some free time to myself I decided to continue with the one game I play continually on Facebook - Criminal Case.

I'm currently at Level 81 on Case 26 "The Lake's Bride". And, as I just got my results back from the forensic laboratory I was informed of something very strange. An unusual piece of evidence has come to light...

You have been warned.... "beware of stamp collectors" :-)

I did promise a while back when I published my last "spotlight" on EUROPA stamps of Cyprus issues from the 1960s that I would be back later with details of Cyprus EUROPA stamps from 1970s.

I've done that just this morning and you can take a look at the full article on my other Cyprus stamp collecting blog (Cyprus Stamps Blogspot), which shows the images of all Cyprus' Europa stamps that were released between May 1970 to April 1976.

The first Cyprus EUROPA stamp issue from the 1970s:

1970 -  Europa "Flaming Sun" 04 May 1970

The final EUROPA stamp set as released by the Cyprus post office in April 1979 was Europa "Telecommunications" (pictured here below):

1979 - Europa "Telecommunications" 30 April 1979