1949.TUR.01Şefkat Pulu overprint
Turkey·1949
Red overprint «Şefkat Pulu» on the 1946 Scout and flag postal-tax stamp (Scott RA105 → RA143)
Series details
Identity
- CodeSeries code YYYY.ENT.SS — year, 3-letter issuing entity, sequence (e.g. 1900.CGH.01).
1949.TUR.01- EntityPostal authority that issued the stamps (country, territory, or historical entity).
- Turkey (TUR)
- Year
- 1949
- Event
- Red overprint «Şefkat Pulu» on the 1946 Scout and flag postal-tax stamp (Scott RA105 → RA143)
- TypeIssue kind. Charity issue = postage + voluntary surcharge (e.g. 6+4), not an overprint.
- Postage due
Production
- Process
- Lithography (underlying) + red typographic overprint
- PerforationsHole gauge between stamps (e.g. 12, 13½). Higher ≈ finer.
- 11½
Catalog numbers
- DomfilDomfil thematic catalog number (scouting).
- 949.28
- ScottScott catalog number (Americas).
- TR RA143
- MichelMichel catalog number (Europe / DE).
- TR Z160
- YvertYvert & Tellier catalog number (FR).
- TR B161
History
On 15 January 1949 (Istanbul) Turkey reissued stocks of the 1946 Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) postal-tax set with a red overprint reading «Şefkat Pulu». Domfil catalogues the Scout value of that overprinted set as 949.28 under «Pro War Victims», motif still «Scout and flag» — the same design as Domfil 946.34 of 1946.
The underlying stamp is the 40 kuruş multicoloured Scout with Turkish flag issued on 26 August 1946 for the 69th anniversary of the Red Crescent (Scott RA105 / Michel Z124). In 1949 that stamp, together with the seven non-scout companions of the same Red Crescent design set, received the new overprint and was sold again as obligatory postal tax (Scott RA139–RA146). The Scout overprinted stamp is Scott RA143 / Michel Z160 / Yvert B161. SOSOW records a print run of only 10,000 for the 40k overprinted value and perforation 11½.
«Şefkat Pulu» means «Stamp of Kindness» (or «charity stamp»): a traditional Turkish designation for Red Crescent / social-aid tax labels rather than ordinary postage. The overprint does not change the face value; it re-authorises leftover 1946 stock for a new postal-tax period under the kindness-stamp wording. Collectors therefore treat 1949 as a dependent Scout listing — the scouting interest remains the Scout-and-flag vignette of 1946, now carrying the red «Şefkat Pulu» inscription that distinguishes RA143 from RA105.
Only this single overprinted 40k Scout stamp is catalogued here as the series piece (sheet SCOUT-1949-TUR-01.1).
ATA 1964 glosses the overprint as «Sefkat Pulu» meaning «Stamp of Kindness» in red on the 1946 Red Crescent Scout value (RA105 → RA143), one of eight overprinted postal-tax stamps for the Turkish Red Crescent.