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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 2Chahi 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.
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.
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 7th Jamadi-ol-thani 1285 (25th
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 12th 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 Baqeri 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:
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