1872, LIVA TIRHALA HÜKÜMET POSTASI (GOVERNMENT POST): Letter from Pharsala dated May 11, 1872, addressed to the French consul in Larissa (Yenisehir). These two localities are in Thessaly. The letter was sent unpaid, instead of a postage-due stamp a locally produced “vignette” paper on which fine vertical and horizontal dividing lines were drawn in pencil, forming a frame within which a negative handstamp was pre-printed affixed and cancelled by two crossing pen strokes. The dividing lines prove that several such vignettes were produced on a single sheet and therefore must have been used on multiple occasions. This “vignette” may therefore be regarded as a true provisional postage-due stamp, unrecorded until today. This letter is authentic and without tampering; it represents a major item in the postal history of Turkey, Greece and of Thessaly in particular. (Certificates du Vachat BPP 2003, Isfila 2002).
