Austria Post in the Levant - Jerusalem - Franz Josef 25 Soldi - Fine Beard - Grey Lilac

One major area that I collect are the Austrian post offices in the holy land. Prior to World War I the Austrians operated 3 official offices in Haifa, Jerusalem, and Jaffa. These were just some of the many Austrian post offices in the Ottoman Empire.

The main way I collect these stamps is by issue and postmark. One of the more challenging values to obtain is the 25 Soldi grey lilac "fine beard" value.

This stamp can be found in the Scott catalog under Austria - Offices Abroad - Offices in the Turkish Empire no. 7J with a catalog value of $400 used. It is also known as Michel no. 6II with a catalog value of 450 EUR used.

For a great overview of the whole "fine" vs. "coarse" beard topic check out Austria 1867-1884 Franz Josef's Whiskers - Coarse or Fine? written by Jim of the Big Blue 1840-1940 blog.

For the past few years I have been looking for this stamp I have only found one for sale or auction and the price was pretty steep. A dealer in the UK has it up on Delcampe for 175 GBP. I think that it is a beautiful stamp and I hope someone with the means will purchase it. It has a Ferchenbauer certificate and a very clear cancellation. I made him a few offers but he wasn't interested - so I decided to just wait till I found a less expensive copy.

For sale now if you're interested. Price is 175 GBP.

As a space filler in my album I had a copy of this stamp with a partial cancellation reading "JA". This could have been for Jaffa or more likely Jassy, a town in Romania where Austrian levant stamps were also used. I'm actually not even sure this is a fine beard variety - as this color also is known for the coarse beard issues as well. One hint is that the fine beard should have a postmark dates 1883 or later. The one below has an old type of cancel without the year included, even if the whole postmark was visible.

My space filler - is it from JAFFA or JASSY? Is it coarse or fine?

Not being content with the space filler stamp - I have been on the lookout for one with a clearer cancellation. Finally after about 2 years of searching I saw something in an otherwise nondescript lot of Austrian levant stamps that I picked up for a total of 14.50 EUR on eBay.

A nice lot on eBay won for only 14.50 EUR.

It was hard to see the 25 Soldi stamp but I had a good feeling it was the one I had been looking for. It has a nice Jerusalem (spelled Gerusalemme) cancel and dated 1883.

Much better than the space filler stamp.

Now I'm very happy to have this stamp in my collection. For reference below is the full page containing holy land postmarks on both the fine and coarse beard varieties. I will continue to add stamps to this page when I find different postmarks, perforation, and color varieties.

A nice selection but I hope to add more.