The Oriental Philatelic Association of London, or OPAL, is a philatelic society whose members specialise in the philately of the area covered by the former

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and the states around the Eastern Mediterranean from Libya to the former Yugoslavia.

History

The society was formed on 8 November 1949 at a meeting in the premises of auction house Harmers in London. There were 25 founding members who mainly collected Egypt and Sudan but the membership soon expanded and the association came to focus mainly on the Ottoman Empire and surrounding areas. In the late 1970s, membership fell to less than 100 but the association was reinvigorated following a meeting at the London 1980 International Stamp Exhibition after which a new committee was appointed and a new constitution adopted. In 1999, the association's members gave a display before the members of the

Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its he ...

to mark their 50th anniversary at which time the membership stood at 275.''50th Anniversary Display to the Royal Philatelic Society, London 11 February 1999.'' ''OPAL'' No. 196. In 2000, with the Holyland Philatelic Society, the association published a history of the Ottoman field post offices in Palestine from 1914 to 1918 based on the collection of Alexander Koleksiyonu. The book was edited by Kemal Giray and Jeff Ertughrul with a parallel Turkish and English text. Its publication was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey."The Ottoman Field Post Offices Palestine (1914-1918) The Alexander Collection",

Patrick Pearson Patrick Chilton Pearson VRD (1930 – 19 August 2022) was a British philatelist who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1974. He was Vice President of the Federacion Internationale de Philatelie. Pearson was educated at Westminster ...

, '' The London Philatelist'', Vol. 111 (2002), pp. 230-231. Notable members include Mehmet Başaran,

Kemal Giray Kemal may refer to: ;People * Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey * Kemal (name), a common Turkish name ;Places * Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey * Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey ;See als ...

Rainer Fuchs Rainer may refer to: People * Rainer (surname) * Rainer (given name) Other * Rainer Island, an island in Franz Josef Land, Russia * 16802 Rainer, an asteroid * Rainer Foundation, British charitable organisation See also * Rainier (disambiguation ...

Otto Hornung Otto Hornung (1920http://hps.gr/fipliterature/bureau/hornung.html FIP Literature Commission profile retrieved 30 September 2009. in Ostrava"The Slania I Knew" by Otto Hornung in ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'', June 2005, p.90. – 8 January 2013) wa ...

and the late

Jeff Ertughrul Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

Selected publications

*Kemal Giray & Jeff Ertughrul. (Eds.) (2000) ''The Ottoman Field Post Offices Palestine (1914-1918) The Alexander Collection''. Published jointly with the Holyland Philatelic Society.

References

External links

Official website.
Philatelic organisations based in the United Kingdom Clubs and societies in London Philately of Turkey Philately of Yemen Philately of Syria Communications in the Ottoman Empire {{Philately-stub