Valuable Stones

VALUABLE STONES Stamp and FDC

 

 

The civilization started with stones. The first devices were sharpened by banging two stones together and the fires were ignited by the sparkle diffusing from the stones. The fire cooked the mud and then it became ceramic; it smelted the ore and then the mineral was found. Sentiments, fears and beliefs were expressed by the stones and at first the history was written in stones. The colorful and sparkling stones gained different meanings with their various features. Valuable and semi-precious stones have been used as the symbols of beauty, wealthiness and status since prehistoric ages.
A commemorative stamp with the subject of ‘valuable stones’, on which the visuals of lüle taşı (Sepiolit) and Oltu taşı (Jet Stones) that have an important place in our country are situated and a first day cover were put into circulation by PTT on 29 April 2015.
LÜLE TAŞI: The lüle taşı is a white clay mineral which is known as ‘sepiolit’ in the science world. The high quality of processable sepiolit is just extracted from Eskişehir all over the world. It has been used in the production of tobacco pipe and knickknackery as an art and decoration material.
OLTU TAŞI: The Oltu taşı is generally a semi-precious black stone which has mostly a carbon constituent. This stone, which is extracted from the territories of Oltu, the county of Erzurum, is called with the name of ‘Oltu’ throughout the world. It is used for the production of trappings, jewellery and especially beads.