1927 Scott 28 1r yellow brown & violet "Tuvan Riding Reindeer" Quick History Exotic doesn't describe the stamps of Tannu Tuva. The 1926-1936 issues are found multi-colored, with scenes such as a Tuvan impaling a bear, all on diamond, triangle, and rectangle shapes. What schoolboy would not want these stamps? Map of Tannu Tuva 1935 Scott 54 1k yellow orange The Bolshevik supported Tuvan People's Republic, located in southern Siberia in the Tannu-ola Mountains, forests, and steppes, on the northwestern border of Mongolia, existed between 1921-1944, when it was formally annexed into the Soviet Union. It's 1926 affirmation of independence was recognized solely by the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic. Tuvan Republic's location in Russia currently The capital was Kyzyl, and the population in 1931 was 65,000 Tuvans and 17,000 Russians. Tannu-Tuva The issues of Tannu-Tuva were considered of dubious legitimacy by some, but there are enough (mostly philatelic) covers from Tannu-Tuva to Moscow to establish that the stamps were postally used in the mail, and all the major catalogues now list the stamps. The reality, of course, is that almost all of the stamps were produced in Moscow, and sold directly through the philatelic trade to collectors for hard currency. Remember, I mentioned that the issues were naturally popular with schoolboys in the 1930? One of them was the Nobel prize winning physicist Richard Feynman, who, during the 1970s, recalling the exotic images on those stamps, took up a 10 year quest to visit Tannu Tuva (youtube video). 1932 Scott 34 15k on 14k, Black Surcharge "Bactrian Camel Caravan" Into the Deep Blue The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Tannu Tuva 1926-1943, 141 major descriptive numbers that are in the regular or air post categories. There are, in addition, some 24 bolded minor numbers that are varieties (imperforate, different perforation). Of the major numbers, 55 are CV