Probably one of the hardest articles to write is one calling someone out. But here goes anyway.
Qatar philatelic community has for a few years been paying premium prices for the rarest items. Although the number of collectors is quite small, the one-upmanship amongst the collectors is particularly strong. In this, the ability to buy an item that is claimed to be rare and unique, clearly is a motivation to pay a premium price for such an item - although, as I will elaborate below, sometimes, these unique items are at times, nothing more than a gimmick created just to explore such a collector. One further factor, that gives an advantage to the seller is the online sale system (eBay, Delcampe, HipStamp and so on). A prospective buyer a has a limited time to analyse an item for authenticity and the fear that someone else will buy the item from under their own noses, tends to make the buy option without a full appreciation of the real value, than having the items snatched away by another fellow collector.
Clearly, the market is an open free market and as long as there are people offering items and others willing to pay for them, it is all good and fair, and it’s nothing that I’m prepare to argue one way or other.
However, the lack of readily available information on the number of stamps and FDC’s issued as well as other philatelic items such as colour proofs, artist sketches and so on makes it a one sided market, in that any item appearing the market has the advantage of being claimed rare, unique and valuable.
In my research, I have been able to collect the all postal notices from 1975 onwards, but only a few prior to that date. The ‘English Period’ information should be readily available from the London Postal Museum, something I plan to tackle once the current issues on travel due to the pandemic are lifted.
The postal notices, as I mentioned on a previous post, only began to include information on number of FDCs issued after 1995. All this information will be included in my upcoming books on Qatar Stamps.
Availability of this information would be valuable in determining the rarity of one item or other. On the other hand, many other regional countries have had a number of publications issued/printed detailing the steps in the design process of the various stamp issues (Dubai a good example of well documented philately), there is virtually nothing, to date, published on the Qatar philatelic area, which I intend to cover with my books.
However, from the few items I have been privileged of examining, from some of the more unique and complete collections in Qatar I have began to suspect some items in recent online sales to be nothing more than a gimmick to exploit the youth and lack of information in the Qatar Philatelic Market.
As such, the below item, recently placed on the market appears to have all the elements of a gimmick, and nothing to do on a contemporary items to the authentic stamps issued in 1969.
To the collector, I suggest, do not rush, take your time, analyse the items, contact others who maybe knowledgable, contact the seller for proof of authenticity.
But, ultimately, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you like the item and it fits in your collection and your wallet, feel free. Long is the time of the American Philatelic Society Black Blot Program, and other similar programs.
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I finally apologise to the seller of the particular item that I have used to make my point. After all, he/she has made no claim to the authenticity of the item. He is simply selling a watercolour with simility to the stamps, nothing else.
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