The de Havilland Comet and the start of Qatar Aerophilately

de Havilland DH 106 - Comet 1 was a major achievement for the British Aviation Industry.

It first flew on the 27^th of July 1949. Upon completing its series of test flights, if joined British Overseas Airways Corporations (BOAC), becoming the first jet commercial airliners in the world.

The first commercial flight, on the 2^nd of May 1952, under the responsibility of Capt. Michael Majendie and Capt. R. C. Alabaster proved a success. This quickly silenced critics who thought jet aviation would never succeed. The flights had an average 80% occupancy.

The first flight through this region of the world is celebrated with the below cover showing the departure from Bahrain on the 11th of August 1952 and arriving Bombay on the 12th on its way to Colombo.

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The return flight is shown in the below two covers. These are special for the sender, went to the trouble of using a unique set of stamps in each cover.

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Unfortunately, within one year of beginning commercial operations the problems began. Cumulating with the accident in 1954 which resulted in the complete grounding of the aircraft.

Not one, but three major accidents led to this grounding:

1. The first, exactly a year, to the day, of the inaugural flight, a flight departing Calcutta disintegrated at 10,000 ft in the vicinity of a thunderstorm (43 passengers and crew perished).
2. 10^th January 1954, departing Rome exploded mid air taking with it 26 passengers and 6 crew members. This led to an initial grounding of the aircraft,
3. While the initial investigation of the last accident was still undergoing, but appearing to clear mechanical problem of the aircraft, flight resumed. So within a few months, on the 8^th of April 1954 another Comet, inbound Cairo from Rome disappeared over the Mediterranean. Leading to a new grounding of the aircraft,

Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister of the time, had the Royal Navy locate and salvage the wreckage of the aircraft and take it to Farnborough for a complete analyses of the causes of the accident.

Mr. W.D. Tonkinson, a known philatelist and frequent flyer in the region commented on the last accident on a later to his family back in England.

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It was found that metal fatigue, due to the high altitude flights requiring cabin pressurisation and the design option of using square windows, rather than today’s oval windows so familiar to us.

It took de Havilland another 4½ years to re-design the aircraft. This proved a success, with the aircraft remaining in service until 1980.

The restart of the Comet operations can be seen in the below cover which commemorates the first Bahrain to Singapore flight using a BOAC Comet 4.

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The 're-birth' of the Comet came at the perfect time for a new airline in the region - Kuwait Airline's which quickly ordered the new aircraft leading it to become the first all jet Arab airline. The aircraft's history at the airline is celebrated on the below stamp issue show in its first day cover.

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But how does this relate to Qatar, after all this site is specifically to Qatar philatelic history?

Well, Kuwait Airways and Qatar have a long tradition. The first aircraft to be shown on a Qatar stamp is that of the Kuwait Airways Comet 4C. Kuwait Airways also came to the aid of Qatar Airways at its first ever flight.

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Well, the Comet story doesn't end there as can be seen on the below slide.

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I hope this has been an interesting story. Should you have any additional information or covers to add to the story feel free to post them below or send me an e-mail.

Qatar World Cup 2022 Al Rihla Soccer Ball Stamp issue

I recently had a post regarding collector items with the World Cup theme (Posters, Mascots, logos etc). Amongst them was the ball used in each World Cup (click here to see that post).

A few days ago, a new stamp was issue in Qatar with just this in mind - the ball that will be used during the 2022 Qatar World Cup (see below to learn more).

Keeping to the tradition, it is expected that a new ball colour theme will be introduced for the final match. The internet speculates that this latter ball will be called 'Al Hill' which means - Inspiration.

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I believe that the greatest show on earth - The World Cup - this time held in Qatar, will keep up with the tradition of making each world cup an even greater than previous ones.

Qatar will be a tremendous host, with non stop events and celebrations for all who enjoy the sport.

 

Qatar Football Achievements

As the world descends into Qatar for the World's Greatest sports event - The World Cup - it is fitting to review some of the Qatar's Football achievements.

Football began in Qatar with the arrivals of foreigners due to the discovery of oil. By 1950's the first football team - Al Ahli - was founded. It was the winner of the Amir's cup in 1973 for which it had the great honour of hosting the Brazilian team Santos - click on the below image to learn more.

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The moment was so unique that it deserves to be complemented by a video of the event (see below).

Below is the a new stamp issue for Qatar. These stamps celebrate a few important milestones in Qatar's National Team. The image below also lists a few more honourable moments of Qatar's Football achievements over the years. This issue is made up of the four stamps shown. It is sold in a souvenir sheet containing all four stamps, there is also a FDC and a presentation folder.

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Perhaps you have noticed the common theme in both of my previous slides - 'Now is All'. This same theme can be seen throughout Qatar in banners, posters, image projections and so on. It probably originates from the speech given at the FIFA headquarters back in 2010 when Qatar was making its final bid to host the World Cup 2022. Click on the below slide to learn more about it.

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1969 - Qatar Security Forces

As the revenue from the oil industry grew, so did the awareness that security should be enhanced to protect the state's investment.

These security enhancements were approved in 1968 by the British as can be seen from the a set of six stamps issued a year later (1969).

I have been able to find video footage to match with a few of the stamps in this set.

The Portuguese and Qatar

 Portugal of the past was a major world power - its empire extending from Americas to the Far East.

The first worldwide currency is attributed to a Portuguese gold coin issued in the 15th Century, named the 'Português'. The gold mostly coming from the Gold mines of Ghana. The coin received so much global acclaim, that many other European powers opted to mint their own version - see below image for more information.

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Interestingly, the first Portuguese coins, minted upon Portugal's independence from the Moors, during the Reign of King Afonso I were given a name originating from an Islamic coin popular in the Iberian Peninsula - the Morabitino - see below image for more information.

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Soon after the 'Português' coin was struck, the Portuguese empire extended all the way to Qatar. The remnants of a Portuguese Fort can be found in the North West coast of Qatar. Likewise a trademark of Portuguese sailors can still be found in many Arabic houses today - see image below for more information.

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Perhaps, sooner or later one of the Portuguese Gold Coins will be found on the archeological digs of Qatar !!!

Qatar Development in the 1960's

Late in the 1960's a production film was made of Qatar's major projects.

As my main interesting is linking stamps to historical events, I though that linking the stamps to the infrastructure, security, agriculture fishery and so on would be an interesting project.

Hope you enjoy the short film.

 

World Cup series for collectors.

 I have had a few blogs related to the world cup, which I will list below before adding today's blog:

• Qatar - FIFA World Cup 2022 Issue
• Qatar Stamps - FIFA World Cup Stadiums
• Qatar - Football Mascots
• Qatar 2022 Mascot - La'eeb - Stamps
• Qatar FIFA 2022 World Cup Poster Stamp
• World Cup Team Flag Issue

Today I would like to review the Poster series of Qatar stamps and add a few more items that true collectors might appreciate.

While the first 12 stamps in the 2002 World Cup issue (see below) represent the official poster of the tournament as seen below, the remainder of the stamps in this series, and that includes all following issues (such as the 2006 Germany and the remaining 3 posters issued in December 2021).

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The below slide shows the final 9 official World Cup posters and their equivalent representation in Qatar issued stamps. as can be seen, the first of these was the 1986 Mexico World Cup poster which was represented by a mixture of the actual poster and the official logo of the tournament. From then onwards, Qatar opted to just use the official logo and make it into a poster, rather than use the official poster (I show both versions below).

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The official Qatar World Cup poster with corrected date is shown below.

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Although I only collect stamps, I presume any collector would like to see all previous World Cup Logos and Mascots which I show below.

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Surprisingly, most of the official ball for all world cups are available to purchase online for the serious aficionado. Below I list all the balls used. In recent years it has become fashionable for the final ball to have a slight different design - I do not include that design.

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Qatar stamps - The space race of 57 years ago

The 1950's and 60's saw the start of the space race. Part of that race began with the placement of satellites in space. I have writing about this space race in two previous blogs (21 September 2021 - First steps into the space program, and 23 September 2021 - Reaching for the Starts). 

This time around, I shall look a little closer at what is portrait in these stamps. The first is is the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) issue of 1965 which celebrates the successful launch and operations of the first permanent geosynchronous satellites leading to the first world wide radio and television broadcasts.

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As can be seen from the below slide the satellite achievements included the televised Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, the report of the assassination of President John. F. Kennedy.

By 1966 the England World Cup was the first to be transmitted world wide in colour.

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NASA rocket - the Artemis - which is the proof rocket for the future moon exploration. Just like todays' Artemis launch. The original Gemini 6 was cancelled (initially scheduled to liftoff on the 25th of October 1965) by a technical fault.

The Gemini Rendezvous was the design proof concept for the Apollo moon exploration. This latter one required the moon lander to eventually rendezvous with the remaining part of the rocket for its eventual return to earth.

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Luckily most of the astronauts present in the two Gemini Rocket have been captured by a different set of stamps issued by Qatar, with the only exception of the Commander of Gemini 7 - Astronaut Frank Frederick Borman. Borman and Lovell set the a fourteen day spaceflight endurance record in Gemini 7 while waiting for the Gemini 6A Rendezvous. Was also the Commander of Apollo 8 (it being his second and last spaceflight). During this last trip they (Frank Frederick Borman, James Arthur Lovell and William Alison Anders) were the first astronauts to orbit the Moon.

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The video of the Gemini Rendezvous can be seen below.

World Cup Team Flag Stamp Issue

We are now at less than 3 months (actually 71) from the start of the Qatar 2022 World Cup and so it is appropriate to show the schedule for the first stage of the competition (see below).

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This stamp issue is accompanied by four separate First Day Covers (matching the souvenir sheets). 

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Of the 21 World Cups, the trophy was held by just 8 countries (Brazil x5, Germany x4, Italy x4, Argentina x2, Uruguay x2, France x2 and England and Spain once each). As can be seen the trophy was taken to Europe some 12 times and the remaining 9 times was taken to South America.

Will this World Cup see a change - an Asian country take the trophy ?

Qatar FIFA 2022 World Cup Poster Stamp

The latest of the FIFA Cup series of stamps issued by Qatar Post shows the official World Cup poster. It clearly shows the feeling of Qatari's in the joy and pride of hosting the world cup, which is a celebration of not only football but also of strong community, cultural, credence and racial integration world wide. Clearly showing Qatar's multicultural and 'melting pot' society.

I'm looking forward to the start of this celebration, in the mean time please click on the image below to learn more on the stamp.

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Qatar Airways 25th Anniversary Stamp Issue

Qatar Airways - One of the world's leading airlines celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year. Amongst many of the promotions and campaigns for the occasion is another stamp issue (the 2nd for Qatar Airways).

The souvenir sheet details a few of the milestones in Qatar Airways history. As with the previous issue a commemorative folder was issues and uniquely a VIP Box was also issued.

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Qatar Stamps - Honouring the Covid-19 Front Line Workers

Stamps have been issued to help gather funds for cures, treatment and prevention of diseases since 1904. or simply to raise awareness to particular diseases (see below).

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Qatar has been no exception to this, with stamps being issued celebrating the World Health Organization (WHO) - one good example is the 1973 Qatar issue celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the WHO (see below).

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This year, Qatar Post issued a set of two stamps honouring the front line workers during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic (see below).

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Qatar to Kirkuk - Early covers

Prior to the start of the Post Office in Qatar, most of the in and out mail would have been directed via Bahrain. The only way to identify the covers as being to or from Qatar, would be the address. This is the case for the three covers below.

The first cover is from Nagpur, India to a Mr. Robert Lawson, working for the Petroleum Development (Qatar). As can be seen on the address, the last two lines show that the cover was sent via the offices of the Petroleum Company Bahrain.

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The second cover, is from a well known philatelist to a relative in Surrey, England. Again, the cover shows only Bahrain Stamps and a Bahrain cancellation. The only proof that it was sent from Qatar, is inside where the top line shows the date and Qatar.

Mr. Tonkinson, the sender, clearly was a keen philatelist, in this letter talking about acquiring stamps from far a field.

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As we can read on the previous letter. Mr. Tonkinson was aware that he would be travelling to Kirkuk, Iraq in April, giving him plenty of time to send himself another letter from Qatar (via Bahrain). Completing an interesting story.

In a previous blog, I showed that Mr. Tonkinson, possibly began his Middle East work for the Petroleum company in Beirut, Lebanon. Then moved to Basrah, Iraq prior to being sent to Dukhan, Qatar. Here we see that he also travelled to Kirkuk, Iraq. In a future post, I shall show that he also travelled to Dubai, Sharjah and Muscat. This to show that he was obviously an expert for the Petroleum Company.

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Qatar and the British Postal Agencies

I have already displayed the below cover with regards to the 'On His Majesty Service" (click here to read more on this).

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The cover was sent to Mr. W. J. Tonkinson from Bahrain. Mr Tonkinson is a known philatelist which also helps us to recognise the spelling mistake both on the cover and on the letter from the Postal Superintendent. The correct name would be Mr. W. D. Tonkinson.

The cover used a 1954 printed official On His Majesty Mail Service postal stationary. Printed for, and used by, the Postal Superintendent. The letter within, not often seen, clarifies some of the rare covers sent from each of the regional states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar some of which will be presented later in this blog.

It is well known that the stamps used by the Gulf States from the 1950’s until their own postal services became independent, were issued by the British Postal Agency in Eastern Arabia. Since all postal services were controlled by the same agency, and as can be red on the letter itself, the British Postal Agency was willing to send the stamps overprinted for one state to another.

It is interesting to note that the British Postal Agency as shown on the top right corner of the enclosed letter, is not "in Eastern Arabia" as is now commonly known, but rather "Persian Gulf". I have already written a blog highlighting the change in the name from Persian to Arabian Gulf (click here to read the blog again). Perhaps the best known book regarding philatelic history of the region for that time frame was written by Neil Donaldson, entitled "The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia and the Gulf".

Clearly, the agency began life as the British Postal Agencies, Persian Gulf (see letter above). All covers until 1958 referred to the Persian Gulf. Towards the end of 1958 the first covers began to circulate referring to the Arabian Gulf. The British Postal Agency remained responsible for postal services in Qatar until 1963. Perhaps the agency itself changed it name from the British Postal Agencies Persian Gulf, to British Postal Agency in Eastern Arabia around the same time.

I would appreciate if anyone could share any additional information or images to validate the name of the Agency over the period of time.

The first set of stamps with QATAR on them !!!

The issue of stamps has been used to demonstrate sovereignty by many countries (as mentioned on my vey first blog) a good example are the many stamps issued to claim territory in Antartica such as Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, UK, USA, USSR and so on.

In this aspect, the countries under British suzerainty are no different. Below is one such example with the stamps from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

The stamps shown for all these states are the same issue of H.M. Queen Elizabeth II issued in 1957, but just like on my previous blog, the issue dates were not the same for all states.

A word of caution, it appears that there are forgeries of the Oman FDC. Generally, in that period the covers were always at least off white, yet there are some examples of the FDC on white FDCs which is in the very least suspicious.

For this collection, I opted to have all addressed FDC's, which provides more authenticity to them. Feel free to share your FDC's versions for this set - in particular looking for a version from Dubai.

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British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia - Coronation Stamps

It appears that the stamps issue date was not a very important thing for the British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia (BPAEA) , as can be seen on the two covers on the image below.

These are a fairly rare set of covers showing the first day of issue of the exact same stamps, with from Qatar !!!

How is that possible?

Well, we know that the (BPAEA) was responsible for making the f the stamps available for most of the countries in the region (Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Sharjah and so on). But the two primary centres were Oman (Muscat) and Bahrain.

However, the H.M. Queen Elizabeth II Coronation (2nd of June 1953) stamps issue dates are not as expected:

• Bahrain & Kuwait 3rd of June 1953;
• Oman & Qatar 10th of June 1953 

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Below are the First Day Covers for Muscat and Kuwait showing their respect issue dates.

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End of World War II and the start of Air Mail Services from Qatar.

We tend to take many things in modern life for granted. Amongst these things is aviation, fast mail to receive our eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress, and so on, items fast. But it's not so long when this was not the case. Take the below cover. From Bahrain to California and in the middle of World War II. We know that by WW II, aviation was a key element for just about every thing. Yet, the cover had to travel overland to Basra in Iraq - the centre of the Iraq Petroleum Development Company and therefore a major transportation hub.

In the process, the letter was censored, as can identified by the Censor Cancel on the reverse. From Basra, it was, most likely it was placed in a flight to the USA.

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Most mail out of Qatar, would be addressed to Bahrain where it would then by sent out by Sea Mail.

Aviation in the Middle East began very early on, but regular Airline service did take a bit longer to get established. For Qatar it began in the hands of Mr. Freddie Bosworth and Gulf Aviation. As can be seen in the slide below, by 1950's Doha Airport was up and running, albeit in a very different design to today's modern, and award winning airport.

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Clearly, Mr. Bosworth venture was fruitful, and not long after, Gulf Aviation was taken over by BOAC, which began regular services to the region. This lasted another 20 year or so, until the joint finances of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and UAE were used to buy out BOAC, thereby creating Gulf Air.

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The stamps on the above cover, were issued just a couple month prior to the mailing date, and were the first Qatar stamps to feature the ruler of Qatar.

Qatar - On His Majesty's Service Cover

Occasionally we find a cover that at first look does not appear to have much significance. However, with a little research there is always something more to be learnt.

This is the case on the below cover sent in 1952 to a Petroleum Development Qatar Employee, soon after the end of World War II. In bold Letters centre top we find "On His Majesty's Service" partially covered by the stamps. This is the first clue. As is still true today, much of the official government covers would have been sent without attached stamps. The stamps are tied to a Bahrain type 21 date cancel.

But the interesting clue is the "Economy - Reuse if Envelopes' cachet on the left of the cover. This practise, of reusing envelopes began towards the end of World War II due to shortage of paper throughout Europe and in particular Great Britain. As such, the government began to actively promote the reuse of envelopes.

One final point was the addressee on the cover is a Mr. W. D. Tonkinson, a known philatelist, but his middle initial on the cover was changed from D to J.

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Qatar Oil Exploration, Umm Said and the start of aviation in Qatar.

The first oil well in Qatar was in Dukhan, a pipeline was laid down to Umm Said terminal port from where the first shipment was made on the 31st of December 1949. With the tanker S.S. President Manny carrying some 80,000 tonnes of oil to Europe.

Umm Said, quickly grew in importance and becoming a major transportation hub as can be seen on the slide below.

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Umm Said, not only received equipment for Qatar's own oil exploration, but also transferred some of this equipment to nearby explorations as in the case of Fahud, Oman.

For this, and for a brief period, a Blackburn Universal aircraft was used. At the time, the aircraft was still undergoing its flight trials prior to being incorporated into the Royal Air Force.

The first production Beverley C.Mk 1 (XB259) made its maiden flight from Brough, England on the 19th of January 1955.

The second Beverley, XB260, designated the Blackburn Universal and awarded a temporary civil registration G-AOEK and during later part of 1955, was flown from Brough to Umm Said via Holme-On-Spalding Moor, Lyneham, Tunis and Beirut.

This was as part of a joint venture by Blackburn and Hunting-Clan Air Transport. Piloted in turn by G/Capt Hockey, DSO, DFC, Blackburn test pilot Dick Chandler and Capt Greensted MBE. Once in Umm Said, XB260 carried a spectacular airlift of heavy oil drilling equipment from Umm Said, Qatar to Fahud, Oman, on behalf of the Iraq Petroleum Company.

With the clam-shell rear doors opened wide, the Blackburn Universal was able to take very heavy loads for airlift,  weighing some 16½ tons (16,765 kg), at Umm Said. The makeshift ramp was fabricated on site from locally available drill pipe; another was constructed and flown to Fahud for unloading.

The Blackburn Universal, was at the time, the world’s largest freighter aircraft.

Once this temporary contract was completed, the aircraft was transferred to the Royal Air Force were it primarily flew to Germany and Aden.

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Qatar - a cover with bisected Great Britain Regional Definitive Stamps

A very interesting and philatelic rarity - bisected stamps. 

Specially as in this case using Regional Definitives out of Qatar. This was mostly likely a cancellation out of favour, and most likely not actually mailed out (there are no cancellations on the reverse side).

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Regional definitives were issued by each of the six regions (some today have become autonomous regions). The stamps were valid for usage throughout Great Britain, and as such they were available for mail purchase. This makes it possible for someone in Qatar to order the stamps via mail.

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To validate the cover with a bisected stamp, it is important to demonstrate that the receiver of the cover was a philatelist. As such the below image contains a number of additional covers to Mr. Stephenson which demonstrate his philately acumen. First Day Covers, opening of the Umm Said Post Office and so on.

Notice that the cover with a bisected stamp is the only one addressed to Mrs. Stephenson - suggesting that perhaps it was actually mailed.

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Qatar Liquified Natural Gas Project in England.

The South Hook terminal, a joint venture with ExxonMobil and France’s Total Group, represents a technological milestone as a part of the Qatargas 2 LNG value chain project that will make additional supplies of cleaner-burning natural gas available to the UK and the rest of Europe.

At the time was Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal.

As of April 2022, the South Hook LNG Terminal, is Europe’s largest LNG import terminal with a capacity for 21 billion cubic meters.

It is considered the world’s first fully integrated LNG venture chain and is viewed as a new source of energy diversification and export to the United Kingdom.

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Qatar Parcel Cancels

When you receive a parcel, the least important item is the wrapping, which generally gets discard without much attention being paid to it. As such, collecting items such as parcel cancels or the high value stamps generally used for mailing them is difficult.

The early manual parcel date cancels of Qatar, as identified by Neil Donaldson are pretty hard to find as a complete cancellation. The first of which a type 12, Umm Said, is thought to have first been used in February 1956. The type 16, from Doha, was first introduced around October 1960.

 

As always, click on each image to zoom in.

I would be happy if you could share your own versions of these cancellations.