Type 3B Aerogramme

Good morning - a short post showing a Type 3B Aerogramme from Umm Said to a New York stamp dealer.

A Paquebot Cover

That is a cover sent from a ship - in the case of the cover below the ship was the Tanker Capulus.

The UPU regulations state that if the ship is in the high seas, then the stamps used must be of the ship’s country of registration. However, if the ship is within territorial waters, then the stamps affixed, must be from the country where the ship is at the time.

As can be seen from the cover below, the stamps affixed and the date cancel implies that the tanker was off the coast of Umm Said, Qatar.

50th Anniversary of Diplomatic relations between Qatar and Türkiye

Well, while I was away from Qatar a new set of stamps were issued.

So I have to post this slightly after the issue date.

A wonderful set celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Diplomatic relations between Qatar and Türkiye.

To learn more on the significance of the symbols on the stamps take a look at the images below.

Fakes / Forgeries / Counterfeits

The English language at times needs a lawyer to untangle the correct meanings to words that we take for granted. This is true, regardless of our profession or hobby.

So for today's post I shall take to expand on the three simple words we all think we understand well:

• Fakes
• Forgeries
• Counterfeits

To help explain these simple terms I shall use some examples from Qatar.

Please fell free to share your own examples.

1965 - The Nubian Temples Preservation

 In 1965, a large number of countries, as an effort to generate the capital required to re-locate the Nubian Monuments to Philae Island one the river Nile, issue postal stamps.

All the profit generated from them was sent to the United Nations Fund for preservation of the temples.

The effort was a great success and the temples were preserved.

Qatar was one of those countries participating in the effort. The stamps issue at the time are shown below.

However, there was one image that doesn't appear to align with the concept. The stamps with a column, although in my opinion do mot belong to one of the temples that required moving to a new location, the column is very similar to same columns of the Tempe of isis, so an easy mistake to do at the time.

See the images below to learn more. And share your opinion regarding the column - is it or not part of the Nubian Temples relocated to the Island of Philae ?

Forged Covers

Oscar Wilde once said:

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

But I presume the same cannot be said about forgeries which is the case shown below:

Historical Qatar Post Office equipment

My apologies for the long absence of posts.

Been really busy preparing my first book which I hope will be published very soon.

In the mean time, here are some images of actual Qatar Post Office equipment which I believe will be a very unique look at the past.

As always, feel free to share any additional related items you may have in your collection.

Leading British Figures in the Arabian Gulf

As the Gulf States grew in wealth and power, Britain saw fit in placing a British Political Officer in each state. However, officially these were there only to control external politics.

So, the next step was to convince the rulers to accept an Advisor.

Below are covers for the Political Officer in Bahrain, Kuwait and Advisor in Qatar.

Should you have additional covers from other Gulf States Political Officers or Advisors, please feel free to share.

1973 - the 25th Anniversary of the World Health Organization

A Qatar stamp issue from 1973, come to my mind today.

I saw a post regarding Malaria Awareness in postage stamps 

https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-021-03932-7?fbclid=IwAR3TGPMuR0SDV_OM7rugiE8jCaQHEsDMB2QcjW1N2e7zppcVmGBNp5jFzlM

Surprisingly, Malaria (from the Italian for 'Bad Air') has been around for centuries - but it may just about be coming to end, with the introduction of the first vaccines in 2019.

US President John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech (1961), in which he stated that the common enemies of man are tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

Is perhaps appropriate even today, issues of humanity remain the top priority of world leaders.

30 years of diplomatic relation between Qatar and Georgia

A new set of stamps got issued today here in Qatar - celebrating the 30 years of diplomatic relation between Qatar and Georgia.

Try the challenge - see how many iconic you can name without going to the next images where I name them all.

The second slide (I keep the answers for later) shows that Georgia enjoys issuing these types of stamps.

The Georgia version of the stamps were issued in June with the souvenir sheet being different to the Qatar's version, the latter, in my opinion, being much more elegant design (shown in the next slide).

Finally on slide 5 I name all the buildings in the stamp design (please fell free to correct any mistakes).

The last slide has Qatar's FDC cover design.

'The Nomad

One of the major reference regarding Arabian Gulf Philately began his writings under the Pen Name 'The Nomad'.

Read the article below to know a little more.

If you have any of his covers please feel free to share below.

The Eastern Bank Doha - Qatar

As Qatar's economy began to grow, the banks began to get interested in relocating to Doha.

The first of these banks was the now extinct Eastern Bank.

Have a look at the below picture to learn more (there will be much more information in my upcoming first book.

One of Qatar's Rarest Stamps

Sometimes there is no real conclusive information why one stamp becomes rare while another very similar does not.

This may be the case for the below stamp.

Do share your examples of this stamp, or even better send me an example for my own collection.

Have a good weekend.

Datestamp Errors

I share a couple of unusual covers, in that both have errors in the date format.

The one on the left is from Qatar, while the one on the right is from Bahrain.

This error is easily explained, in that the hammer used had 'slugs' for the date, which would have to be changed in a daily basis to make up the correct date (today its a simple tumbler). so the order of the numbers and letters could easily be altered or even inserted inverted as seen on the below covers.

There are many more examples of date error, but mostly of having the wrong date on First Day Covers.

Please feel free to share your examples.

1957 - Postal Rates

Most Postal History exhibitions require the covers to be with appropriate postal rates. Yet, finding the postal rate table seems to be harder than the covers themselves.

So I have opted to include the standard airmail postal rate below, and a few covers to highlight the same.

During this period, to send the cover via Registered Mail, there would be a 40 naye paise surcharge - independent of the destination.

Qatar's First Postmaster

Qatar's First Postmaster moved from Bahrain to Qatar in 1953, just three years the first Post Office opened its doors (1950).

See the below image for a little more information on him.

Another Donaldson Publication

 If you are a serious collector of Qatar philately it is likely that you would have a 'Cross-Over' cover.

This is more common than most collectors would know, and a number of articles explaining this have been written.

Below is one such article by A. N. Donaldson to leading reference for collectors in the region.