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.

Qatar and the Red Line Agreement

At times it pays off to have a little curiosity and not to restrict oneself to very specific searches, as we shall see in the below case.

The cover displayed in the slide below appear to have absolutely no connection to Qatar (my main philatelic interest), but not all is as it appears. For the Irak Petroleum Company (as written on the cover) was the main petroleum company for the Middle East and hence its branched expanded all over.

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The Iraq Petroleum Company was a breakaway company of the Turkish Petroleum Company, who, due to the Ottoman Empire controlled vast amounts of territory in the Middle East. However, subsequent to World War I, this power began to crumble, leading to European Powers gaining some traction in the Middle East Oil Exploration.

American Companies, were excluded from the Turkish Petroleum Company. However, even so, the companies that had invested in the Turkish Petroleum Company were fearful of the American Companies. To protect their claims and ensure financial stability for themselves a proposed mutual agreement was made. the concept was simple, any oil find and exploration in the region, would be equally agreed to and  shared by all parties. So if one company found an oil well, it need agreement of all other to explore it, and would have to share the proceedings. This ensured that all parties only invested in financial profitable oil wells and that all profited equally thereby ensuring a 'financial war chest' against others.

This agreement was proposed by a known oil developer and financier by the name of Calouste Gulbenkian. In remarking the region were the agreement would be enforced, he marked it with a red pen, with the aim of marking all the Ottoman Empire, see slide below.

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Although the concept of the Red Line Agreement was interesting and appealing it had one major flaw. There was nothing in it, that prevented other companies in seeking and obtaining exploration rights within the debarked territories.

As such the American companies, soon began exploiting this loophole. By 1946, the capacity of the findings was too much even for the American Companies, and they began seeking assistance from the companies that were tied down by the Red Agreement.

The American Government, after World War II, began to claim some of its dues from the European nations in this regard, and so by 1948 the Red Line Agreement land had been reduced (see slide below).

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On the slide below we see the logic of the cover on the first slide having been sent to Tripoli in Lebanon, was re-addressed to Basrah, the location of the next big oil finding.

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As we have seen, the Turkish Petroleum Company, became the Iraq Petroleum Company and, eventually the Qatar Petroleum Development Company grew from this.

We can track all this natural movement in the exploration for oil by looking at the movements of the gentlemen to whom the previous and the next covers had been sent to. A Mr. W. D. Tonkinson Esq, B.Sc.

The three covers show that he began in Tripoli - Lebanon, then moved to Basrah - Iraq and finally to Dukhan - Qatar.

It is fortunate that he was also a philatelist (we shall see further proof of this later), that he also sent covers to satisfy his collection. As such, the first cover below (middle one) is sent to himself from Doha, nearly at the time of the opening of the Doha Post Office. The second cover, he sent to his wife (or mother), most probably using the Postal Services of the Qatar Petroleum Company, which is know to have sent its mail by airplane to Bahrain, as such the cover has Bahrain Stamps and Date Cancel, but a return address in Dukhan - Qatar.

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Below, I show proof that Mr. W. D. Tonkinson was a philatelist, as on his return to England, he joined a philatelic club.

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So, who was Mr. Tonkinson ?

Unfortunately, my research has turned a blank. But not all in vain, as it has lead me to some new findings. It turns out that there were others with very similar names. If you return to the very first slide, you will notice, that when the cover was being re-directed, the name became misspelled, From Tonkinson to Tomkinson. (the first N became a M).

I know know this was an error, as the other two covers the name remained spelled with a N.

Nevertheless, this error did result in an interesting finding as we shall see. There was a gentleman by the name of Tomkinson in Doha - Qatar, who, as the cover below seems to have some connection to oil exploration, was the letter below with a spelling mistake.

Unlikely, when it appears in two different letters.

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As we can see below, he actually a high ranking official at the British Political Agency in Qatar (see slide below).

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But why include him at all in this write up?

Well, it turns out that he also had a touch on the postal scene in Qatar as the cover below indicates.

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Qatar 2022 Mascot - La'eeb - stamps

 The Qatar 2022 World Cup is just around the corner.

The first two countries to host the World Cup (Uruguay 1930 and Italy 1934) were also the winners of the tournament. The next 5 tournament hosts (1938 - France, 1950 - Brazil, 1954 - Switzerland, 1958 - Sweden, 1963 - Chile) did not win.

In 1966 England introduced the first World Cup Mascot - Willie (see image below). It turned out to be a good luck charm, and since then, each host country has created a Mascot. This year Qatar announced La'eeb as the Qatar 2022 World Cup Mascot.

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Along with the announcement of the mascot, a video was released which can be seen by clicking here.

The video includes just about all previous world cup mascots (some can be seen more than once, while other have a extremely short appearance - such as France Footix) with the exception of the 2018 World Cup host mascot, probably due to current world events.

World Cup Mascots over the years:

Year     Host nation                     Mascot         Time of appearance in movie

1966 England                     Willie                     1 minute 55 seconds

1970 Mexico                        Juanito                         1 minute 36 seconds

1974 West Germany            Tip and Tap                 1 minute 45 seconds

1978 Argentina                     Guachito                 1 minute 55 seconds

1982 Spain                     Naranjito                 1 minute 38 seconds 

1986 Mexico                     Pique                         1 minute 55 seconds

1990 Italy                             Ciao                         2 minutes 31 seconds

1994 USA                             Striker                         1 minute 46 seconds

1998 France                     Footix                         1 minute 46 seconds

2002 South Korea / Japan    Ato, Kaz and Nik 1 minute 42 seconds

2006 Germany                     Goleo Vi and Pille 1 minute 42 seconds

2010 South Africa             Zakumi                 1 minute 42 seconds 

2014 Brazil                     Fuleco                         1 minute 42 seconds

2018 Russia                     Zabivaka

2022 Qatar                     La’eeb

Qatar - Football Mascots

Football Mascots - First introduced in the 1966 England World Cup.

They have been part ever since, even in the smaller tournaments such as the Gulf Cup.

The mascot of the 17th Gulf Cup tournament, which was included in a set of stamps of 2004, makes its appearance in the Qatar 2022 World Cup Mascot presentation video.

If you are interested you can see the full video on youtube by clicking here.

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The Golden Jubilee Stamp issue for the Al Arab Newspaper

The latest stamp issue by Qatar Post celebrates the Golden Jubilee of the first newspaper issued in Qatar - the Al Arab.

Click on the image below to learn a little more on its founder and on the history of the paper, which remain active to date.

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Qatar's First Postmaster General

Below is one of those rare covers sent to the very first Post Master General in Doha, Qatar.

There is one curious thing with the cover, the arrival date cancel, appears to be a few days earlier than the mailing date. This type of errors are documented in other occasions in Qatar.

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Doxa Watch Company

A simple cover sent from the someone working at the Qatar Petroleum to the Doxa Watch Company.

It could have been a personal enquiry, but considering the return address:

• Qatar Petroleum Company Ltd.
• Account’s Department.

It appears to be a more official business. Generally a little curiosity tends to pay off, as can be seen in the image below.

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Qatar History as told by a School Teacher

The advantage of Aerogrammes is the story preserved in them.

This is a brilliant description of life in Qatar in 1962, from the perspective of a recently arrived school teacher.

She describes her daily life, the supermarket, lifestyle of various residents, hospital, cars, etc.

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In search of that rare stamp may result in finding forgeries

 We all love to add errors to our collections, as these tend to be rare, and therefore increase the uniqueness.

Double prints, tend to be one of the most common errors. This being particular true in the region, due to change in currencies.

However, the below examples, are simple errors in the initial print (not currency change), but at a closer inspection, it seems that someone was taking advantage of our need for rarities, and created the below - i.e. possible forgeries.

Feel free to share your opinions or other examples.

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50 Years of Qatar Japan Diplomatic Relationship

On the 4th of February 2022, Qatar and Japan celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations, with a few events.

Qatar Post, on the 6th of April, issued the below personal sheet with the cinderella's highlighting iconic images of both countries.

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Qatar Stamp Essays, Progressive Proofs and Plate Proofs.

Some of the ores, or least commonly collected items in philately are stamp essays, progressive and plate proofs. For the same reasons, these can be sold for higher prices.

Generally, none of these should reach the philatelic collector, as they are only to be shared between the printer and the Postal Authority.

Occasionally at the dissolution of a company, these items maybe sold off.

The books will contain many more variations, essays and proofs.

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New Issue - Qatar 15th Education Excellence Award

The foundation and renaissance of any nation have always been attached to a supreme educational environment. The more a nation cares about this sector the better the outcomes are seen in its succeeding generations that proudly enjoy the spirit of leadership, productivity and innovation that enable them to achieve the nation’s progress and renaissance.

This importance can be clearly seen in the number of stamps issued by Qatar on the Education Theme:

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This, of course without counting those related to Qatar University, special needs, literacy and so on.

Back in 2005, Qatar opted to encourage Excellence in Education by creating an Award system to recognise those that achieved outstanding success.  The first set of stamps associated with this award were issued in 2017, at the time there were eight categories of prizes. On the 2nd of March of this year a second set was issued as shown below, now with nine award categories.

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Colour Purple and Qatar

As the world learns to respect the planet, highlighting a stamp issue related to the Gulf Environment Day seems appropriate. However, this time around, instead of talking about the environment I would like to use this stamps to look a little into the ancient history of the Qatar Peninsula.

Looking at the stamps on the 1995 Gulf Environment Day we see a group of 8 sea shells commonly found in the region. They originate from six different subspecies, but three belong to the same superfamily, the Muricidae. The Muricidae, commonly referred to as Rock Snails, are small to large predatory sea snails. They have a range of shapes, but mostly have a raised spire and a strong sculpture with rises spiral ridges.

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The Muricidae Family have an additional common feature, they are known to produce a purple dye, that has been favoured by the Kings and Rulers from ancient times to today. Different shells producing a slightly different pigment. Archeological digs in the North East of Qatar have shown extensive production of this dies and vestiges of trade between the peninsula and other lands further out in the Arabian Gulf (see below).

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It is perhaps logical to see that such an ancient and valuable trade would leave its mark on the people of the Peninsula. This is the case, as the dye has been and continues to be the source of the national colour and that of the Qatari Flag (see below).

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Falconry in Qatar - A new issue

Falconry, an ancient means of hunting is today a UNESCO Living Human Heritage. It was brought into Qatar by the Bedouins and is much loved by the Qatari's, so much so that the Falcon is the National Bird of Qatar.

The Falcon has been featured in numerous Qatar stamps from the very first issue as shown below.

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On the 29th of January, the latest addition to this tradition was released celebrating the end of the 13th Qatar International Falcon and Hunting Festival. The latest stamps are shown below. 

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Qatar Stamps - Queen Elizabeth II Overprints

Since both Bahrain and Kuwait had a substantial population and aviation base, the British Authorities early on deemed it appropriate to have Indian stamps overprinted "BAHRAIN" / "KUWAIT". Qatar, on the other hand had a relative small population in the 1940s and so it was deemed, by the British authorities not to require its own Indian Stamps overprinted "QATAR".

So it was that until 1948 Qatar used Indian Stamps overprinted BAHRAIN, however, the lack of a post office meant that generally the mail would be transferred by 'hand of shipment' to Bahrain or through the Gulf Petroleum Company aircraft onto another location for subsequent mailing.

On the appointment of a Political Resident in Qatar changed all that, with it came a means of mailing directly from Qatar. Initially the stamps sold were the BAHRAIN overprinted ones, however this was quickly frowned upon by the locals, and so value only surcharged stamps were quickly brought in.

By 1957 with the change of the Indian Rupee to a decimal format, required a further change to the overprint, giving rise to the stamps shown below.

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Perhaps, less known is the variations in these stamps. As shown on the image above, both the 15 NP and the 40 NP have know variations. The latter a subtle colour change, while the former has a number of known differences, two of which are highlighted in the image below.

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One of the best sources of information regarding the British Stamps overprint is the GB Overprints Society, which runs a web site detailing all sorts of information. However, possibly not complete as I shall describe.

Around 1960-61 the QE II Wilding series of stamps were re-issued with the Multiple Crown watermark. However, the GB Overprints Society website omits the 9 NP stamps (shown with a red border in the image below) from the list of re-issued stamps, while it is clearly available with the multiple crown watermark, and even with the multiple crown water mark and QATAR overprint. The same being true for the variants of the 15 NP and the 40NP, both of which do exits as for the 9 NP.

The stamps with a black diagonal line through them were not issued with the QATAR overprint.

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Below are the stamps overprinted QATAR of this particular set with known variations.

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