Elaborate philatelic covers

Knowing what to look for allows us to identify same rarer covers that might otherwise seem simply elaborate philatelic covers with little collectible value.

The below is one such example.

Known Plate Flaws

The British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia issued stamps have a number of known plate flaws.

Below is one such example from the 1957 Scout Jamboree overprinted 'QATAR'.

There are a few more such examples - if you have one please feel free to share.

Department of Posts

Qatar took over the Postal Service from the British Postal Agency for Eastern Arabia in 1963.

As such the covers below would be some of the first to be mailed by the newly created Department of Post and the top two covers by coincidence also include stamps belonging to the first two issues of Qatar after the takeover.

From Doha to St. Xavier's High School.

A simple cover from Qatar via Bahrain to a well known school in Mumbai, India. The mailing from Qatar for a ling period of time had to go through Bahrain.

It would be interesting to learn what was inside the letter, perhaps a little story of life in Qatar for publication in the School's Magazine "The Morning Star"

Perhaps one of my readers would be able to access the school and find out.

Diamonds in the Rough

When we start collecting, sometimes we commit errors without knowing, or at least I certainly did.

The fragment of cover with a full set of Qatar 1961 Definitive stamps overprinted J.F. Kennedy cancelled on the First Day of Issue shows that I was not the only one to cut up covers to extra the stamps.

This particular set of stamps on a FD today is a highly prized item by collectors.

One of Qatar's oldest pharmacies.

The 1950's saw the opening of Qatar's first dispensary and hospital. The cover below is one of the first I have seen related to one of Qatar's oldest pharmacies still in operation, operated by a family that had at the time pharmacists, general doctors, surgeons and so on. click on the image below to learn a little more.

 

Qatar AFC 2023 Champions

Qatar's historic retaining of the AFC champion's title has been marked by a set of stamps as shown below.

Qatar is only the fifth team to hold onto the cup (the other 4 teams are listed below).

Cover from Germany to Qatar, South East Arabia

Cover from Germany to Qatar with a few interesting items.

The red town hall stamp is from West Berlin enclave. Making this a rare 1959 cover to Qatar, in particular in that it places Qatar in South East Arabia.

The recipient of the cover is a Mr. A.B. D'Souza, better known in Qatar philately for a series of friendship covers.

 

1966 - Red Overprint - Low Ink

A rare example of a set of stamps which exhibit the printing press running low in ink.

Although there are known examples of fake red overprints in this particular stamp issue, this is not the case in the examples shown here in.

Qatar Law Courts

This cover was mailed just five days prior to Qatar's Independence.

Prior to the Independence Qatar had established its own constitution (First Interim Basic Law 1970), thereby creating all require internal organs such as Judicial System, Foreign Ministry (Department of Foreign Affairs - 1969).

The court system is a dual system compromised of Sharia and Adlia. The first has exclusive jurisdiction for family law matters, while the second follows more the Napoleonic Code common in most Middle East countries.

 

Qatar National Day

 Today, is Qatar's National Day.

A day to remember Qatar's Founder - H. H. Sheikh Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Bin Thani.

The date is generally celebrated with much festivities, including Military parade, fireworks and so on. However, in an expression of solidarity with the people of Palestine, much of these year's celebrations were cancelled.

Below is a small explanation on the reasoning of choosing today as Qatar's National Day.

Please feel free to correct me.

The Eastern Bank - Doha, Qatar

The very first bank to open its doors in Qatar was the Eastern Bank.

It took 4 years from the  idea to the actual opening the first doors.

The idea began with the Bahrain Manager of The Eastern Bank. This was subsequently discussed at high levels both in Doha and London prior to fruition.

Hence a cover from the Eastern Bank Bahrain to The Eastern Bank Doha helps to complete the circle.

The Traditional Dhow Festival - Qatar

Sometimes my collecting goes a little off and I get an unusual cover that relates to Qatar.

Such as this United Nations First Day Cover for a 1988 series of stamps featuring Flags of the World.

In this particular cover, we see the Flag of Qatar along with a cachet of a traditional Arabic boat - the Dhow.

The Eastern Bank Doha

The Eastern Bank Doha first opened its door to the public in 1950 and remained in operations until 1971 when it got absorbed by the Standard Chartered Bank.

The New Currency was introduced in Qatar in the last quarter of 1966, and as can be seen in the upper cover, the usage of stamps bearing the old and new currency remained possible for a long time.

A Neil Donaldson Cover

The man who created the main reference textbook for philately in the Gulf States is best know as Neil Donaldson. But his full name is Alec Neil Donaldson.

This may have allowed this cover to be sold without collectors realising its true significance.

Please click on the two images below to learn more about it, and about the man himself.

Qatar Marching Military Band.

If you take some time, you can find interesting stories in just about any cover.

Here is a short story on the Qatar Marching Military Band

1960 Cover to Lisbon, Portugal

I  have been looking for one such cover for a long time. After all, it is nice to connect the story to my home country.

Although covers to Portuguese India, at that time, were very common, to Portugal itself, surprisingly are very rare.

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.