Collecting stamps of Trucial states – a short introduction
An issue I feel great deal of interest, anguish and anger at the same time is collecting stamps from Trucial states. And no, I’m not talking about the recent Trucial countries, but the small sheikdoms like Ajman, Fujeira, Sharjah and Um-al-Qiwain that issued huge amounts of postage stamps (mainly for collectors, not for real postage needs) in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Topical stamp collecting was on the rise in the 1960/70s, and the stamps of Trucial states tried to cash in with that. These small sheikdoms issued hundreds of issues with popular topics such as birds, olympics, space, JFK, Churchill etc.
I acknowledge a lot of “serious collectors” do consider these as uttermost junk not worth saving. Especially in in the US markets these are “dirt cheap”, because Scott does not catalog these – and for many collectors that is the end of it. But that was not the case always…
Scott was not always the ruler of US stamp catalog markets. Minkus was a serious competitor too...And they issued a catalog for Trucial States.
Way back in the early 1970s all the stamp catalogs listed these, even Scott. The now extinct Minkus-Krause even went to lengths of publishing a separate catalog for these (occasionally found on eBay for 20-30$) – as the first in world . But editorial policies changed, and US collectors were thought to bias these…. But this is largely US problem. Rest of the world has never lost interest towards collecting “dune state stamps” in same extent; and I have a feeling these are making a comeback of some sorts as young collectors of 1960/70s are coming back to hobby.
Perhaps my biggest source of frustration with collecting these is lack of single excellent catalog / source of information.
AFAIK, Michel is currently the only catalog publisher providing “a somewhat complete” listing of these (their Gulf states catalog has about 1,000 pages; available in English or German through Amazon etc)…. As for other catalogs, Stanley Gibbons and Yvert do list many of the Trucial states issues either as a regular listing or as “appendix” issues. But this separated listing practise is IMHO far more difficult to use than Michel…And Scott, well it simply does not list these besides few highly specific exceptions.
But even Michel is far from perfect… For example I recently got a nice pile of Um-al-Qiwain from stamp exchange (my compliments to Richard). But putting these in place has proved nothing but easy practice. The Michel catalog listings for Um-al-Qiwain covers 1966-68 with full details and images of each stamp, from 1969 to early 1972 the listings are provided in simplified format (single stamp from set displayed, rest are individually described but no images for them), and for rest of 1972 there is nothing but “barebone listings” (just the name of set, and number and face values of stamps in set – but nothing more specific) … And as You guess, the issues I have are from 1972. When picking between several stamps sets titled “Paintings: Life of Christ”, I got the feeling that possibly the catalog editors too did not know what the actual stamps looked like. LOL.
Scans from Michel Gulf states catalog showing the best and worst scenario.
If You like topical stamps, then I’m sure stamps of Trucial States will be of interest. It is true, that some of the Trucial States stamps really look like “cheap wallpaper”. But I don’t mind, I just like lots of stamps. The more, the merrier! LOL.
Also if You like your stamps to be a challenge, then these are truly that. Building even a somewhat complete collection of these is a challenge; as no dealers stock these the same way as UK or US stamps. Each stamp has to be hunted down from misc sources… And there is always the possibility to do truly extreme and focus on postal history (meaning real used covers etc), that exist in very low quantities…And then there are of course my personal favourites, EFOs and bogus issues. They do exist in plenty with Trucial states stamps.
Finally, out of curiosity… How do You collect (or treat) stamps from the Trucial states? Do you collect them, or throw away? And why?
Join the discussion on this topic below. There are 24 responses already!
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I have not done any research on Trucial states and do not know the difference between Cinderellas, bogus, dune states, Trucial states, etc. I have been influenced by my fellow philatelists here in the US who do not appreciate them. However, I haven’t thrown out those categories, yet. I figure they might be of some use in craft projects or if I ever have grandchildren.
Hi Carol,
… do not know the difference between Cinderellas, bogus, dune states, Trucial states, etc.
I’ll share some “proper education” about these in next couple of weeks… Hopefully it will lure more active collectors to these.
Well…yes, is true what you’d say, I find this stamps ok, cause I’m gathering (as you know) those that depict famous personalities as musicians, politicians,film actors and so on, reproductions of works of art: Picasso,Rembrandt etc,etc…and these countries have millions of that stuff.
Therefore I don’t mind the actual value on the market, for me
the most important thing, when I see one of those beautiful pieces of paper is to put my hands on it…wow!
Another catalog is the “Official Trucial States Stamp Catalog 1976″ published in Italy by M. Carus. This catalog lists items not in Minkus. I’m not sure if Official contains items not in Michel.
Here’s an extensive bibliography.
http://www.ohmygosh.on.ca/stamps/dubai/article.htm
@Jeffry… Thanks for the link. Though I’ve read OhMyGosh multiple times, I had not previously checked the bibliography. Seems like a pretty “rare” book as I could not find anything online…
Keijo
You mentioned that the small arab countries issued a lots of stamps in the 60s and 70s. Has their volume decreased since then?
Since no one is seriosly collecting them, wouldn’t that make them rare in the near future?
@Aaron… Yes, on both of your questions… But of course things are never as black/white. For example defining something as rare is very subjective, and I’ll give an example…According to Michel the below 1966 Churchill stamp had a print of only 15,000 copies (and based on gut feeling I’d assume a survival rate of approx. 2/3):
Is it rare? Compared to western stamps with prints in millions of copies there is no doubt about it. But if compared to demand / supply of Ajman stamps, it is not… And valuewise I would not consider these to go up never unless something truly bizarre occurs.
Did a quite search on ebay on trucial states and there were only lesss than 50 items listed. Maybe otehr are listed under their country names. But the prices are not low. Most are above the $4/pc.
@Aaron… A quick search with country names brought up thousands of items (sets, sheets,misc. accumulations; and a handfull of covers / postal history too).
However, mn most parts the bid requests (or buy-it-now prices) are outrageously high IMHO. But there seems to be some good deals too… If I just had all the extra money (time for some daydreaming, LOL)
Youy ask what people do with these stamps. Well, as for me I tend to “collect with my eyes” – so ones that are attractrive I happily keep, but so many of the dune stamps are so ugly that I don’t bother. For instance there are some beautiful Fujeira stamps of flowers – but also some awfully printed ones of works of art etc.
@David… I like your approach… I think that for every nice looking stamp I have, there must be at least 10 not-so-nice looking ones (not to mention the occasional extremely hideous looking abominations), LOL.
Even with all three Trucial States catalogues, Michel, Official & Minkus,there are a large number of unlisted stamps, SS, etc. This has been further complicated in recient times by the Baltic States printers printing what appears to be Trucial States stamps.
I have been collecting Trucial States now for 30 years. I have been developing a master catalogue between all three commercial catalogues. I have also been trying to fill in the unlisted stamps. Anyone interested in helping with this project? Has anyone a listing of the stamps for the State of Oman and also Dhufar? To my knowledge there is no commercial catalogue of these stamps.
@Richard…
…by the Baltic States printers printing what appears to be Trucial States stamps.
I’m making a wild guess here… http://stamp-scandal.com.ar/Satas.htm (this is one of those websites every stamp collector interested of bogus stamps should be aware of).
Anyone interested in helping with this project? Has anyone a listing of the stamps for the State of Oman and also Dhufar?To my knowledge there is no commercial catalogue of these stamps.
If you need any scans, I could always try to come up with something (though my collection is likely much more limited than Yours).
Re, State of Oman and Dhufar issues… This site sums pretty much all I know of them: http://www.oman.org/phil85.htm
But I’ll send you email…
I just have to put in a reply about the Churchill stamps,
after reading your quotes on this stamp I had to go see my
collection of Ajman to see if I have it and to my pleasant
surprise I have a set of 5 that I bought in 1983 for only
three cents each, you can’t find deals like that
anymore tho !! the cheapest now is ten cents, Oh! inflation
in progress for sure, like you I keep all stamps and of course I have favorites but I can’t throw any away as they are all little treasures to me .
I have a love/hate relationship with the Dunes for the precise reasons mentioned in the article. I hate that there’s really not much information or research for this seemingly forgotten bastard cousin of our hobby. But I just love the big, gaudy, brighty, and usually overly foiled/gold printed boldness of the trucials. Ajman and Um Al being my personal favorite for the huge amounts of wildlife and classical paintings (complete with printer-added leaves to cover the nude’s modesty) they’ve issued.
I can see why people don’t generally like Dunes given then level of gaudyness some of them seem to have. But I like the contrast they make in my album next to the neat classics.
@Ann… “seemingly forgetten bastard cousin of our hobby”… That’s definitely a good definition, LOL.
I just purchased some foreign coins from an individual who offered me 30 AJMAN stamps circa 1969-1971. I know nothing about stamps, but purchased these less-than-sophisticated mini works of art on a whim. The balding elderly Abe Lincoln and the Lincoln King Kennedy portrait left me scratching my head wondering “are these for real?”
Your blog has been a welcome find. I have 12 of the
2 1/4″ x 1 1/2″ car stamps, 3 dated 1970, 9 dated 1971. I also have 4 Human Rights stamps and 5 flower stamps (which look more authentic than the others I purchased), which are postmarked 1969 . And I also have 8 smaller car stamps.
All are in excellent (by my standards) condition.
Please tell me, what might my 30 or so stamps be worth. I know there are endless variable in determining value, but can someone give me range for value?
I’ll be doing my homework right now to see what esle I can learn. Thanks much, I appreciate any and all help!
Phil
@Phil Mammina… I fear they are pretty much the worth the paper they are printed on. Personally I would pay maybe a 1US$ for 30 Ajman stamps (assuming I didn’t have them) , and even that would be a bit on the high end as I could somewhat easily purchase a bulk lot and pay only a fraction of cent per stamp… If somebody’s desperate for any of these specific stamps you have, he/she might be happy to pay say 2-3$ for the lot….So in the end it’s a question of demand and supply (and condition) – no simple answer with this one I fear.
But try finding any of these on commercially used cover – normally from the British Bank of the Middle east (and I don’t mean from their POs – and you will have a hundred pounds plus cover as a minimum.
Hi Keijo,
I just sent you an email in regards to the Trucial stamps. I recently came into possession of a large amount of them and need some help.
Ok. Will check my mail later today…
I have not seen your blog before and found the article on Trucial States stamps, and the comments, very interesting. My interest stems from a long-running (getting on for 20 years) thematic (topical) collection of domestic cats on stamps that I have assembled; the Trucial States produced a number of sets and items of interest to this theme, but not a vast number such as there are, for example, for Space. Some are still very easy to find, some much less so — and some have so far proved impossible to locate! That is orobably most people’s experience. I have all the catalogues mentioned, but descriptions tend to be very basic, and often there’s no illustration. I have, over the years, managed to find several postally used covers with cat stamps, and those I’m very pleased with.
Does anyone have any tips as to where to look for these missing items, apart from ebay and similar auction sites? Does any dealer in the world keep the !960s/70s Trucial stamps? I used to deal occasionally with Michael Rogers of the Winter Park Stamp Shop in Florida, but after a while I exhausted what he had that was of interest to me, and he didn’t seem to acquire anything new.
Keep up the good work!
Patrick
Have you tried a simple Google search for those? Surprisingly many stamps can be found simply by Googling the country name + year + catalog name + catalog number.
Pretty unlikely, but not impossible. Last year an Canadian ex-dealer sent me email asking if I would be interested in buying a large stock for Trucial states stamps – all mint. As I collect used/CTO only, the decision was easy. Even though it would have been used, I would have likely turned the offer down as I collect with shoestring budget.
Thanks for the tip. Didn’t find anything immediately useful, but my travels led me to a couple of sites that other people might find useful (although they had hardly any cats!). http://www.hanmart.pl in Poland has a fair selection of Trucial stamps, and their website can be viewed in English. http://www.poppe-stamps.com in the Philippines seems to have a good selection of Ajman, but not the other Trucials. http://www.silverdalen.se/stamps/ of Sweden have a selection of Trucial items.
Patrick