18th November 2011 Apologies for any delays in posting orders and for lack of updates on the website during the past couple of months, due to family illness & bereavement. Some new issues from Iraq & Syria will appear on the website shortly, along with two FDC's for the Palestinian Authority Ramadan Kareem miniature sheets. 1st November 2011 [1] By the end of this month the website, emails, updates, etc; will be back on track. [2}There are rumours of new issues from both Gaza and Ramallah commemorating the recent prisoner exchange and Yasser Arafat respectively. Now all we have to do is wait and see. [3]Delays in obtaining new issues from Ramallah are due to the postal delivery 'system' to the Palestinian Authority. For instance, a registered letter sent from the UK to Bir Zeit, Ramallah, which was posted on the 26/6/2011 has receiving handstamps dated 26/7/2011 from Central Sorting and 27/06/2-11 from Bir Zeit. Assuming the letter arrived in Israel within 3-4 days of posting, where had it lingered for over three weeks? 19 September 2011 Ony two items at present. 1] Israel closed the Erez border crossing again about a week ago and ordinary mail and courier shipments are all being held up and these include the latest consignment of stamps sent to me. 2] Due to serious illness in my family the website updates will be delayed and replies to emails could be delayed. As soon as either situation changes I'll post details on this blog. Thank you 1st August 2011 For the past few months the Gaza authorities have been preparing further stamp issues which for various reasons were delayed. Perhaps the major event was to be the issue to be released to coincide with the arrival of the 'Gaza Freedom Flotilla' which never arrived due to Israel's connivance with the Greek government. However, three issues are being put on sale in the Gaza post office today, the first day of August, which is the beginning of the Holy month of Ramadan [1/9/1432 in the Islamic calendar]. The three issues are 'Year of Youth' with FDC's dated 17/3/2011, '63rd Anniversary of Nakba' [The formation of Israel in 1948 is referred to as Nakba - the disaster], and 'Freedom Flotilla Martyrs' in memory of the nine Turkish peace activists killed by the Israeli IDF during the interception of the 2010 Gaza Peace Flotilla. A recent email from the Palestinian Authority philatelic bureau in Ramallah confirmed that Israel was still blocking mail so they were unable to send me stamps from the West Bank. The appalling Baathist regime in Syria seem to have actually improved their postal system as today I received a registered letter from Damascus which was posted 6 days ago on the 27th July. Similar registered letters received during the past few years have usually taken three weeks to reach me but possibly there is very little mail being handled these days. According to contacts in Iraq the conditions are getting worse, not better. Royal Mail in the UK still refuse to handle registered mail to Iraq yet other European countries do so. Mind you, after Royal Mail's latest round of price increases registered - or 'signed for' insured mail sent overseas will become a thing of the past. Loads of bogus middle-east and WWF stamps are still being offered on websites and on Ebay - see my October 2010 blog - so check out all items which you consider unusual or suspicious before you buy. 11th March 2011 and some catching up to do. Apparently people do read this blog so perhaps it should be updated more often. During the past months several items of note, some tragic, have occurred. A well known Christian stamp dealer in Baghdad was murdered and his body found in his freezer and another part-time dealer has left the country with his wife after she was seriously wounded and evacuated to Italy for medical treatment after the murderous & cowardly attack on the Christian congregation inside the church in Baghdad. They have now been granted asylum in Europe. From Gaza we have seen four new stamp issues with accompanying miniature sheets and FDC's, all designed and printed in Gaza, while from the Ramallah Palestinian Authority the first new issues since 2007 appeared at Christmas time. In the UK postal charges are due to rise again and this just after the January vat increase. The cost of sending small packets overseas will be such that it will very soon be cheaper to use couriers such as DHL & Fedex, but at least this will mean faster deliveries and the packets will be collected, so no more standing in Post Office queues. Some Arab Post Day issues from the Palestinian Authority are finding their way on to the market so it will be interesting to discover where they have been kept these past years, and who had them. Will the Al Quds issues also appear? 15th October 2010 - Postcards to Gaza by boat. Among the many organisations and individuals backing the proposed sailing of a Canadian Boat to Gaza are the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Independant Jewish Voices, and Jews For a Just Peace. Anyone wishing to send a postcard [no letters] to someone in Gaza should send it to: Canadian Boat to Gaza C.P. 92087, Portobello Brossard, Quebec J4W 3K8 Canada For more information visit the website www.canadaboatgaza.org 15th October 2010 - Israelis release Erez Crossing post. According to information just received, on Monday 11th October Israel has again allowed entry and exit of mail to and from Gaza. My correspondent visited the post office in Gaza and found hundreds of bags full of letters which had all been held at the Erez crossing for up to five months. 13 October 2010 - Royal Mail sell out Business Secretary Vince Cable, publishing the Postal Services Bill, stated that overseas firms will be among those allowed to buy 90% of the Royal Mail, with 10% going in shares to postal workers. I find it strange that UK companies & institutions are sold off as unprofitable &/or in deep debt, but within a few years of foreign management emerge as profitable businesses. Any bets that when TNT or Deutchspost replace the useless inept bunch who've been running [or should that be ruining?] Royal mail for the past few years things will start looking up again? October 2010 - More bogus & illegal "stamps" on UK website Some weeks ago I received an email asking whether some Palestinian issues offered on a UK website which claims to be the largest thematic website in Europe were genuine, so I took a peek at the website. The stamps in question were indeed bogus; dozens of them. I emailed the proprietor and advised him of the nature of the stamps to which he replied to the effect that he knew that, and that they were priced accordingly and that he sold anything thematic whether they were stamps or not, and that his business was thematics which just happens to include stamps. Although the seller claims to have 60 years philatelic experience it's a pity he doesn't describe these labels, for this is what they really are, as being fake/bogus/illegal in his sales lists. Would he accept payment in Monopoly money I wonder? After all, it is 'money'. Also listed on his website are dozens of phoney WWF issues [more labels] from fictitious countries such as Adjaria, Altaj Republic, Dikson Isle, Jewish Republic, and many, many more. The fact that these pieces of junk have the WWF logo and so are bogus/illegal issues is not mentioned although as some have the wording "World Wide Found For Nature" literate collectors should not have much trouble recognising them as rubbish. Both the fake Palestian Authority and WWF issues are listed and mingled with genuine issues but there is no indication that they are not genuine. The official WWF agency in Switzerland is now aware of the WWF offerings on the website and regards them as bogus and illegal. If uncertain about the validity of any Palestinian Authority or WWF stamps offered on websites or internet auctions collectors should either check Stanley Gibbons or Michel catalogues [or email me], and any collectors of WWF issues should visit www.wwfstamp.com/ which is the official WWF website in Switzerland which has an English version to view. THE WWF website has this to say about illegal stamps We have informed for quite some time on our Website about illegal stamps with the WWF Panda Logo. Unfortunately, there are still illegal stamps produced and sold. These illegal issues are neither postally valid stamps, nor are they authorised by WWF International and Groth AG. They are not taken up in the leading stamps catalogues Groth, Domfil, Gibbons, Michel, Scott and Yvert. Our advice is, that collectors should not purchase these illegal issues. They are not worth more then the paper they are printed on. We are working together the UPU (Union Postale) and with WWF International to publish a press release that will be sent to all Philatelic Newspapers. So you've been warned. There are dealers who sometimes offer bogus & fake stamps or labels but they genuinely don't realise the true status of the items that are offering, and then there are long standing dealers who knowingly offer junk material knowing that it is absolutely worthless pap but who deliberately fail to describe it as such. Look up Clive Harold Feigenbaum on Wikepedia to read about one such well known fraudster. In 1970 Feigenbaum was expelled from the U.K.'s The Philatelic Traders Society for "selling labels resembling stamps without indicating that they were not genuine postage stamps". The UK owner of the thematic website referred to above is not a member of any UK philatelic trade organisation. 18th September 2009 - Emirates Philatelic Association names dealer selling fakes on Ebay. Several months ago months fake aerogrammes from the UAE were being offered for sale on Ebay by Tony Helou from Beirut. The Emirates Philatelic Association has quite rightly taken great exception to these activities and issued bulletins with details of the fake items. To view the bulletins and avoid being misled, or even worse being ripped off, visit these links. Circular PDF 1st Forgery report PDF 2nd Forgery Report contains details and scans of stamp forgeries being offered on Ebay Download PDF 18th August 2009. Jerusalem - City of Arabic Culture will be a joint issue from many Arab countries and so far Iraq and Syria have issued stamps. The official Palestinian Authority issue is still held up by the Israelis and the Hamas issue has been snapped up by dealers. Read more about the event and why the Pal. Authority stamps have not been issued. click here then click here 18th August 2009. A few comments about the recent SG Part 19:M. The International Philatelic Glossary in the new catalogue has included Arabic in the languages used but unfortunately the Arabic is typed backwards and reads from left to right. Whatever happened to proof reading and quality control? The Palestinian Authority 1995 handstamped overprints which very few people has ever seen are still included, and strangely only one value of the 1998 Mahmoud Darwish set of four, the 350 Fils, is shown. In my view many recent Saudi Arabia issues are vastly overpriced. e.g. £60 for the 2008 Arab Post Day? Come on, pull the other one. 4th August 2009: Stanley Gibbons release 7th edition of their Part 19 Middle-East catalogue. Retail price £42.50. Significant price rises noted for many items. 2nd August 2009. Iraq release stamps & ms "Jerusalem, Capital of Arab Culture". Israel has prevented the release of a similarly named issue by the Palestinian Authority which has been printed in Tunisia. Hamas printed and issued their own version in Gaza during July 2009 [see 'Palestinian Authority' page on website]. The Israelis have also prevented the release of a Palestinian Authority "Arab Post Day" stamp which was a joint issue by Arab League countries. |
| This website is in a state of
constant growth and change. and is primarily a site about
philatelic material from middle-east Arabian countries . It is
intended to be also a source of new philatelic information from
the middle-east. Philatelic history in the making, so to speak.
There are many excellent well researched and well written volumes
about specialised philatelic aspects of the area, particulary the
postal history, but hardly any of these publications cover modern
issues - philatelic or political - which will be recorded on this
website. The whole area is currently in a state of political
upheaval after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, but since the first
civilisations that we know about established themselves along the
banks of the Euphrates and Tigris and wrote letters on baked clay
tablets long before Abraham, or Ibrahim, was a twinkle in his
father's eye the area has been in a state of almost constant
flux. The postal history has been as fascinating as the political history. Probably the first organised posts were established in those distant times by Cyrus the Great who built post-houses along his roads, each post-house being a day's ride on a horse. The first Pony Express! Recent happenings in the area have their own philatelic stories. Purchases of modern stamps from Iran, and until recently Iraq, were banned in the USA as trade sanctions were imposed on these states. Stamps issued by the Palestinian Authority, although not recognised by the UPU until last year, have been in use since 1994 on both internal and external mail. Local stamp issues were printed and used in Iraqi Kurdistan prior to the deposing of Saddam Hussein, as were a few in Iranian Kurdistan in the early 1920's. The area is rich in modern philatelic interest. When possible I'll give details of unusual stories about issues as they happen, such as the problems faced when printing the first Iraqi issue after the 2003 invasion and the reasons for the appearance of varieties. If not recorded somewhere then such stories will be lost. |
| Illustrations show recent issues of stamps plus items from my own collection/accumalation which I am now selling. As an inveterate collector of stamps, books, and other collectibles during my travels I am now 'selling up'and restricting my own collecting to just a few countries where I have friends and contacts to supply stamps. More recent issues from these countries will be available but in very small quantities. If you are looking for scarce, rare, or unusual items then let me know your 'wants' anyway as I do have good philatelic contacts who just might be able to supply you with your sought after material. |
Currencies: Prices in many of the sales lists are given in GB Pounds, US Dollars, and Euros. Some browsers are unable to correctly display the symbols for GB Pounds, US Dollars and Euros so here is what they will look like on your display: GBP...£ USD...$ Euros...€ Because currencies fluctuate the 'base' price is in GB Pounds and the US Dollar and Euro prices are shown as very approximate guides to cost in those currencies. When the pages are updated prices will be in GB Pounds only Language & terms used: While I attempt to keep things simple yet understandable to all site visitors the spelling is UK English [through, and not thru, centre and not center, ect;] and UK philatelic terms are used. Miniature sheet is used and not souvenir sheet. um = mnh, mm = hm. CTO = pre cancelled. Pages As items are sold the pages will be updated & the sold items either marked as 'sold' or removed from pages, but there is a certain 'lag factor'in updating pages so please email to ascertain the availability of items you might wish to buy. Catalogue references. When possible I give Stanley Gibbons, Scott, and Michel reference numbers. When any of these are not given then I'll give a description and picture of the stamps or miniature sheets to help you identify them. Because Scott do not issue specialised area catalogues no Scott numbers will be shown for issues later than those shown in the Scott 2001 cats. Michel references will be shown from the 2007/2008 Naher Osten edition of their specialised catalogue. SG references are from Part 19 [Middle East 6th edition] of 2005 but are being updated from the 2009 7th edition, and Part 16 [Central Asia - 4th Edition] of 2006. If I have managed to confuse you or if you have any questions about the site or its content, Magan Stamps, or middle-east philately then please email and I will will try to help you. |
| I hope that you enjoy browsing
the site and if you feel that you have some interesting
information about any stamps from the countries listed then
please send details and I'll publish them - with your permission
of course. Why Magan Stamps? Magan or Makan is the name an ancient land in the vicinity of what now the U.A.E and Oman and as I spent a number of years in both countries I thought it an appropriate name. |