Taking us back to a time when stamp collecting was big business allows us to see why the hobby declined. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This style of stamp issue is called a dune. It is not recognized as a real stamp by the catalogs as they were printed outside the tiny Emirate and the designs had nothing whatever to do with the country. The Emir had merely outsourced his possibility of producing stamps. The designs are well printed but done for dramatic visuals rather than inform about exotic places. It is thought by many that having children involved in the hobby insured the future. Instead playing to them chased off the adults and left even real countries modern offerings resemble Sharjah’s stamps.
Sharjah is a tiny Emirate on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. For many years the principle industry was pearl diving. It has been ruled by the Al-Qasimi clan since the early 18th century. Soon after the Emirate became a protectorate of Great Britain which was chosen over a similar status offered by the Ottoman Empire. The British built an airport in Sharjah as it was a useful stopover from planes going between Baghdad and India. The British also handled the postal system with a civilian post office in nearby Dubai and a military one operating out of Sharjah’s airport.
As the British faded the local Emirs began negotiating toward what became the United Arab Emirates. In the time several Emirs became involved in the big money stamp business of the 1960s thanks to the efforts of American businessman Finbar Kenny. Finbar Kenny had been an executive at the American department store Macys. He was head of their stamps department. I will give you a moment to collect yourself after falling out of your chair. Yes at the time department stores often had stamps departments. The innovation came in the 1930s when Minkus first set up his card tables near the elevators of department stores. This would occupy the children so the mothers could shop. It may have something to do with some collectors not collecting stamps produced after World War II.
Finbar Kelly then went out on his own. He made deals with Emirs to produce stamps in their name. In the case of Manama, it was just a tiny village. He designed dramatic stamps that would attract the young and printed them in great quantity. The coming together of the UAE was the end of these deals in 1973. Finbar Kelly then approached the Cook Islands with a similar deal. The commissions were to support old age pensions on the island. Soon the trouble started. A Prime Minister approached Finbar Kelly and asked for an advance on the revenue which he was given. He used the money to fly in voters to the small island to sway the election his way. The Supreme Court of the islands discovered what happened and removed the Prime Minister. They then remembered the money and went after Finbar Kelly for bribery. They made him double pay that years stamp revenue and pay an additional fine of $50,000. Apparently it was his fault that they are a bunch of crooks. Well probably so for having involved himself.
Well my drink is empty but I will pour another to toast Finbar Kelly. His stamp issues probably hurt the hobby more than helped it and even 50 years later are not worth anything. They were dramatic and who doesn’t like looking at unlicensed reproductions of modern art. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.