In 1969 Oman was known as the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. That name was about to be shortened to Oman as the Sultinate was facing attacks from pan Arabist from South Yemen and wanted to present themselves as a united country. Nearest I can tell this stamp does not emanate from the rebelling area of Dhofar, just another one of those 60s fake stamp promoters. 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.
These small royalist enclaves were sure hotbeds of fake stamps. We have covered the stamps of the no longer in power Royal government of North Yemen here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/ . and Finbar Kenny’s “Dune” stamps here, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/10/sharjah-lets-you-enjoy-modern-art-thanks-to-finbar-kenny/ . Since this is not a real stamp there is no catalog value or official issue date.
The postal history of the area is interesting with the first post offices opened by the British East India company in Muscat. Muscat was a trading post city ruled by a Sultan while the interior area was known as Oman and had much autonomy to have a more traditional religious government under an Imam. The Sultans Royal House also controlled the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar until it was conquered by Tanganyika in 1964, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/ . The discovery of oil in the interior led to a period of war as the Imam had to be displaced so that the oil revenue would go to the Sultan. This pitted the Sultan and his backers in Iran and Great Britain against the Iman and his backers in Saudi Arabia. The Muscat Sultan won that battle and the Iman went into exile. He tried and failed to get international recognition for his Imamate of Oman.
Having won that battle did not make everything rosy. In the 1960s, the traditional governments faced a growing threat from Marxist pan-Arabist that viewed the Sultans, Kings, and Emirs as illegitimate and tools of colonialists and economic exploiters. The pan-Arabist had come to power in neighboring South Yemen and there was an immediate pulling away of the trading post of Aden into a bigger all Arab but no longer trading city. South Yemen immediately started funding separatists in the neighboring region of Dhofar. Muscat had much more oil than Yemen and if you are not going to trade, the money must come from somewhere.
Muscat and Oman had to modernize to meet this new threat. Part of this was taking the name of Oman. The oil and loss of Zanzibar had shifted the country already from coastal trading to cashing the checks of interior oil wells and the deeply religious of the interior were natural rivals of the “infidel” pan-Arabists flooding in from Yemen. Part of the modernizing was Qaboos bin Said overthrowing his father. This was mostly bloodless except the old Sultan managed to shoot one of the coup plotters. Unfortunately for him while cocking his pistol he also shot himself in the foot. The old castle had of course lots of escape tunnels but when your coup plotter is your son he knows them all too and now with a hurt foot, you are not so fast moving. The old Sultan was captured and signed the abdication papers. Oil wealth then allowed him to live out his years at a suite in the Dorchester hotel in London.
Again with military help from Britain and Shah era Iran, Oman was able to defeat the Yemenis in Dhofar. The focus on the interior of Oman versus the trading of Muscat remained. Muscat is not a modern trading post in the manner of Dubai or Qatar. Qaboos bin Said remained Sultan till his death early this year. The oil will eventually run out. His legacy might be tarnished by not putting in place a system that can remain prosperous without the oil.
Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait till tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.