This one is a little confusing. Manama is the name of a fairly large city in Bahrain. This is not that place. This is the tiny agricultural village that pledges to the United Arab Emirates by way of the Emir of Ajman. Current population is five thousand. 1900 population 50. 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 so called dune stamps are considered fake as they were printed by an outsider by a place that really are not countries, just sand dunes. The fact was though the leader or the area did sign the deal and open post offices. When the United Arab Emirates took over the postal system, the stamps of the dune places were valid for postage for another six months. All sounds pretty real to me. Plus doesn’t this stamp capture the excitement buzzing in Manama during the leadup to the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico City. The biggest occupation in period Manama was bee keeping, so hopefully they weren’t too distracted.
Finbar Kenny had been the head of the stamp department of the American Macys chain of department stores. Department stores had previously seen the wisdom of allowing a card table near the elevator where a person would try to interest children in stamp collecting. Mothers could leave their children and shop in peace. The idea for this was originated by the old Minkus stamp album publisher. Finbar Kenny was interested in becoming an important stamp dealer. When Great Britain ended their postal service for the Trucial States in 1963, Kenny was ready. He approached the Emirs of Um al Quain, Fugeria and Ajman with the idea of independent post offices with the stamp revenue divided 50/50 with the Emirs.
The Emir of Ajman, a poorer area, had the idea to increase his revenue further. He would open an additional post office in Manama that would offer separate stamp issues. The Trucial states in earlier times had relied economically on pearl diving, but that industry moved to Japan. The Emir of Ajman started promoting Manama as the potential bread basket of Ajman. Papaya and a few lemon trees were planted on the sand dune by the local Sharqiyin tribe.
Discovering so many new countries did not go too well for Finbar Kenny personally. The Dune stamps ended with the forming of the UAE in 1972. Interestingly one of the first things the UAE had to do was bring into line the rebellious Sharqiyin tribe. Kenny still had the contract to produce stamps for the Cook Islands. The Prime Minister of Cook then approached Kenny and asked for a loan secured by future stamp revenue to fund his reelection campaign. Kenny made the loan thinking he did not have a choice. The Supreme Court of Cook then decided that the loan was a bribe and an attempt to throw an election. So Kenny got the honor of paying Cook a fine of $60,000.
Authorities were not done with Finbar Kenny. The USA had just passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that made it illegal in the USA for Americans to offer bribes overseas and charged Kenny over the Cook Island situation. Kenny was the first to plead guilty under the act. At least he didn’t go to jail.
Well my drink is empty. I wonder if a postal patron at the post office in Manama today can still buy any of the old issues. It was a long time ago but the same building. Come again soon when there will be a new story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.