United Arab Emirates

Here I am again, back at the blog. Not a lot of cards for this time though. I received just 2 cards in today's mail and both are from the United Arab Emirates - one from Sharjah and one from Ajman.
First a little history of the Emirates. The U.A.E. is located in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federation of seven emirates. They are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. They entered into their federation in 1971.

The first card is from Sharjah, showing a number of views of the city. Tall buildings, sand, water and warm temperatures. The stamps are interesting, at least one of them. Let's first have a look at the other one. The large stamp on the right was issued in 2006 and is 1 of 6 in a set showing Women's Traditional Jewellery. The other stamp is actually an old Sharjah & Dependences Airmal stamp from 1964. Sharjah's dependencies included Dhiba, Khor Fakkan and Kalba. The stamp shows Kalba Castle and is 1 in a set of 6. Even more interesting is the fact that it is overprinted "KHOR FAKKAN ". Khor Fakkan is a town located along the Gulf of Oman on the east side of the Emirates. Khor Fakkan belongs to the emirate of Sharjah but is geographically surrounded by the emirate of Fujairah.

Now here's the second card of today. It is from tiny Ajman, the smallest of the seven emirates. On this card you can see the Ajman Fort and Museum. The museum was opened in 1981 in a beautiful old eighteenth century fort that served as the Ruler's Palace until 1970. Housed in the museum is a collection of artifacts, manuscripts, old weapons and reconstructions of traditional life. And the stamps- the stamp on the left is from a set of 7 Bird definitives. The one on the right is again from that 2006 Jewellery set of 6.

Thanks go out to Jean Pierre for both of these cards.

A further word about the stamps , from the stamp collector in me. I have collected stamps for more than 40 years. Never collected the stamps of the seven emirates before they joined together in 1971. Their stamps were referred to and still are referred to as Sand Dunes. The only copies one might see were CTO or cancelled to order, not my cup of tea. Most of the time you couldn't give them away. These places are almost totally blank in my albums and that's fine, but now to get a stamp from Sharajah & Dependencies , postally used after 48 years , on a postcard is fine, too. I welcome it to my collection. So there you have it.

A short update today, but a good one if I say so myself. Take care, enjoy your postcards, and stamps and again, thanks Jean Pierre.