Dubai, 50 Different Stamps

Nine Years of Stamps from a Gulf Sheikhdom
50 Different Stamps from Dubai

Dubai issued its own postage stamps for nine years — from June 1963, when the emirate took over its own postal service from British administration, until December 1972, when it joined the newly formed United Arab Emirates and its stamps were superseded by federal UAE issues. In those nine years, the emirate produced a colorful, wide-ranging catalog aimed at the international collector market, covering subjects that had little to do with the Persian Gulf and everything to do with what stamp collectors worldwide wanted to find in their packets.

The stamps are inscribed "DUBAI" in both English and Arabic, denominated in dirhams, naye paise, and riyals depending on the era, and printed in the vivid offset lithography typical of collector-market issues of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Contents vary from packet to packet, but here are some stamps and topics likely to appear:

• Apollo 11 moon landing — Dubai issued a commemorative in December 1969 marking the first manned moon landing, featuring the famous image of astronauts on the lunar surface with the US flag and the Earth visible in the background, inscribed "Here Men from the Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon — July 1969." Moon landing stamps from small Gulf states are consistently popular with space topical collectors.
• Wildlife — birds, butterflies, and tropical fish — Dubai's nature series covered fauna from well beyond the Gulf region. A large blue butterfly, tropical marine fish, and bird definitives appear across the catalog, produced in bright colors that made them attractive to topical collectors worldwide.
• Flowers — botanical illustrations of garden and wildflowers, including Catharanthus (periwinkle) and other species, are part of Dubai's flora definitive series.
• Old Master paintings — Madonna and Child — reproductions of European religious art, including a Madonna with Child composition, were common across the Trucial States catalogs of this era. Dubai issued several series reproducing famous paintings, popular with art topical collectors.
• UNICEF 25th Anniversary (5 Riyals) — a stamp marking the 25th anniversary of UNICEF, depicting children at play, from Dubai's series of international organization commemoratives.
• Mother's Day (1 Riyal, 21 March 1968) and Dubai automatic telephone exchange — domestic commemoratives documenting the emirate's own milestones alongside the international topicals.

Fifty stamps from a nine-year window in Gulf history — colorful, varied, and now closed for good. Order today.