I like the "lionticular" stamp. Deeply strange, and would be lovely to see one on cover...
The UPU stamp which Rod showed was one
of a series
of unissued and unapproved stamps prepared for the Moutawakilite
Kingdom of Yemen between 1947 and 1949 by E.A. Wright
of Philadelphia. Imam Yahya objected to them on two grounds: firstly they went against a general tenet
of Islam that they carried a human image, and secondly that they specifically carried his image, which he refused to have photographed during his lifetime. He was assasinated in 1948, so he didn't have the chance to continue objecting.
Here are the unissued stamps that I'm aware
of, starting in 1947 with the commemoration
of the admission
of Yemen into the United Nations. They were prepared as postage, air mail and postage due.
The UPU stamps come with matching se-tenant labels, postage and airmail, as perf. 12-1/2, perf 12-1/2 x 6, and imperf. These are the perf. 12-1/2 stamps:
Another UPU commemorative stamp was prepared by the State Printing Works in Vienna but never issued. It is apparently much scarcer than the previous unissued stamps and may only be limited to a few sheetlets from presentation booklets; you can see staple marks on the left-hand side. On the essays with the
Yemeni flag, the frame is recess-printed and the centre photo, apart from the design with the Imam's portrait which is entirely recess-printed. I suspect there are more
of these essays in existence, but haven't checked with the printer's archives yet.
The design was eventually used in 1952 for issued stamps to commemorate the 4th anniversary
of the accession
of King Ahmed.
Posted 11/11/2010 8:34 pm
