United Arab Emirates - Who Knew?

I've been putting together pages of stamps to sell at my stamp club 'member's table' and figured I'd put in a page of items from the UAE. I figured they wouldn't be worth much, and I have a bunch so what better way to try to get rid of some.
But I'm quite taken aback at what some of these are getting for catalogue prices.
This little puppy catalogues at $12.00 used!




I mean...REALLY???
I always thought these were throw away stamps, and quite honestly, it's 'fugly!'
What gives? Any ideas?

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. How many examples do you suppose were genuinely used? Three?



Not my thing, but I bet you'd look a long time for a used one.

My club does youth programs from time to time, and I put a number of '60s and '70s stamps on 102 cards to give some practice using the Scott catalogues. I was surprised that a few of them had fairly significant catalogue values, as I'd never looked them up, myself.

The United Arab Emirates replaced the 7 "Sand Dunes" and quickly gained respectability that the Dunes never had - plus they are used for postal purposes, without question. In this wealthy region, it is no surprise that demand has exploded and catalog values have kept pace accordingly. Also, UAE high values on piece should be left on piece, not soaked off (10% - 20% premium).

Here's a follow up to this one. I've still got a couple of these UAE stamps. One is now posted on ebay, and with 3.5 days to go until the count down, it has received 61 views. No bids or watches, but most of my other pieces achieve half a dozen viewings at most. Especially at this stage in the game. There's something about these that draw some people... even if they aren't buying, they are looking. Hmmm.

Here's an old 1988 NY Times article about the Trucial States and UAE Stamps and what to look out for:

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/28/s...-states.html

to Cjd -
Don't mix up the unauthorized flood of topical stamps from the Trucial States with the valid postaly issued stamps. There are some very scarce issues from the 1960's and 1970's. Look in Scott for UAE 1-12 $750 mint. Trucial States 1-11 Stanley Gibbons 35 Pounds mint 65 Pounds used. Also the first issues of Abu Dhabi, Scott 1-11 and the very scarce 15-25 of which only 3000 sets issued.

the UAE traffic stamp that you comment on has a catalog value of 17 Pounds mint and 10 Pounds used in the Stanley Gibbons middle east catalog. It may not be your 'thing' but your comment suggests you have preconceived ideas about this popular area.
I'm pretty certain there are more than 3 used examples of the stamp you commented on.
Scan is the UAE high values to the set 1-12.