The Bible

That would be great, because I don't own a Israel catalogue.



Yes, I thought that too
But then again, I don't know how creation looks like in Islam. I have to read the Koran again, maybe Adam and Eve appear there too.
That Jesus-thing indeed is very strange. While they accept him as a prophet, they don't see him as God in the flesh.
Korea and Vietnam seem to be more "consistant" there, I don't have any stamps from both with religious topics.

Perhaps it is because the Dunes have been made in the USA and Europe and never have been even close to the Arab peninsula let alone that they were used on actual mail in Yemen, Abu Dhabi and who knows what all these places are called...

Jan-Simon, I've noticed most of my stamps from those places are in unusally good shape, compared to most of my others. Maybe that's why?

In the big ebay lots I buy, there are always a lot in them, even the "used" ones look great, hmmm..

Stefani, that sort of stamps are always used as fillers...

Here is some info I took from a website (http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~bjornmu/rcsfaq/ch11.html):

The typical `dune' was a small Arab emirate that contracted with a European or American commercial enterprise to produce stamps. The printers chose topics quantities and distribution outlets designed to maximize profits. Often, stuff was issued with several varieties (imperf, overprints, etc...) to improve sales. Since the `issuing' countries actually existed, and a handful of the stamps sometimes made their way into the country's post offices they can't quite be called bogus, but their legitimacy is marginal at best.

They fall into three general groupings, the Trucial States, the Federation of South Arabia, and the (North) Yemeni Civil War.

Trucial States.

There were seven Trucial States, all of which are now member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. When the British withdrew their management of postal service in the area c1964, each emirate began issuing their own stamps. One (Abu Dhabi) maintained a reasonable issuing policy and doesn't count as a `dune,' but the rest went wild. The smallest (Ajman) apparently holds the world all-time one-year record at 488 issues. (My Harris Citation album call the seven emirates the `seven sandy sheikhdoms'.)

Ajman approx. 1964--1972
Dubai approx. 1963--1972
Fujeira approx. 1964--1972
Ras Al-Khaima approx. 1964--1972
Sharjah approx. 1964--1972
Umm Al-Qiwain approx. 1964--1972

Stamps were also issued for two `dependencies' (actually territorial enclaves containing single villages):

Manama (dependency of Ajman) approx. 1966--1971
Khor Fakkan (dependency of Sharjah) approx. 1966--1971

Federation of South Arabia.

Prior to 1966 the British administered a crown colony with a collection of protectorate sheikhdoms as Aden. Two of the dependent states, Kathri and Qu'ati issued their own stamps. When the British withdrew in 1966 (actually, I think it was "beat a hasty retreat in the face of Egyptian-backed communist insurgents") they left a government in place called The Federation of South Arabia, which issued postage stamps. The insurgents called their rival state the Peoples' Republic of Southern Yemen and were in control of the country in short order. During the brief period of the Federation's effective existence, four member sheikhdoms made arrangements with outside printers to issue stamps. Perhaps a handful of the first issues made it into some of the local post offices, but the local regimes were deposed long before new stamps stopped appearing on the philatelic market.


Kathri approx. 1966--1967 (legitimate stamps issued 1942--1966)
Mahra approx. 1966--1967
Qu'ati approx. 1966--1967 (legitimate stamps issued 1942--1966)
Upper Yaf'a approx. 1967

In 1967, Upper Yaf'a had no post office.

The (North) Yemeni Civil War.

The Kingdom of Yemen (sometimes called North Yemen to distinguish it from the aforementioned (South) Yemen) was driven from the capital city (San'a?) in 1962 by Egyptian-backed insurgents. Royalist forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, held out in the Northern regions of the country until the Saudi's extended diplomatic recognition to the Yemen Arab Republic in 1970. During the eight-year civil war, both sides used stamps as a means of propaganda and a means of raising revenue. With the Royalists defeated in 1970, the surviving Yemen Arab Republic settled down to a slightly more realistic issuing policy.


Mutawakelite Kingdom of Yemen approx. 1962--1970 (legit. 1926--c1962)
Yemen Arab Republic approx. 1962--1972 (legit. since c1972)

Other Entirely Bogus Entities.

Stamps have appeared on the philatelic market for Arab territories or Arab-sounding placenames which are entirely bogus.


Abd El-Kuri
Dhufar (a region in western Oman)
Government of Himriyya (actually a Trucial village)
Oman Imamate State (not to be confused with the legit. Sultanate of Oman)
State of Oman (not to be confused with the legit. Sultanate of Oman)

How do you know you're looking at a `dune' stamp? The signs are (1) big and colourful stamp, (2) A place name you probably can't find on most maps, and/or (3) topical themes that have nothing to do with the country issuing the stamps. Popular sixties and seventies themes for these things were the American space program, Kennedy, Churchill, the Olympics, etc...

I have a bobsled stamp from Sahara

In German these countries are called "Raubstaaten" ("Robbery states") because they print these "stamps" just to sell them to collectors for the money.
Most of them have the cancels printed right on them, so even a whole sheet right from the printing press is cancelled already. That's why the "used" ones look so good, because they were never used, they only get "cancelled" right away, the cancel often being part of the image the printers print

I found a very interesting page concerning Israeli stamps:

http://www.juliantrubin.com/biblestamps.html

That's very interesting, because I wouldn't have known that some of these stamps even have some kind of biblical content. And the translations of the Hebrew texts are helpful as well.

Genesis,
Noah's Ark and the great Flood....



Londonbus1....the animals came in two by two, hurrah,hurrah.....

THAT one is awesome!
That's definitely a must-have.

The real Noah's ark lies in Turkey, as far as I know. I don't think they have a stamp for it, though.

EDIT: And they made the mistake of painting more than one kind of each on the stamp

Moses making the wrong decision...not in the Bible !!

I don't understand that one.

"Esso" is a gas station...

Drudenfus

"EDIT: And they made the mistake of painting more than one kind of each on the stamp"

the concept of two by two is what is actually biblically innacurate. Genesis 7:2 actually states "take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and it's mate, and two of every knid of unclean animal, a male and it's mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth."

This allowed for a pair of each animal as well as enough for food and sacrifice.

Richard

Ah, Richard:

A biblical scholar amongst us?

I also knew there were more than two, but didn't know the Chapter & Verse. I guess it's easier to teach kids the "two by two" story in Sunday School.

KirkS

Kirk,
I don't think it's a case of it being easier to teach kids.....see Genesis 6 Verse 19.
"And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the Ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shalt be male and female"

I am sure Israel Post would have been embarrassed to get that wrong !!

Londonbus1....I was always told the Bible contradicted itself

nice noah's ark stamp set

Yes, but only a few verses later, 7:8, it says:
"Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah."



I don't mean the "two by two" thing, I mean the concept of Noah bringing only two of each kind.
I don't know the exact quote, have to find it in my German bible first and maybe it got translated different in English, but what it basically says is, that he only took "kinds" of animals.
So he only took two "Wildcats". Not two lions, two tigers, two panthers,... The same with dogs, he took two generic dogs. Not every "species" (sorry if I mix up the biological terms). So Noah never saw a dalmatian, he had only two "standard" dogs.
The species splitting up with distinctive features came after the flood.

Also I heard the argument that he didn't take full grown animals, but "babies" and kids. Would be a sensible thing to do, as they aren't that big and don't need that much food.

I'm still digging through stamps, have found a bunch of Israeli ones, but none with biblical images so far.