Is This Sharjah Stamp Block Cancelled-To-Order CTO

Hello again,

I found this flower block from Sharjah, the cancellation stamp is dated 1972, the Sharjah Scott catalog stops in 1965 and does not contain these stamps below:


From what I have been told before, that if you cannot find your stamp in the catalog it is worthless, not worth cataloging - I think that is what I have here.

I read somewhere that these countries would cancel their stamps to order when they sold them, and that the CTO stamp is usually (always?) on the block corners, or the corners of the stamps. That is what is going on here.

Thanks for letting me know if that is what this is. Julie

Julie.
Not a CTO. (Cancelled to order)

The Postmark is faked, and printed on the sheet.

These also were issued in Souvenir sheet format, for each individual flower.

For Cataloguing, one must look towards the Germans, who do it so well.

Michel Catalogue
#1210 through to #1215...set of 6, plus 6 miniature sheets.
Airmails.
P13½ x 13

Worthless?... that is up to each individuals call... tread your own path.

If I recall correctly, stamps of "Sharjah" and "Sharjah and Dependencies" were sold at Woolworths in packets in mid-1960s. One of the Dependencies was "Khor Fakkan" and yes I bought them. And I still have them. Stamp magazines cautioned against them as being worthless which probably explains why Scott don't catalogue them. If the Michel catalogue suggests that 1,215 stamps and sheets were issued in Sharjah over a period of less than ten years, then it is further evidence that the numbr issued far exceeds genuine postal needs and use.
United Arab Emirates was formed in 1971 from several "trucial States" including Sharjah, Khor Fakkan, Fujeira, Ajman, Dubai, Umm al Qiwain and a couple of others but stamps were still valid for a few years.
The thing that I notice most about the postmark is that I doubt the post office in Sharjah, Khor Fakkan or the other "dependencies" would still be franking stamps as "Sharjah and Dependecies"

Thank you rod222 for identifying the stamp. I did do a text search of the internet for these stamps and did not find them, did not do an image search however. I had no idea the cancellation stamps were printed on the paper until you told me, the message I am getting is to be suspicious of everything.

rod222 said:




I have no other choice other than to tread my own path I would think.

Thank you, Julie

That's healthy, as long as one doesn't turn it into a negative.
It's all a learning curve, woven into the fabric of Philately.

Most consider these "Jam Jar labels" and that's OK, others have them popping up in Thematics, others can learn from the vignettes (example the "Calla" flower on the 3 Rial issue)

My approach, if it exists, I'll collect it.

Here the full set, if you wish the Michel Numbers.

Julie, the most recent catalog I have for this region is the German one Rodney mention, the Michel Naher Osten (Near East or Middle East) 2013. The catalog value for the used set of the stamps is €1.50, just to give you a frame of reference.

I actually bought a collection of Trucial States stamps a couple of years ago, just to try to get familiar with them and to become acquainted with that particular volume of the Michel catalog. Some of the stamps do have some value, particularly if they're unused, so I don't think I'd throw them away or anything. They're just thought of differently by most collectors, especially in the US, since Scott doesn't catalog most of them. (And Scott doesn't catalog them for the most part (they do list a few of the early ones) because they mostly did not see legitimate postal usage.)

Some topical collectors do include them in their collections, and some do not. And I know of a couple of worldwide collectors who also include them in their collections, but many do not.

So it really just all depends on what appeals to you. Just be aware that they fall into a special category of stamps whose legitimacy is not well-accepted.

Rodney, thank you for showing the "Einzelblocks"!

FitzjamesHorse said:



I have a large box full of these packets that sold for 39 cents to a dollar in the late 60's to early 70's. The block of flowers came out of a USPS Stamp Collecting Kit - Item 920 entitled Flowers. So the stamps I found tonight are from the early 70's - I don't think they are still making stamps as "Sharjah and Dependencies" - I think these are stamps which were packed into packets in about 1972.

Rod, thank you for the illustration of the entire sheet, very nice indeed. And Thank you for the Michel numbers, I will note them down.

Thanks so much to both of you, and thank you Rod for pointing me toward the Michel catalog - I will explore that further. Julie

Thanks to all, for all my thanks.........now it's my turn.

Julie,
This is the Michel Catalogue, A MUST for any collector of the "Dune Stamps / Labels"
as is our thread topic of Sharjah etc.

A weighty Tome, and expensive, a FREE gift from our SCF member "Postmaster GS"
some years ago, I use the catalogue frequently.
Thank you Postmaster

.

Some stamps of Sharjah.
https://goscf.com/t/55529#55529 br /

As I understand it, all the Trucial States merged into United Arab Emirates in 1971 - but that wasn't the end of their stamps, but more like the beginning! Mountains of them came out after that, generally considered bogus, and all (apparently) dated to 1972. As a rule of thumb, if you see 1972 it means wallpaper issues.

Mind you, I love them!

Very nice stamps Rod, very nice. Thank you for point me to the other thread - I am reading through it all now and finding it quite interesting - I have been avoiding these stamps from the "dunes" but am thinking I might just start paying them more attention. I have quite of few of these "dunes" stamps to go through yet.

I am going to have to round up a Michael Gulf States catalog if I am able to.

Oh, and one last question about the block of Sharjah flowers that I posted at the top - if these stamps were real and not fake, is that what a pre-canceled block might look like?

Thanks, Julie

Indeed, Julie.
Most have crisp clear CDS's (Circular date stamps) , struck in the corner, across 4 stamps. (The most energy saving position).
Some have larger impressions (Romania)

For normal CTO, one would see on Czechoslovakia, Poland around 1970.

Early Australia had CTO, and are very collectable, every CDS CTO date is recorded.

Other countries have used other forms of cancellation, wavy lines etc, for stamps no longer wanted, "Remainders" and sold to collectors.

Other countries have burned their excess stocks (Pitcairn Islands)

Further reading........

https://goscf.com/t/11520

Thank you for the further reading Rod, I do want you to know that I had searched the forum about information on pre-cancels and did not come up with this thread you pointed me to, I should have searched for CTO instead I think.

And I suppose these are fake as well, I looked at the postmark under magnification and it looks printed on to me, but they are beautiful stamps:

So far these countries are looking to me like they put out a suspicious amount of stamps in the 70's, various dune countries, Hungary, Poland, Mongolia and Romania - most of the packets put out by the US Post Office are loaded with the stamps from the dune countries - makes me wonder.

Thanks, Julie

Stamps of Fujeira
https://goscf.com/t/50699

Map of the Gulf country, to get a feeling of how states were boundaried.