Civil mail from

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

went through the post office in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

until 1963. Military mail from the British Forces stationed in the area went through the RAF airport in Sharjah. On 10 July 1963, Sharjah opened its own post office and began to issue its stamps and postal stationery under the name of Sharjah & Dependencies (which included

Kalba Kalba () is a city in the Emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is an exclave of Sharjah lying on the Gulf of Oman coast north of Oman. Khor Kalba (Kalba Creek), an important nature reserve and mangrove swamp, is located south ...

Khor Fakkan Khor Fakkan ( ar, خَوْر فَكَّان, Khawr Fakkān) is a city and exclave of the Emirate of Sharjah, located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), facing the Gulf of Oman, and geographically surrounded by the Emirate of Fuja ...

, and

Dibba Dibbā ( ar, دِبَّا) is a coastal area at the northern tip of the eastern Arabian peninsula on the Gulf of Oman. Political administration Dibba is politically divided into three segments: * Dibba Al-Fujairah, ruled by the Emirate of Fuj ...

). There were also unauthorized overprints using Hamriyah, a frequently secessionist coastal town but officially subject to Sharjah and which never gained recognition as a Trucial State in its own right. Sharjah and its dependencies joined the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

on 2 December 1971, but continued to issue its own stamps. On 31 July 1972, the UAE assumed full postal responsibilities. Nevertheless, Sharjah continued to use its own stamps until the issuance of the first UAE

definitive Definitive may refer to: * ''Definitive'' (TV series), an American music television series * Definitive stamp, a postage stamp that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service See also * Definitene ...

series on 1 January 1973. Covers with mixed UAE and Sharjah

franking Franking comprises all devices, markings, or combinations thereof ("franks") applied to mails of any class which qualifies them to be postally serviced. Types of franks include uncanceled and precanceled postage stamps (both adhesive and printed o ...

s are known.

'Dunes' issues

In 1963, Britain ceded responsibility for the Trucial States' postal systems. An American philatelic entrepreneur by the name of

Finbar Kenny Finbar B. Kenny (3 March 1917 – 13 January 2010) was an American philatelist and businessman. Kenny worked as manager of the stamp department of Macy's. He arranged the sale of the unique British Guiana 1c magenta in 1940, and continued to lo ...

saw the opportunity to create a number of editions of stamps aimed at the lucrative collector's market and in 1964 concluded a deal with a number of Trucial States to take the franchise for the production of stamps for their respective governments. Kenny had made something of a specialty out of signing these deals, also signing with the Rulers of Ajman and Fujairah in 1964 – and getting involved in a bribery case in the USA over his dealings with the government of the Cook Islands. The issue of stamps from Ajman's dependency of Manama – a tiny agrarian village in the remote plains at which a 'post office' was opened – is a perfect example. These stamps, luridly illustrated and irrelevant to the actual emirates they purported to come from (editions included 'Space Research' and 'Tokyo Olympic Games') became known as 'dunes'. Their proliferation quickly devalued them. Because of this, many popular catalogues do not list them.

References and sources

Notes Sources *

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and philat ...

Ltd: various catalogues
Encyclopaedia of Postal Authorities

* ttp://www.angelfire.com/ok/SHARJAHSTAMPS/ Sharjah postal history {{PostalhistoryAsia Emirate of Sharjah Philately of the United Arab Emirates