Olympic Stamp, No Team

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32038, 12 July 1969, Page 5

Olympic Stamp, No Team

(By

KENNETH ANTHONY)

The bearded Arab seen on this stamp is Sheikh Mohammed. As a boy he was in a fort when it was shelled by a British warship. Fortunately he was unhurt. In 1936 he succeeded his father as sheikh and since then has ruled the small desert kingdom of Fujeira on the Persian Gulf.

In spite of his early experience, Sheikh Mohammed has maintained friendly relations with the British. According to present plans British forces are to be withdrawn from the Persian Gulf in 1971—and the sheikh will be sorry to see them go. In his father’s reign, however, British forces often had to take strong measures against the more unruly inhabitants. It was not for nothing that this region was known in the old days as the Pirate Coast. On one occasion, about 45 years ago, the Royal Navy was trying to secure the release of some slaves. Thinking that Fujeira was the culprit, a frigate fired a few rounds at the hilltop fort and sent it crashing. It turned (according to the sheikh) that the British had their forts mixed up and shelled Fujeira in mistake for another further along the coast. The British acknowledged their error by helping to rebuild the fort.

For many years the only postal services in the Gulf

i were the British postal agencies, using Indian, and, later, British stamps overprinted. It was a sign of the times when, in the 19605, the Arab countries formed their own postal administrations. Fujeira had no stamps until 1964, but since then has

made up for lost time. At frequent intervals large and highly coloured stamps have appeared showing the sheikh’s portrait, the local wild life, scenes from the Arabian Nights, and even, on one occasion, prehistoric animals.

For the 1968 Olympic Games a curious expedient was adopted. Instead of producing an entirely new set Fujeira brought back some of the earlier set for the Grenoble Winter Olympics, and even used the previous Olympic issue of 1964, overprinting them with the word “Mexico.” A stamp of the type illustrated not only reflects some of the changes taking place in the Persian Gulf area, but also provides a philatelic curiousity from a country which didn’t even take part in the Olympic Games.