Qatar
Until 1957 the Sultanate of Qatar used the "no country" stamps listed under "British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia". With the introduction of decimal currency the opportunity was taken to give Qatar its own issues, parallel to those of Bahrain and Kuwait. It has been alleged that this was requested by the Sultan following an embarrassing incident where some Bahrain stamps were sent to Qatar instead of the no-country stamps.
All stamps also overprinted "QATAR"
For similar overprints without any country name see under British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia.
Note: this numbering system was drawn up by the Society for the website, and may not be used without permission.
Queen Elizabeth
Watermark St Edward's Crown E2R
Castles High Values (Waterlow)
1 April 1957
The position of the values varies so as to cover up the original value; the "20" had to be higher to remain visible against the dark background, and presumably the "NP" on the 40 np is higher than on the 12-25 np to more fully obscure the words "six" and "pence" wheras on those lower values it had to be low to cover up the original value. Considerable thought must have been put into these factors!
1 "1 NP" on 5d brown
2 "3 NP" on ½d orange
3 "6 NP" on 1d blue
4 "9 NP" on 1½d green
5 "12 NP" on 2d brown
6 "15 NP" on 2½d red, type I
7 "20 NP" (in blue) on 3d violet
8 "25 NP" on 4d blue
9 "40 NP" on 6d purple
10 "50 NP" on 9d green
11 "75 NP" on 1/3d green
12 "1 RUPEE" on 1/6d blue
13 "2 RUPEES" on 2/6d brown, type I (bars closer and longer)
14 "5 RUPEES" on 5/- red, type I (see 2 Rupees)
15 "10 RUPEES" on 10/- blue type I (see 2 Rupees)
shades
9a 40np reddish purple
9b 40np claret (21 July 959)
This was a deliberate change of the purple colour on the underlying GB issue.
stamp varieties
15 sv1 R10 weak entry at bottom of right edge (row 1, stamp 2)
Second printing of castles
bars shorter and further apart
18 September 1957
type I, type II
type I, type II
type I, type II
16 R2 type II
17 R5 type II
18 R10 type II
stamp varieties
18 sv1 R10 weak entry at bottom of right edge (row 1, stamp 2)
Scout Jubilee Jamboree
1 August 1957
19 "15 NP" on 2½d red
20 "25 NP" on 4d blue
21 "75 NP" on 1/3d green
Watermark multiple crowns
1960
22 "3 NP" on ½d orange (28 September 1960)
23 "6 NP" on 1d blue (21 June 1960)
24 "9 NP" on 1½d green (28 September 1960)
25 "12 NP" on 2d brown (28 September 1960)
26 "15 NP" on 2½d red, type II (26 April 1960)
27 "20 NP" (in blue) on 3d violet (28 September 1960)
28 "40 NP" on 6d purple (21 June 1960)
Note: the multiple crowns watermark 2½d stamp was on a cylinder with slightly more rotation than that referred to for die II (ie it is from "multipositive C")
On 23 May 1963 the GB postal administration was closed and control was handed over to the Qatar postal department, though the overprinted stamps had already been replaced by a set inscribed "Qatar" on 2 September 1961.
page last updated on: 31 December 2009, 6 April 2016
gbos: GB Overprints Society