Oman

Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on stamps of Oman


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Contents:
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the country shares land borders with the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west and Yemen to the southwest, and shares maritime borders with Iran and Pakistan.
From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was a powerful empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
Over time, Oman's dependence on British political and military advisors increased, although the Sultanate never became a British colony. [R1]

The first – and until 1970 only – post office in Oman opened in 1864 in the city of Muscat. It was part of the British Indian postal system and used the stamps of British India.
In 1944 a set of stamps was issued specifically to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the ruling Al Busaid dynasty. These being overprinted British Indian stamps.
When India gained independence in 1947, the Omani Post Office for a short time was run as part of the Pakistani Postal service and used stamps of Pakistan.
In 1948, the British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia took over the postal service of Oman. These agencies were set up to service several countries in the region.
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on illegal stamps of Oman, issued by rebel group in 1980 Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on illegal stamps of Dhufar, issued by rebel group in 1980
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on illegal stamps of Oman, issued by rebel group in 1980. Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals on illegal stamps of Dhufar, issued by rebel group in 1980.
The basic issues of the Agencies are stamps of Great Britain overprinted in the regional currency. The Agencies function until the postal services were taken over by local postal authorities – in Oman in 1966.
Oman issues stamps from 1966 in the name of Muscat & Oman and from 1970 as Oman. [R2]

To date, there are no Paleontology or Paleoanthropology related stamps issued by Oman.

"Stamps" of Oman, shown on the right side are the first illegal stamps with prehistoric animals, issued in September 1980.
These stamps considered illegal as they were issued by some rebel groups and used to raise funds.
These stamps were issued under the names "State of Oman" and "Dhufar".

Since these experiments by the rebels of Dhufar, many companies and individuals have illegally created their own stamps – designing and printing issues for both existing and non-existent countries in order to make money from inexperienced collectors.




References:
  •   [R1] Oman: Wikipedia, WikiTravel, FlagCounter.
  •   [R2] Postal History and Philately of Oman: Wikipedia, Stamp World History (Web-Archive, original site does not exist anymore),
              Links to official website of Postal Authority, online store, stamp catalog and stamps issue plan of Oman are here.



Acknowledgements:
Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for the draft page review and his valuable comments.
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