Page 151 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

The town of Awali lies in the middle of the island and is the
administrative centre of Bahrain Petroleum Company. For a number
of post-war years the Company had operated a Mail Office for the
benefit of its own and its employees’ postal requirements; stamps
could be bought, letters could be posted and incoming mail was
distributed - but it was merely an “appendix” to Manama Post Office.
However, on July 1st, 1950, it became a Post Office, operated -
initially - by the Company on behalf of the British Postal Agencies;
and soon using its own cancellers (Types 24 and 25).

The third bar appears on the upper stamp.

In October 1950, a 4a. value was added to the definitive issue,
and on May 3rd, 1951, the Via, to 2V4a. appeared in new colours. On
the same date, the G.B. “Festival” 2s.6d., 5s. and 10s. high values were
issued with 2, 5 and 10 Rupee surcharges respectively. An interesting
variety was soon found on the 5 Rupee where, on Row 6/1, a third,
thinner bar appears below the two normal bars cancelling the sterling
value. This variety was not constant on the whole printing of 1,000
sheets of 40 (4 x 10), as stamps from the same position are known
without the extra bar, but it appears on the Registration Sheet at the
National Postal Museum.
* However, it was the 2 Rupee surcharge that eventually proved to
be the most interesting, although the existence of three different types
of overprint was not discovered until almost 20 years after the stamps

* See Appendix 148