Page 248 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

I

It had originally been intended that Abu Dhabi should take over
its postal services in March 1966, but this was postponed successively to
May 1st and September 1st and, finally, to January 1st, 1967. This
delay in the hand-over resulted in the British postal administration being
responsible for an issue of stamps unique in the history of British
Postal Agencies.
1%
The dice were loaded against Shakhbut bin Sultan bin Zaid al
Nuhayyan when he succeeded his uncle as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. His
uncle had been assassinated, as had three others of his predecessors T.
within a period of six years; and, indeed, only two of the 14 previous I
rulers had died natural deaths.
%
Nevertheless, although his prospects were slim when he became
ruler in 1928, he managed to survive for no less than 38 years; and it
Cirj
was the fraternal hand of deposition, rather than the assassin’s dagger, l':;
that removed him from the scene. Although he had granted the
\:
Concessions, the discovery of oil and the immense revenues it brought
to the State found him unable to cope with changed circumstances and 1
unwilling to embark on projects for the benefit of his people. In
August 1966 his own family organised his deposition in favour of his a
i ■:
brother, the present ruler, Shaikh Zaid bin Sultan bin Zaid al Nuhayyan m
3?
(who is also President of the recently formed United Arab Emirates). %
Following the deposition, the 1964 definitives were withdrawn m
m
from sale and re-issued on October 1st, with Shaikh Shakhbut’s
portrait defaced by three or four horizontal bars. The opportunity
%
was also taken to surcharge the stamps with values of the new currency Tc
hr
(1,000 Fils: 1 Dinar) which had been recently adopted in place of the V
Indian External Rupee. The overprinting and surcharging was done in
Bahrain on complete sheets by the Arabian Printing and Publishing
House and, considering that this was a type of work in which they had
no previous experience, they made quite a neat job of it.
The following table shows the quantities printed and sold. The
balance remaining unsold when the new definitives were issued on
April 1st, 1967, was held in the Philatelic Bureau until November and g
was then destroyed.

245