Afghanistan

An independent country in Asia, to N.W. of Pakistan. Now a republic the country was formerly ruled by monarchs from 1747 to 1973.

For all those who have colorful stamps of Afghanistan on various topics like birds, cats etc from the period 1990 to 2001, please be informed that no stamps were issued by the post office during this period and any in circulation for these years are considered spurious. I will try to put examples of such issues later in another post on the blog.

All the stamps here are arranged in order of the date and year of issue, reference Stanley Gibbons Stamps of the World Catalog 2013, Vol. 1. My first stamp of the country is the 7 Afs, Oxen issue, SG 566 from the Agriculture day set of three.

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Trucial States - Ajman

The Trucial States were a group of sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf. They were a British protectorate from 1820 until 1971. Ajman was one of the states. On 18 July 1971, seven gulf sheikhdoms including Ajman, formed part of the state of the United Arab Emirates. The federation became effective on 1 August 1972.

These are my only stamps of Ajman. The first stamps, issued in 1964. A complete set of 18 stamps (SG 1 - 18) in three different sizes depicting Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Naimi and fauna. You can see the first 17 stamps in the picture above.

First nine stamps are of size 34 1/2 x 23 mm. The next six are of size 42 1/2 x 27 mm and finally the last three are of size 53 x 34 mm.

I am putting up a slighltly blown up image of the highest face value stamp from the set, the 18th. Its got the Sheikh and the Lanner falcon shown on it. Beautiful set of stamps.  

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Cover - Gibraltar, Country #105

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Cover - Luxembourg, Country #104

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Cover - Curacao, Country #103

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Cover - Madagascar, Country #102

My first cover from Madagascar reached me only yesterday. It was sent from the capital city of Madagascar, Antananarivo on 16.6.14. Reached me in good time. I consider any time less than 20 days as good time for snail mail arrival.

Madagascar is an island in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa. French post offices operated there from 1885. In 1896 the island was declared a French colony, absorbing Diego-Suarez and Sainte Marie de Madagascar in 1898 and Nossi-Be in 1901.
Madagascar became autonomous as the Malagasy Republic in 1958, it reverted to the name of Madagascar in 1992.

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Cover - Christmas Island, Country #101

This one is from Christmas Island, situated in the Indian Ocean about 600 miles south of Singapore. Formerly part of the Straits Settlement and then the Crown colony of Singapore, Christmas Island was occupied by the Japanese from 31 March 1942 until September 1945. It reverted to Singapore after liberation but subsequently became an Australian territory on 15 October 1958.

Since 2nd March 1993, Australia Post became the island's postal operator; stamps of Christmas Island may be used in Australia and Australian stamps may be used on the island

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Cover - Barbados, Country #100

Received this beautiful cover, my first from Barbados by registered mail sometime in May 2014. Yes, I've been off blogging for little more than a month now for various reasons, but I'm back now and will be posting regularly.

This cover was sent on 6th May 2014. I received it on the 27th of May 2014. Thank you Holger Kaufhold. This is the 100th unique country added to my collection of covers received from countries across the world.

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