EPM

 

DUBAI

 

INDIAN POSTAL ADMINISTRATION

 

 

Dubai’s recorded postal history begins on August 19th, 1909, when an Indian Branch Post Office was opened. The opening of the Dubai post office was the result of pressure over a number of years from the trading communities in Dubai and Karachi.

 

The first cancel (Type 1) is a new type for the Gulf, which consists of a circle 25 mm. in diameter with the word “DUBAI” round the top and “PERSIAN GULF” round the lower part, the letters “B.O.” in the cancel stand for Branch Office. The cancel is common used during and after the year 1913 and rare during the period 1909 to 1912.

 

With the opening of the post office, King Edward VII stamps of India were placed on sale in Dubai. During the year 1911, King George V stamps of India came into use and although values up to 3a are occasionally found, the most commonly used were ½a and the 1a.

 

During the year 1925, the first type canceller was not of a very high standard and probably six or more different varieties were existed! Most of these varieties were recorded by Mr. A. C. Gledhill in his article “DELIRIUM AT DUBAI”. The varieties show the inverse of either the whole or part of the cancel, and some shows the “day” preceded the “month”.

 

Surface mail has been carried by vessels of the British India Steam Navigation Company Limited. The earliest ship for the BISNS was the S. S. Bamora and the modern counterpart of the old mail carrier was S. S. Bombala.

 

The Imperial Airways service was changed to the Arabian side on October 1st, 1932, the service was diverted to the Arabian Gulf via Basra, Bahrain, Sharjah, and Guadar. On October 15th, 1932, few covers were sent from Sharjah to London and franked on reverse with strip of 5 KGV Indian unoverprinted 1a3p stamps and tied by the first Dubai cancel that used during Indian postal administration

 

During the year 1933, the first bridged double circle cancel (Type 2) inscribed “DUBAI PERSIAN GULF / B.O.” was introduced. The earliest known use of this type is May 2nd, 1933 and the latest use is February 25th, 1942.

 

As a result of the upgrading of Dubai Post Office the “EXPERIMENTAL P.O. / K-77” (Type 3) and “EXPERIMENTAL P.O. / K-46” (Type 4) were introduced. Both cancels Experimental P.O. K-77 and K-46 were based in Karachi. The letter “K” in both Types stand for “Karachi” which was responsible for all the Agency Post Offices in the Gulf.

 

During the wartime, all covers were opened and read by censors. Therefore, to simplify the censor job, senders of these covers and envelopes write the language of the letter in front of the cover. All covers, which were used during the wartime, are tied by tomstone censor cachet in black and tied by violet “DHC” code, which was assigned to Bombay.

 

During the later of year 1942, a new small circle cancel (Type 5) with wavy lines inscribed “DUBAI” in English was introduced, the cancel is not a machine cancel. The bridged double circle cancel (Type 6) that inscribed “DUBAI” was introduced during the year 1942 also.  The last cancel used during the Indian postal administration was the bridged double circle cancel (Type 7) inscribed “DUBAI / PERSIAN GULF” in English and was introduced during the year 1946.

 

The Blank Numbered Registration Labels on which the name was either inscribed in manuscript or impressed with a handstamp was known used during the wartime. After the war time, and during the year 1946 a new Boxed Registration Cachet was introduced, and was invariably impressed directly on to the cover. This type continued in use during both Pakistani and British postal administration.

 

The 1½a and 1a3p Embossed stationery envelopes are known used during the wartime and most of these envelopes were uprated with various KGVI stamps.

 

High values are rare use in Dubai during the Indian postal administration. In his book, Mr. Neil Donaldson mentioned that only low values of King George VI issue of 1937 – 40 (3p to 2r) are known used in Dubai. In 1946, a Registered Airmail cover sent to Abadan (Iran) via Basrah from Sharjah franked on reverse with Indian 1940 ½a, 2a and 12a with extremely scarce usage of high values 1937 pair of 2r & and 5r tied by the bridged double circle cancel “DUBAI” cds’s dated “19 August 1946”.

 

 

Indian Postal Administrations Links:-

 

 

 

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