Unwanted stamps become valuable

Mette, about two years ago we had an exchange of postings about stamps that
were unwanted at one tine, then became valuable due to changed
circumstances. I promised to post a URL to illustrate the stamps, but I had
mislaid them, and now a I have found them. Here is a brief history of these
stamps.

Lebanon became fully independent of France in 1945, and it was starting to
establish an army. Fiscal stamps were overprinted with a new design (Beit
Eddine Palace), and in Arabic "Army Stamp", and revalued to 5 piasters. The
"zero" is a five in Arabic. Look at the Normal stamp but without the double
bars and the overprint at the top. The use of the stamp was obligatory on
all letters, to all destinations. All the major catalogues did not list it.

In 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war started and Lebanon was flooded with
Palestinian refugees that were forced out by the Israelis or who fled the
fighting. So the Army stamps were additionally surcharged with two bars,
obliterating the "Army Stamp" words, and a new overprint reading "Palestine
Stamp" was applied. Again, this stamp was required on all mail, and again
the catalogues did not list them.

The earliest Gibbons catalogue I have is Part 4, Overseas, 1974 edition, and
most of these stamps are listed. Because these stamps were unlisted
earlier, very few people paid attention to them. Many exist used, salvaged
from envelopes. Mint are rare.

Now the error. Look at the top overprinted line on both stamps in the URL
listed below. In the normal stamp, the first Arabic letter is a "T". Note
that Arabic is written from right to left. The error has the letter "SH"
instead of the "T". In Arabic the "sh" sound has a specific letter. The
correct overprint reads Tabe' Falastin, while the error reads Shabe'
Falastin; shabe' has no meaning. The basic fiscal stamp with the Army Stamp
overprint is listed as T289 in Gibbons and is not listed by Scotts. The
stamp with the two overprints is listed as T363 in Gibbons and is not listed
in Scotts, although Scott lists other stamps with similar overprints. The
error occurs once in a sheet (probably 200 to a sheet, and since very few
people saved them, it has become valuable Gibbons quotes the normal stamp
at £1.40. The error is not listed in the catalogues that I know of. The URL
may be truncated in this posting, and may not work directly. If so, it
should be copied onto the search engine.

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/...7692941780.jpg



Tony

"A.E. Gelat" skrev i en meddelelse
...
Mette, about two years ago we had an exchange of postings about stamps
that
were unwanted at one tine, then became valuable due to changed
circumstances. I promised to post a URL to illustrate the stamps, but I
had
mislaid them, and now a I have found them. Here is a brief history of
these
stamps.

Lebanon became fully independent of France in 1945, and it was starting to
establish an army. Fiscal stamps were overprinted with a new design (Beit
Eddine Palace), and in Arabic "Army Stamp", and revalued to 5 piasters.
The
"zero" is a five in Arabic. Look at the Normal stamp but without the
double
bars and the overprint at the top. The use of the stamp was obligatory on
all letters, to all destinations. All the major catalogues did not list
it.

In 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war started and Lebanon was flooded with
Palestinian refugees that were forced out by the Israelis or who fled the
fighting. So the Army stamps were additionally surcharged with two bars,
obliterating the "Army Stamp" words, and a new overprint reading
"Palestine
Stamp" was applied. Again, this stamp was required on all mail, and again
the catalogues did not list them.

The earliest Gibbons catalogue I have is Part 4, Overseas, 1974 edition,
and
most of these stamps are listed. Because these stamps were unlisted
earlier, very few people paid attention to them. Many exist used,
salvaged
from envelopes. Mint are rare.

Now the error. Look at the top overprinted line on both stamps in the URL
listed below. In the normal stamp, the first Arabic letter is a "T".
Note
that Arabic is written from right to left. The error has the letter "SH"
instead of the "T". In Arabic the "sh" sound has a specific letter. The
correct overprint reads Tabe' Falastin, while the error reads Shabe'
Falastin; shabe' has no meaning. The basic fiscal stamp with the Army
Stamp
overprint is listed as T289 in Gibbons and is not listed by Scotts. The
stamp with the two overprints is listed as T363 in Gibbons and is not
listed
in Scotts, although Scott lists other stamps with similar overprints. The
error occurs once in a sheet (probably 200 to a sheet, and since very few
people saved them, it has become valuable Gibbons quotes the normal
stamp
at £1.40. The error is not listed in the catalogues that I know of. The
URL
may be truncated in this posting, and may not work directly. If so, it
should be copied onto the search engine.

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/...7692941780.jpg

Tony, I do remember this exchange of postings, but have completely forgotten
about the matter since that time, due to many other haps and mishaps.
Thanks for remembering, and thanks a lot for sharing this info, which is
quite valuable for my own collection of these items. :-) I have printed out
your post to be sure not to lose it in another computer crash.
--
Ann Mette Heindorff (Mette)
http://www.heindorffhus.dk

"A.E. Gelat" wrote in message
...
snip

In 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war started and Lebanon was flooded with
Palestinian refugees that were forced out by the Israelis or who fled the
fighting.
snip
Tony

There are different opinions on this subject.
In 1973, Khaled al-'Azm, who served as Prime Minister of Syria in 1948 and
1949, published his memoirs in Beirut. He includes the following:

We have brought destruction upon a million Arab refugees, by calling upon
them and pleading with them to leave their lands, their homes, their work
and their business, and we have caused them to be barren and unemployed
though each one of them had been working and qualified in a trade from which
he could make a living. In addition, we accustomed them to begging for
hand-outs and to suffice with what little the UN organisation would allocate
them.
More on:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_ind...arabs_what.php
or on: http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~peters/refugees2.html

Victor Manta

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Victor, this is really a strange excerpt. I have not seen the book. Here
are the facts, from people who were in Palestine, not in Damascus. The
strategy of Ben Gurion in 1948 was to accept the area that the UN had
decided, then slowly work for more. This is ongoing at the present time, as
demonstrated by Sharon's continuing land grabs, disregarding the agreement
with Bush and making a monkey of him.

After the 1947 UN vote, there were numerous aggressions on isolated
Palestinian Arab villages, forcing the people flee. This culminated in the
notorious massacre of most of the inhabitants of Deir Yasin, a small village
near Jerusalem, and documented by the International Red Cross. Jaffa, an
Arab town of 100,000, was surrounded by Tel Aviv and Jewish settlements.
Water, food and electricity were cut off, but people were allowed to leave
by sea and the single road to Jerusalem. 97,000 left, rather than starve.
During the second phase of the 1948 war, a Jewish force led by then
lieutenant Itzhak Rabin, took Lydda (now Lod) and Ramle, and gave the
inhabitants 15 minutes to evacuate. They were forced to walk towards the
east, to Ramallah and the surrounding villages. There were many similar
incidents elsewhere. Finally, in late April 1948, Jewish cars equipped with
loudspeakers drove through prestigious Talbiyyeh in Jerusalem, telling the
Palestinians to leave, as they could not be guaranteed safety. Against the
backdrop of the Deir Yasin massacre, the people left. In the last few
years, Israeli historians, and some of the actors involved, have published
details of these accounts, after having been denied for over forty years.

Tony

"Victor Manta" wrote in message
...
"A.E. Gelat" wrote in message
...
snip

In 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war started and Lebanon was flooded with
Palestinian refugees that were forced out by the Israelis or who fled
the
fighting.
snip
Tony

There are different opinions on this subject.
In 1973, Khaled al-'Azm, who served as Prime Minister of Syria in 1948 and
1949, published his memoirs in Beirut. He includes the following:

We have brought destruction upon a million Arab refugees, by calling upon
them and pleading with them to leave their lands, their homes, their work
and their business, and we have caused them to be barren and unemployed
though each one of them had been working and qualified in a trade from
which
he could make a living. In addition, we accustomed them to begging for
hand-outs and to suffice with what little the UN organisation would
allocate
them.
More on:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_ind...arabs_what.php
or on: http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~peters/refugees2.html

Victor Manta

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Philatelic Webmasters Organization: http://www.pwmo.org/
Art on Stamps: http://www.values.ch/
Romania by Stamps: http://www.marci-postale.com/
Communism on Stamps: http://www.values.ch/communism/
Spanish North Africa: http://www.values.ch/sna-site/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

"Victor Manta" wrote in message
...
"A.E. Gelat" wrote in message
...
snip

In 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war started and Lebanon was flooded
with
Palestinian refugees that were forced out by the Israelis or who fled
the
fighting.
snip
Tony

There are different opinions on this subject.
In 1973, Khaled al-'Azm, who served as Prime Minister of Syria in 1948
and
1949, published his memoirs in Beirut. He includes the following:

We have brought destruction upon a million Arab refugees, by calling
upon
them and pleading with them to leave their lands, their homes, their
work
and their business, and we have caused them to be barren and unemployed
though each one of them had been working and qualified in a trade from
which
he could make a living. In addition, we accustomed them to begging for
hand-outs and to suffice with what little the UN organisation would
allocate
them.
More on:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_ind...arabs_what.php
or on: http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~peters/refugees2.html

Victor Manta

"A.E. Gelat" wrote in message
...
Victor, this is really a strange excerpt. I have not seen the book. Here
are the facts, from people who were in Palestine, not in Damascus.
snip

Tony

Tony,

Strange enough indeed for some (especially because coming from an Arab
leader), and thoughts provoking too...

My only intention was to draw your attention on the fact that your opinion
isn't the only one in town, even if it could be still wide spread. I hope
that you will understand that because this subject is a highly sensitive
one, I won't develop it on our philatelic NG.

Just to finally mention that I had the privilege to listen to some stories
told by several persons who in 1948 were neither in Damascus nor in the US
but on the Holy Land.

Victor Manta

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philatelic Webmasters Organization: http://www.pwmo.org/
Art on Stamps: http://www.values.ch/
Romania by Stamps: http://www.marci-postale.com/
Communism on Stamps: http://www.values.ch/communism/
Spanish North Africa: http://www.values.ch/sna-site/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"J. A. Mc." wrote in message
...
On Fri, 6 Aug 2004 17:12:17 +0200, "Victor Manta"

found these unused words floating about:

"A.E. Gelat" wrote in message
...
snip

In 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war started and Lebanon was flooded
with
Palestinian refugees that were forced out by the Israelis or who fled
the
fighting.
snip
Tony

There are different opinions on this subject.
In 1973, Khaled al-'Azm, who served as Prime Minister of Syria in 1948
and
1949, published his memoirs in Beirut. He includes the following:

We have brought destruction upon a million Arab refugees, by calling upon
them and pleading with them to leave their lands, their homes, their work
and their business, and we have caused them to be barren and unemployed
though each one of them had been working and qualified in a trade from
which
he could make a living. In addition, we accustomed them to begging for
hand-outs and to suffice with what little the UN organisation would
allocate
them.
More on:
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_ind...arabs_what.php
or on: http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~peters/refugees2.html

Victor Manta

But Victor! That's not P.C. !!! G

John,

Hopefully it isn't politically correct, and it is correct otherwise :-)

Maybe it is also an opportunity for those who, voluntarily or not, insert
into their postings some controversial or unproved things (that very often
are OT for this NG, like those related to actual politics - see above,
environment - see the recent thread about the damage from self-adhesives,
etc., etc.) to check their premises.

Victor Manta

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philatelic Webmasters Organization: http://www.pwmo.org/
Art on Stamps: http://www.values.ch/
Romania by Stamps: http://www.marci-postale.com/
Communism on Stamps: http://www.values.ch/communism/
Spanish North Africa: http://www.values.ch/sna-site/
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