The Story of an Arabic Stamp
Meeting of Arab kings and presidents in Zahraa Inshas, Egypt in 1946
On May 28, 1946, the Kingdom of Egypt called for an important conference to discuss the issues facing the Arab nation and its role in the post-World War II era and the victory of the Allied forces. The heads of state and monarchs of six independent Arab countries, in addition to Egypt, were invited: Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Transjordan, and Syria. Perhaps many are unaware that a few days later, in June of the same year, the Egyptian government submitted to the royal court a preliminary sketch to commemorate the conference on postage stamps. The proposed design was a single stamp, in the size typically used for Egyptian commemorative events, featuring seven oval shapes, each containing a portrait of a king or president, arranged according to the protocol of the League of Arab States. However, this sketch did not meet with King Farouk's approval, as the stamp appeared too crowded and the portraits too small for the stature of Egypt's guests. The Ministry then proposed issuing a stamp representing each country, each in a different color and with a different face value, bearing the portrait of the king or president against a unified background of the Inshas Palace, where the important conference was held.
Then, entirely new sketches were designed in July and sent with a special envoy to the King's summer residence: Ras El Tin Palace in Alexandria. The King immediately approved the design, and the Egyptian Survey Department began work on July 21st. The Royal Household also provided the designers with official photographs of Zahraa Inshas Palace. Contact was made with Arab missions and legations, which in turn sent official photographs of their respective kings and presidents. The Survey Department incorporated these photographs and resent the sketches to the missions for final approval before printing began. (For a stamp for the Kingdom of Egypt, it was decided to use the official photograph that appears in the minor denominations of the "Farouk Marshal" stamp series.).
An interesting fact: there were no photographs of His Majesty Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid al-Din, Imam of Yemen (who had refused to have his picture taken throughout his life), so a photograph of Crown Prince Saif al-Islam Abdullah was used. Another fact: His Majesty King Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, His Majesty Imam Yahya of Yemen, and His Majesty King Faisal II of Iraq were unable to attend the conference and sent their crown princes or regents as their representatives. Also, another important fact: it was decided that the photographs of the kings and presidents would be arranged alphabetically according to their full official titles – except for Egypt, whose stamp, as the host country, King Farouk ordered to be of the lowest denomination (1 millieme), should not be of a higher denomination than those of its guests. The arrangement was as follows:
1 millieme: Egypt – His Majesty King Farouk I 2 milliemes: Yemen – His Highness Prince Saif al-Islam Abdullah 3 milliemes: Lebanon – His Excellency Sheikh President Bechara El Khoury 4 milliemes: Saudi Arabia – His Majesty King Abdulaziz Al Saud 5 milliemes: Iraq – His Majesty King Faisal II 10 milliemes: Transjordan – His Majesty King Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein 15 milliemes: Syria – President Shukri al-Quwatli
The design was produced consistently for all stamps, with variations in denominations and colors, and of course, the image of each leader on the left side, along with the words “Egypt” and “Postes” in French and Arabic, the date May 28, 1946 in Arabic and English, and an image of Inshas Palace with the words “Meeting of Kings and Heads of Arab States” written beneath it in Arabic. The final sketches were completed at a size four times larger for each stamp, as was customary. A special sheet of nine stamps was also printed as a photographic proof, and all were presented to His Majesty the King on August 18, 1946. His Majesty ordered that the image of each stamp be slightly reduced in size, as the edges were too small, which might cause problems during the perforation stage later.
Accordingly, the department reduced the size of the design and issued one sheet of 50 stamps for each shape. These sheets were presented to His Majesty the King one last time to obtain his opinion regarding the quality of the paper, the watermark, the perforation, and the arrangement. A notable feature of this issue is that the Egyptian administration decided not to adhere to the Universal Postal Union's guidelines regarding the colors for each denomination. Instead, it took care, as much as possible, to ensure that each color reflected the country it represented, as follows:
1 millieme: Green, the national color of Egypt. 2 milliemes: Brown, symbolizing Yemeni coffee. 3 milliemes: Blue, symbolizing the beaches and sea of Lebanon. 4 milliemes: Orange, symbolizing the Hejaz desert. 5 milliemes: Crimson red, reflecting one of the colors of the Iraqi royal flag. 10 milliemes: Gray, symbolizing the foothills of the mountains of the Emirate of Transjordan. 15 milliemes: Purple, chosen for the Syrian violet flower.
All the designs were printed and sent to post offices throughout the Kingdom of Egypt between October 28 and 31, 1946. The smallest denominations printed were the 5 and 10 milliemes, totaling just under a quarter of a million, while approximately half a million stamps of other denominations were printed. The printing of the entire set cost approximately 1,105 Egyptian pounds and some change, at a rate of 30 piasters per thousand stamps. The stamps were made available for sale to the public between November 9 and 15, 1946. This is the story of one of the earliest attempts to issue a truly "Arab" stamp.
Moheb Rizkalla
