Postage stamps and postal history of Sharjah

Sharjah and Dependencies

Civil mail from Sharjah went through the post office in Dubai until 1963. Military mail from the British Forces stationed in the area went through the RAF airport in Sharjah.

On 10 July 1963, Sharjah opened its own post office and began to issue its own stamps and postal stationery. Sharjah's dependencies included Kalba, Khor Fakkan, and Dibbah. There were also unauthorized overprints using Himriyyah, a name of a village in the sheikhdom. Sharjah and its dependencies joined the United Arab Emirates on 2 December 1971. However, Sharjah continued to issue stamps until 31 July 1972, when the UAE assumed postal responsibilities.

Nevertheless, Sharjah continued to use its own stamps until the issuance of the first UAE definitive series on 1 January 1973. Covers with mixed UAE and Sharjah frankings are known.

References

* [http://www.ohmygosh.on.ca/stamps/sharjah/sharjah.htm Sharjah and Dependencies - stamps and postal stationery on-line catalogue] , Accessed on January 24 2008.
* Sharjah postal history page is available at www.angelfire.com/ok/SHARJAHSTAMPS/ (accessed on 28 October 2007), however, an automatic "BOT" run by deletes it!

ources

* Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues
* [http://www.jl.sl.btinternet.co.uk/stampsite/home.html Encyclopaedia of Postal History]
* Stuart Rossiter & John Flower: "The Stamp Atlas" Published by Guild Press 1986