Every Stamp Tells a Story

Middle East

Egypt

Mosque Millennium

6m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942 10m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942
6m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942. 10m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942.

15m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942 20m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942
15m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942. 20m Millennium of Al Azhar Mosque essay, 1942.

These are essays (trial designs) for stamps that were never issued. The stamps were intended to honor the millennium of Cairo’s first mosque, Al-Azhar Mosque. Formerly in the collection of Egypt’s King Farouk, the essays were seized and sold during the 1952 revolution that deposed him.

Israel

Hebrew Post

250m Doar Ivri single with tab, 1948 500m Doar Ivri single with tab, 1948 1000m Doar Ivri single with tab, 1948 
250m Doar Ivri single with tab, 1948. 500m Doar Ivri single with tab, 1948. 1000m Doar Ivri single with tab, 1948.

When Israel issued its first stamps in 1948, the new nation had not yet decided on a name. The inscription at top reads Doar Ivri, meaning Hebrew Post. These high value stamps have their tabs (printed pieces of sheet margin), which many collectors removed to fit the stamps in albums.