50 Years of Postal Services in Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates30 March 2013Draft

On March 30, 1963, the first post offices were opened in Abu Dhabi and Das Island, operated under the supervision of British Mail from Bahrain. At the opening of Abu Dhabi post office, Queen Elizabeth II stamps were in circulation, thus becoming the first officially used stamps in the new post office. The British stamps were used temporarily until the first special stamps from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi were introduced. Exactly a year later, the postal administration released the first postage stamps bearing the emirate’s name and carrying local scenes. Then on the second anniversary of the opening of the Abu Dhabi post office on March 30, 1965, the British postal administration issued the first set of commemorative stamps on falconry. After HH Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan became the Ruler of Abu Dhabi on 6 August 1966, the first definitive set was reissued after overprinted with the new currency (Fils and Dinar), and adding three or four lines to show the accession of the new Ruler. The Government of Abu Dhabi took control of the postal system on January 1, 1967, from the British postal administration. Souvenir sheet: AED 10. Size: 50 x 36 mm in sheets of 10 stamps.