ADEN - KGVI and QEII Collection

Gary Brown, has for over 30 years collected all philatelic material concerning the British Colony of Aden. Gary’s exhibits include his International Gold Postal History exhibit of Aden; a 3 frames exhibit of Aden Meters; a recent Mecca entry at Canberra 2006 of South Arabian Federation and the exhibit on display here at Charles Leski Auctions, the stamps of Aden from 1937 to 1965.

Aden became a British Crown Colony on 1st April 1937, after 100 years of being administered by the Indian Post Office and using its stamps and stationery during that period.

With pre World War II Independence tensions running high in India, the Arab people of Aden did not wish to become part of the greater Indian Independent Empire. They lobbied the foreign office and were granted Crown Colony status in 1937.

The first stamps of Aden “the Dhow Issue” are of particular interest as they are one of only a few definitive series issued during the reign of King George VI that did not include his head. There was much dismay with this decision and many people lobbied the Foreign Office by early 1939 a new definitive series replaced the Dhow issue.

These frames show the following:

Frame 1.
The 1937 Dhow Issue with photographic essays, proof value tablets and usage on cover including the 2 rupee value on a coffee bag tag. The last 3 pages shows the 1937 Coronation Issue with rare strips of 3 specimens and one of only 6 sets of imperf sets.

Frame 2.
The 1939 set was printed over a period of 13 years and some values had up to 11 printings in total. The display shows unusual usages, including a post card to Argentina; Book Rate to Iran; Barbados; New Zealand; local mail to Kamaran and many others.

Frame 3.
In the KGVI period in addition to the Coronation issue, Aden participated in the 1946 Victory Issue [shown is rare commercial usage to Australia]; 1949 Silver Wedding Issue [shown is the only know Specimen of the 10 Rupee value] and the 1949 UPU issue.

The remainder of the frame develops the New Currency Surcharges of the 1939 issue, which was delayed for over 3 years while the foreign office and the Indian Government argued over compensation to India for the withdrawal of their currency. In October 1951, the East African Decimal Currency came into force.

Frame 4/5/6.
Show the reign of QEII, from the 5c value through to the 20/- value. All known plates nos and imprints are shown as well as a large number of usages. The known rarities are also shown.

The 'Aden' exhibit will be featured at Charles Leski Auctions, 13 Cato Street Hawthorn East, from Tuesday 11th April 2006.