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Abu Dhabi
Expo '70 Commemorative

Expo '70 Commemorative
One of three stamps in a set commemorating Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.

In August of 1970, Abu Dhabi issued a set of three stamps depicting Mount Fuji and Sheik Zaid bin Sultan al Nahayan to commemorate Expo '70. The International exhibition was held in Osaka, Japan from March 15th to September 13th. This issue is unusual amongst the stamps of Abu Dhabi in that it was printed in Japan by the Kyodo Printing Company. This was necessary because it was not possible for De La Rue to fit a planned issue featuring the Abu Dhabi pavillion into its printing schedule in time for the fair.

Denominations
Both "English" and "Turkish" Arabic numerals indicate
the denominations on the three stamps in the set.

First Definitive Issue
The high and low values of Abu Dhabi's first definitive issue. Note
the Das Island postmark on the high value depicting an oil well.

Although it had been the largest and most influential of the Trucial States in the nineteenth century, Abu Dhabi faded into relative obscurity until oil was discovered off Das Island in 1956. The British Postal Agency in Bahrain provided service to construction workers until an agency was opened in Abu Dhabi on March 30, 1963. Exactly one year later the first stamps for Abu Dhabi were issued. Local control of postal services began on January 1, 1967.

Map
Abu Dhabi is located between Qatar and Dubai on the Persian Gulf.


Bibliography

"Abu Dhabi." Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. 2005.

Barnes, Rufus. "Abu Dhabi: From Postal Independence to the United Arab Emirates." Gibbons Stamp Monthly. Jan. 2013: 106-110.

Mann, Wesley. How to Collect Stamps. Boston: H.E. Harris and Co, 1982.

Rossiter, Stuart and John Flower. The Stamp Atlas. London: Macdonald, 1986.


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