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Auction: 145 - Award Winning Collections Sale
Lot: 13

An Accumulation of Classic Yemen From circa 750BC to 115BC the land now known as the Yemen was the kingdom of Saba, or Sheba. It is now generally agreed that the biblical Queen of Sheba came from south-west Arabia and not from Ethiopia. The area was famed for the production of frankincense, much used in religious ritual. After rule by Himyarites, Romans, Ethiopians and Persians, the Yemen came under Muslim rule in 630 and was made a province of Caliphate. In 897 the Zaidi sect of Shia Muslims founded a state under an Imam. The Imamate survived two periods as part of the Turkish Empire, from 1517 to 1630 and from 1872 to 1918, to reappear as an independent state when the Turks left after the First World War. The Turkish administration had a network of about 24 offices in this area. Yemen issued its first stamps in 1926. International mail required additional stamps to be added from a country that was a member of the Universal Postal Union as Yemen did not join the UPU until 1 January 1930. International mail was often routed via Aden on the Yemeni coast which was under British control at the time. Stamps of British India, as used in Aden, were added and mail cancelled ADEN CAMP. After joining the UPU, Yemen issued a new series of definitive stamps in accordance with UPU regulations. A large, practically all mint, duplicated stock housed in four Lighthouse albums, many thousands, including: 1930 1i. blue and brown (S.G. 9, £39, 16,000 in mint sheets) 1931 changed colours 8b. claret (S.G. 17, £3.25, 6,000 in mint sheets) 10b. orange-brown (S.G. 18, £4.50, 2,000 in mint sheets) 1939 Arab Alliance 1i. scarlet, olive-green and claret (S.G. 40, £12.50, 12,500) Total catalogue value for these four S.G. £865,000.

Sold for
$75,000