David Feldman The Joseph Chalhoub Collection of Egypt II. Commemoratives Monday, December 9, 2019

They were produced in single stamps or in sheets of 9 stamps (3 x 3). Specimens Some foreign postal administrations stuck the stamps of all countries received from the UPU into a record book, handstamping them. Each such country used a different device, some circular, some straight, some reading SPECIMEN or equivalent. These were applied to single stamps or strips of three, as received. In this collection, we are showing examples of the London, the Mauritania and the Goa Post Offices. Imperforate Several commemorative stamps were issued imperforate. Typically, one to two panes have been recorded. Sheetlets Starting in 1937 and continuing until 1950, the Palace received sheetlets of certain stamps or their colour trials. These sheetlets are imperforate and on watermarked paper. They typically consist of 9 stamps (3 x 3), however, sheetlets of 4 were also printed. One to three of these sheetlets for certain stamps were prepared and sent to Koubbeh Palace in no particular pattern. Varieties Plate flaws, inverted watermarks, double overprints, inverted overprints, misplaced overprints and other varieties are part of this collection. Usage of commemoratives The commemorative stamps had a relatively short usage period, typically between 30 days and 120 days. Non philatelic covers of these stamps are somewhat scarce especially for the issues with the shorter usage period. Proper usage on cover or parcel cards of the 50 piastres and 1 pound commemorative stamps have not been recorded. Several prominent collectors of Egyptian stamps have put significant efforts over the decades into studying and building comprehensive collections in several areas of Egyptian philately, namely the first 3 issues, the Suez Canal, the De la Rue, the Crown Overprints, Postage Due, Officials, Foreign Post Office in Egypt, Egypt stamps used abroad, Postal Stationery and Airmails. There were no serious attempts to build or exhibit commemorative stamps, yet this is one of the richest part of Egyptian philately; rich in philatelic material and historical events within Egypt. Many of the high profile events are well represented in the commemorative stamp The collection presents every aspect of the com- memorative stamps issued during the monarchy period: the reign of King Fouad 1922-1938 and his son King Farouk 1938-1952. The first commemorative stamp was issued in 1925 to commemorate the International Geographical Congress; the last stamp issued for the monarchy period was in 1952 to commemorate the birth of the first son of King Farouk, Prince Ahmed Fouad. Many unique or rare items are presented. The collection also presents the unissued commemorative set of 1895, the forerunner of the commemorative stamps to be issued 30 years later.