OPAL 211 Where is Khartoum 2

Oriental Philatelic Association of London

JOURNAL 211 - Where is Khartoum? (cont.)

The story is centred on Cairo; the exact location being the premises of the stamp dealer E.L Angeloglous (I will use that spelling of his name, although there are others). It would appear that much of the output of stamps from the printing press in Mecca found their way to his shop. Among this stock were some very scarce items and it is possible that for some varieties, every example was in the hands of Angeloglous. Unfortunately, in the early 1950s there was a disastrous fire in the shop and much of the stock that survived burning was damaged by water from the fire appliances. This water-damaged stock was dried, fixed to paper and cancelled either by Angeloglous or, as the story goes, by other dealers. Among the cancellations used were the Khartoum and other ones referred to previously.

So low were the numbers printed of some of the Hejaz issues and varieties, it is possible that some only exist with these cancellations known to the collectors of Hejaz stamps as ‘Dealer’ cancels. Two examples of these scarce rescued stamps are shown below. The violet handstamp is only recorded in catalogues on the 1½ qirsh value of the Makkah Arms stamp of Hejaz with a large 3-line Jeddah overprint in red (Scott LJ36a, SG D148, Mayo T200) and is shown at left below. At right is a 3 qirsh value with overprint in black and a postage due handstamp in violet; to the best of my knowledge only black handstamps are recorded for this value. This stamp has an unclear ‘Khartoum’ cancel.

The only catalogued value of this set with a violet handstamp

Stamp with ‘Khartoum’ cancel and unrecorded violet handstamp