One of the biggest frustrations for many stamp collectors is the enormous amount of new issues. The question can then become: “How much of my ready cash do I spend on new stamps and how much should I spend on old items that will give me a more varied collection?” However, there are still countries in the year 2016 with very modest issuance programmes.
Once, in the stamp world, some Arab states were responsible for an extreme flood of stamp issues. We are talking about the period of the late 1960s and early seventies with states like Ajman, Manama, Fujeira, Sharjah, Khor Fakkan, Ras Al Khaima and Umm al-Qaiwain and to a lesser extent, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. As of December 2, 1971 these states became part of the independent United Arab Emirates. Since then, the economic development in this area has been, to say the least, rather unique.
The first United Arab Emirates stamps saw the light in 1973 and since then just over one thousand stamp issues have appeared. No comparison to the thousands of stamp issues made by the individual states in the previous seven years.
The United Arab Emirates can therefore be regarded as an interesting and serious area for collectors. New issues actually relate to the country, the amount of stamps released is not extreme and there are less high-value stamps. Admittedly the UAE’s issuance programme looks less modest than that of most countries, but many countries might become more attractive to collectors should they adopt a similar new issue policy.
Oversight of stamp issues per year 2005-2011
2005, 11 issues (total 39 stamps) and 2 blocks
2006, 14 issues (total 28 stamps) and 4 blocks
2007, 15 issues (total 55 stamps) and 6 blocks
2008, 17 issues (total 39 stamps) and 12 blocks
2009, 9 issues (total 24 stamps) and 4 blocks
2010, 15 issues (total 38 stamps) and 9 blocks
2011, 11 issues (total 29 stamps) and 5 blocks
