Honoring Astronauts
1964, 25 January
Printer: Helio Electronic Press
Designer: Paul Koroleff
Sheet Size:
Perf.: 12 and Imperf.
This is the first space theme set of stamps issued by Dubai and was a response to the great interest in space theme stamps by collectors world-wide. A few of the space ships on the stamps look as if they stepped out of a Flash Gordon movie, they are so ridiculous in appearance. The theme was "Honoring Astronauts" but no astronauts are named, nor shown on the stamps.
Mr. Mosden mentioned that one day there was a knock at his door and when he answered it, it was Mr. Stephan who had a suitcase full of reprinted souvenir sheets from this issue. When asked why he had reprinted them, his reply was sinply, "I needed the money".
The set was later overprinted and released as Outer Space Achievements.
- This are the two covers for the perforated stamps. The same two covers exist for the imperforated stamps.
- Note that the souvenir sheet does not have any control numbers printed on it. This is the way one would expect the sheet to exist.
- The Honoring Astronaut stamps are difficult to find genuinely used on cover. Although this cover was addressed to Stanley Gibbons, the famous British stamp firm, it was not sent by the Dubai Government, but by a private citizen.
- A scarce se-tenant block that was used to print a forged rocket image on the back, thus destroying much of the value of the block. The latter forgery was recently created in Lebanon and belongs in the group at the bottom of this page.
- Mr. Stephan stated it is rare to find panes or se-tenant pairs of the 1np and 5np stamps printed in the same panes. He said very few were printed and Mr. Mosden cut most of them apart. No explanation was given as to why some sheets were printed like this. They could have been done during a second printing. Notice that the bottom of the pane on the left had the 5np blue stamp attached to it, but it was torn off.
- This is a full sheet of the 1np stamp. It would have been separated by a gutter at the bottom of the sheet that would have the same configuration of stamps as this sheet.
ITEMS CREATED UNDER THE BAROODY CONTRACT
- This first day cover was prepared by Mr. Stephan who added the 2Rs stamp on the right bottom. The stamps is missing the color for the earth.
- The image of the rocket and clouds on the left was used for the 1np and 5np values. This is the basic design and it should not be attributed as either a 1np or a 5np stamp missing the background color. The color of the rockets is darker in this image as I had to manipulate the photo to see the clouds. The two stamps to the right of it are missing the red color of the rocket ships.
- This perforated 2Rs block of four has the color of the earth missing.
- This gutter block of four for the 2np and 3np stamps has a shift of the earth, to the right, in each stamp.
- Both the color of the rocket and the earth have been shifted to the left in this imperf. gutter block.
- An imperforate pane of six of the 3np value with the earth shifted to the left.
- This is the rocket design used for the 1np and the 5np stamps. This image is now being used to create errors of those two values by a dealer in Lebanon. The images is printed on a genuine stamp to create a double image and it is also being angled across the stamps, creating another fake error.
- The green in this perforated 1np value stamp is shifte up, leaving the clouds at the bottom of each image and a shift in the rocket.
- The gutter block of four on the left has the brown of the rocket shifted on a slight angle to the left. Each horizontal row of the sheet would have had the rocket in a slightly different position. The strip on the right is missing the green background color of the top stamp.
On the right is a strip missing the green color of the top stamp. This would have been another of the scarce se-tenant pairs if the green had been printed.
- At least two larger panes of the souvenir sheet exist. Mr. Mosden had a large pane of about 27 sheets framed, and I was told another one existed.
FRAUDULENT ITEMS RECENTLY CREATED IN LEBANON
- All four of the above stamps have a second forged printing on them. The fraudulent printing was done on genuine stamps.