Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: An Omani stamp collector has published a history of the country’s postal services.
The release of the 192 page book coincides with the golden jubilee of Oman’s postal services, and provides readers with a rare view of the 50 years of achievements by Oman’s postal services.
Hatim Al Attar, 50, worked for three years to collect, analyse and document data, after visiting stamp collectors and 98 post offices throughout the Sultanate.
The Sohar-born man announced that his book will be the first Omani publication to take part in a regional completion, which will kick off in Bangkok on on Sunday.
He is also hoping for international recognition for Oman when he participates in a global competition on August 21 in Taiwan.
The book, entitled ‘Sultanate of Oman Postal System 1966-2016’, has a golden cover, and it contains valuable information about different eras of the postal service.
After 36 months of research and writing, Hatim asked his two daughters and elder son to put the final touches on its design and improve the quality of some old images. The publishing of this book is meant to coincide with the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Oman’s postal services, Hatim explained in his introduction.
The postal services began in Muscat in 1856, with the opening of the first post office by the Indian government.
However, the first official record is a document displayed in the Delhi Postal Museum from May 1, 1864, which was the date of opening the first post office in Oman.
Different shapes and designs of post boxes, rare Omani stamps, along with a catalogue of regular hand stamps and post cards from the 1960s, are featured in the book, which can be purchased at the Oman Post office in Ruwi for OMR10.
Hatim started collecting stamps during his school days in 1972, while beginning his in-depth research on stamps and their history in 1994.
Interested buyers can contact the author at [email protected]. Hatim noted that the book was funded by the Omani Philatelic Association.
