Dunes in philately refers to the many editions of stamps produced in the Trucial States. The stamps, printed in great profusion in the 1960s, are mostly near-worthless today.
History
Britain managed the Trucial States' external relations. The Government of India opened its first post office in Dubai in 1941 and its operation was taken over by British Postal Agencies, a subsidiary of the GPO in 1948. Stamps of the time were British stamps surcharged with Rupee values, until in 1959 a set of 'Trucial States' stamps was issued from Dubai. In 1963, Britain ceded responsibility for the Trucial States' postal systems to the Rulers of the Trucial States. An American philatelic entrepreneur, Finbar Kenny, saw the opportunity to create a number of editions of stamps aimed at the lucrative collector's market and in 1964 concluded a deal with the cash-strapped emirate of Ajman to take the franchise for the production of stamps for the government. Kenny had made something of a specialty out of signing these deals, also signing with the Ruler of Fujairah in 1964, and getting involved in a bribery case in the USA over his dealings with the government of the Cook Islands. These stamps, luridly illustrated and irrelevant to the actual emirates they came from. They became known collectively as 'dunes'.
Value
The sale of postage stamps was for a short time a lucrative trade for the emirates, most of whom had few other sources of revenue. Revenues of up to £70,000 for the poorer states fell, however, to £30,000 with the inevitable saturation of the market. Their sale by 1966 constituted the main source of revenue for the northern Trucial States. Their proliferation eventually devalued them and, because of this, many popular catalogues today do not even list them. Among these editions, following the opening of a 'post office' in Manama on July 5, 1966, were nine editions published from 'Manama, Dependency of Ajman'. Few collectors would realise Manama was a remote agricultural village consisting of a few adobe houseson a plain overlooked by the Hajar Mountains. Kenny's arrangements ended when the United Arab Emirates was formed in 1971.
