XVII. Airmails and Commemoratives, 1949-1959

Currency: Iraqi dinar (1,000 fils = 1 dinar)

Iraq, to its very considerable credit, for a long time pursued a conservative policy regarding the issue of commemoratives — that is, it didn’t issue any at all. Why? No idea, as with so much of this. Britain, the former colonial master, exercised almost equal restraint, in sharp contrast to its European neighbours. But after 1932 the UK was much less directly the mother country of Iraq, and no doubt the domestic postal authority had the autonomy to commission and issue commemoratives if it felt so inclined. And yet, honourably, for a time it never felt so inclined. But eventually the national continence had its limits, and no doubt envious eyes were being cast at the profusion of remunerative new issues flowing out of Egypt, Syria, et al. And so, the stamps described below appeared.

Airmail

First issued: 1 February 1949
Production: Bradbury Wilkinson & Company, London

I choose to put the airmail stamps in this sequence. Iraq had operated an entirely satisfactory aeromail service since 1919 without the need for special stamps. So this issue, while not commemorative of anything in particular, was clearly intended as a cash-grab, and so I group it with the commemoratives. The stamps are well-executed from a technical perspective but the designs have fairly little to commend them — the frames are pared back agreeably but I don’t think the spatial relationship between the aeroplane and the backdrop is successful on either the small- or large-format designs.

In contrast to the rest of the stamps on this page, these had a long afterlife, and can be seen on cover into the early 1970s. Further remarks on this phenomenon here.

75th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union

First issued: 1 November 1949
Production: Bradbury Wilkinson & Company, London

The whole world put out commemoratives of the Universal Postal Union’s 75th birthday in 1949, and Iraq was no exception. Iraq gets some credit for sticking to design elements of local interest and not reproducing the appalling flying-children-holding-hands-around-globe design like so many countries did. Here we have another set of mediocre designs executed well. Placement of the text is consistently poor and on the two lower values the oval portrait frames aren’t integrated well into the remainder of the stamps. The 50 fils is better in that sense but I find the combination of a portrait and some unexplained symbol (that of the postal authority?) unpleasing. I think criticism could also be levelled at the lack of a cohesive idea between the stamps: of the two lower values, we have a traditional mounted postman on one (so far so good) but the equestrian statue of Faisal I on the other, almost suggesting the statue had some kind of mail-delivery function. Unless perhaps the two stamps are meant to read as the progression from backwardness to modernity under the Hashemites, with horses as a unifying visual element. At any rate, whatever theme was being sought here isn’t continued onto the third stamp. There’s perhaps also mild perversity in the order of the series not being the same as the order of the kings, with Ghazi coming before Faisal I. Note that this is the sole appearance of this portrait of Faisal II, rather an unsuccessful one. Upon magnification, the horseman and rider on the 20 fils appear a little amateurish.

A small mystery: what is the emblem next to Faisal II on the 50 fils? The introducing legislation describes it as the emblem of the UPU, which is not correct to my knowledge.

Coronation of King Faisal II

First issued: 2 May 1953
Production: Bradbury Wilkinson & Company, London

Although Faisal II became king immediately on the death of Ghazi, his formal coronation was delayed until 1953 when he reached the age of eighteen. Another bland design, with the space either side of the crown at the top not being used well. The arched value tablets are attractive and, perhaps, if the arch motif had been carried into the rest of the design with some energy (i.e., more than just the flat, cursory arch above the royal head) a better result could maybe have been achieved. First appearance of the portrait which would be used a year later on the definitives.

Abrogation of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

First issued: 6 April 1955
Production: the Government Press, Baghdad(?)

Sixth Arab Engineers’ Conference, Baghdad

First issued: 26 November 1955
Production: Bradbury Wilkinson & Company, London

For some reason I don’t mind this one so much – it’s laid out neatly and I like the approach of taking the definitive stamp and extending it out on both flanks. Beyond that I have little to say. The Arabic text in the right-hand margin should, perhaps, have been aligned with the middle of the opposite English text, rather than the top of it. I can find nothing about this conference, or others in the series – the current Arab Engineers’ Federation was apparently only established in 1963, so the meeting commemorated here must have been one of an earlier organisation.

Third Arab Postal Union Conference, Baghdad

First issued: 3 March 1956
Production: Bradbury Wilkinson & Company, London

Wholly bland and uninspired.

Development Week, 1957

First issued: April-July, 1957
Production: Hélio Courvoisier S.A., La Chaux-de-Fonds

Iraq strides boldly into the multicoloured future, courtesy of Courvoisier. I can’t say offhand whether Bradburys ever did this kind of four-colour photo work, but certainly it wasn’t their specialty. I think these are actually successful in an odd kind of way – there’s an enthusiastic naïveté to the designs and lurid colouring which, to whatever extent this was intentional, does successfully suggest optimism and confidence in the country’s future. The 1 fils, in rather more sober hues, is the odd man out. The royal portrait has an unpleasant waxy quality throughout, and the arabesques around it on the 1 and 10 fils add nothing.

Baghdad Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition

First issued: 1 June, 1957
Production: Hélio Courvoisier S.A., La Chaux-de-Fonds

Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Iraq Red Crescent Society

First issued: 14 November 1957
Production: Unknown (the Government Press, Baghdad?)

I dislike commemoratives, as should be clear if you’ve read this far down the page. But the foregoing stamps are at least wholehearted, and not a dismal half measure like this one – a stamp from the Postal Congress series overprinted to commemorate an unrelated occasion.

Army Day

First issued: 6 January 1958
Production: Bradbury Wilkinson & Company, London

King Faisal salutes the men who would overthrow him in a few months. Bland but very well-executed designs. The 30 fils leaves the strongest impression – the king, in his fussy full dress uniform, feels like he belongs to a bygone era compared with the swaggering, open-shirted Nasser and his imitators. Robson Lowe’s The Influence of Bradbury Wilkinson… shows a few late drafts of these designs: the engraver’s supervisor has identified some remarkably minute areas for revision. The 8 fils is also, in its way, indicative — by 1958 the Churchill tank, as seen here, was rather antiquated; if it represented the most avant-garde vehicle in service with Iraq at the time, then Britain certainly wasn’t treating it generously.

Development Week, 1958

First issued: 26 April 1958
Production: Hélio Courvoisier S.A., La Chaux-de-Fonds

The second, and last, Development Week issue. The relatively subdued colour palette gives this set a drearier feeling compared to the 1957 one.

To play out the monarchy, a few words from Kapuściński’s Emperor on the subject of “development”.

A kind of mania seized this mad and unpredictable world, my friend: a mania for development. Everybody wanted to develop himself! Everyone thought about developing himself, and not simply according to God's law that a man is born, develops, and dies. No, each one wanted to develop himself extraordinarily, dynamically, and powerfully, to develop himself so that everyone would admire, envy, talk, and nod his head. …Our Emperor, innately infallible, noticed and generously agreed with this, seeing the advantages and charms of costly novelty, and since he had always had a weakness for all progress indeed, he even liked progress — his most honorably benevolent desire for action manifested itself in the unconcealed desire to have a satiated and happy people cry for years after, with full approval, "Hey! Did he ever develop us!" …Alas, my friend, it is a sad truth that, despite His Majesty's having led the Empire onto the path of development, the students reproached the Palace for demagoguery and hypocrisy. …Development, they said, is impossible without reform. One should give the peasants land, abolish privileges, democratize society, liquidate feudalism, and free the country from dependence on foreigners. …That's thoughtlessness and running off at the mouth for you.

Arab Lawyers’ Conference, Baghdad

First issued: 26 November 1958
Production: Unknown (the Government Press, Baghdad?)

Now into the Republic. Another overprint on an earlier commemorative.

International Children’s Day

First issued: 1 June 1959
Production: Unknown (the Government Press, Baghdad?)