DOHA: Classic Cars, an unique and themed set of eight postage stamps, each priced at 50 Dirhams, was released by Qatar's General Postal Corporation (Q-Post) yesterday. These stamps depict some of the rare, vintage cars that were once upon a time used by prominent people in the country and are now part of the private collection of Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, a renowned local businessman.
At a press conference yesterday, Ali Mohammad Al Ali, chairman, Q-Post, revealed that this special issue comes as part of the corporation's drive to offer postage stamps that depict the heritage of Qatar, since some of the cars that feature on them, were used by some very important people in their days. He thanked Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim for offering Q-Post the opportunity to photograph and publish these stamps. Stamps, he said, that depict classic collections, are among great demand with philatelists in Qatar and worldwide.
Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim on his part thanked Q-Post for issuing these stamps and has offered his other heritage collections to be depicted on future issues.
Khalid Firki, chief of Q-Post's Philatelic Bureau who designed these postage stamps, said some 100,000 copies of each of the eight varieties are on offer. All these stamps are of 45x27.5mm and offset printed at Jon Enschede press in the Netherlands. A stock of 2,000 First Day Covers, each priced at QR 4, was also available. The Classic Cars collection of postage stamps.
A Q-Post spokesman revealed that the Classic Cars collection was expected to become a major draw among US philatelists since all the vintage cars depicted on the stamps were American made, such as Dodge and Chevrolet. Some of these cars were rare and only a few, rare models existed in private collections or museums, he added. The Q-Post Philatelic Bureau also sells Qatari stamps through its website on the Internet: www.qpost.com.qa.
© The Peninsula 2005
